Trying but failing to eat hard food?

Our bunny Daisy has tonight suddenly stopped being able to eat hard food. We noticed when we got their treats out - she would try but fail to take it, and she's similar with pellets. She seems to want to eat some of her greens, but can't. She's had some pear and grape, but we're a bit worried about her.

Her personality seems fine - she's running about and going up on her hind legs and has just jumped up onto the sofa, but seems to almost have toothache, if we were to humanise her.

Earlier today she ran out under my foot, but I didn't put any weight on her - we're wondering if we might have accidentally knocked her teeth together or something.

Oh, we've just offered her grass, which she has taken. It's almost like she's just in a funny mood, but not taking treats or greens seems odd.

Any ideas or advice?

Sounds typical of a Rabbit with Dental problems. I would get her to a Vet tomorrow morning for examination and treatment

Is she still eating hay ? If not you need to try soaking her pellets to soften them. Finely grated veg (if she is used to eating veg) can be given too. It is important that she has some food intake overnight.

We've ground up some pellets and given them a load of grass and finely chopped soft foods overnight. It was just so sudden - this morning she was absolutely fine and going for her food like normal, and then this evening it was like she couldn't hack the harder stuff. She's the feisty one of the pair - very strange.

She's had a nibble at the smaller pellets (we're still on a bag of the pager excel pellets, but have a bag of the smaller ones to hand) and at the pellet dust, as well as some more grass since we've moved them back into their room. We've put some water soaked pellets in with them too.

She's always been an avid hay eater, we'll try her again on their treats (seems to be the best test) tomorrow morning. Luckily, I work close enough to home that getting her to a vet tomorrow isn't a problem.

If they can't find anything wrong with her teeth get them to check her ears. My Lilly went off hard food and it was because she had massive wax build up (so much there was blood too and I doubt she could even hear the poor thing ) so maybe it could be the same as that or an ear infection? But definitely still have teeth checked as they could definitely cause this problem too.

Hope Daisy feels better soon!

Everything crossed for Daisy. Please let us know how she gets on at the vet.

We're back from the vet, who said her gut felt gassy. She's had an injection and been sent home with fibreplex and an appointment for this evening. There are a couple of spurs on her teeth, but nothing that should bother her, so the recommendation was to get them sorted out once she's fully recovered from this.

However, 10 minutes after we got in, I put the hay tray in front of her and she dug straight in! She's not fussed about pellets, carrots or pair, but she's going after the hay like she's starving. Fingers crossed that she just needed the injection to get her gut going again. She won't take the fibreplex, but she wouldn't take the fibre pellets the vet sent her home with after her spay either.

The vet said that having builders in can often start these things off, and we've had builders in for the past 3 days. It didn't even occur to us that the digging up of floor would bother them! We'll be moving them upstairs next week while the work is finished off, although the majority of the digging has now been done.

I know she's feeling better, because she's just weed on my Peruvian rug and is now exploring the front room like she's never seen it before!

I'll go and get some carrot tops and coriander later this afternoon to see if she'll take the fibreplex with them, but what a relief!

Thanks for your advice - it was appreciated late last night when we were thinking the worst.

That's wonderful news.
Yes, rabbits are very temperamental creatures & it doesn't take much change to distress them to gut slow down.

My Benjie stresses very easily. I use the capsules of echinacea cut the top off, give him a pinch in a bay leaf & have the rest myself. :lol:
It's marketed as boosting the immune response, but it actually works by reducing the excess cortisol released by stress.
In rabbits cortisol is a powerful slower down of the gut! as well as an immunosuppressant.

That's good to know, thanks.

I'm just debating taking her back in for her second appointment. It's the stress of the travel versus the fact that she hasn't done any poos yet. She seems fine, but with it being the weekend, perhaps we should see a vet again.

Bertie_Bear said:

That's good to know, thanks.

I'm just debating taking her back in for her second appointment. It's the stress of the travel versus the fact that she hasn't done any poos yet. She seems fine, but with it being the weekend, perhaps we should see a vet again.

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If plenty is going in at the top end, & she's hopping around into everything, I'd wait a while yet. It can take a while for the food to work through especially if the gut's been really slow.
The 1st poops are often tiny too.
I'd still get her onto some woody fibre like bramble leaves (Dethorn by rubbing down the vein with a thimble on).
Apple/crab apple twigs, thin hawthorn, thin hazel. Apple leaves, any hawthorn left, strawberry leaves - the usual.

I took her back in because something wasn't sitting right with me.

Had a lengthy conversation with the vet, who seemed very knowledgeable. He has seen some red patches in her mouth, so sent her home with Metacam and an appointment for tomorrow to get her teeth done. I'm hoping that the stress of the builders put her off her food, which gave her teeth a chance to grow, which put her in pain so that once we've got her back on the straight and narrow she'll be fine again.

Obviously, she's going to have another anesthetic, which isn't ideal, but there's not much else we can do - it's pretty soul destroying watching her not be herself.

Bertie_Bear said:

I took her back in because something wasn't sitting right with me.

Had a lengthy conversation with the vet, who seemed very knowledgeable. He has seen some red patches in her mouth, so sent her home with Metacam and an appointment for tomorrow to get her teeth done. I'm hoping that the stress of the builders put her off her food, which gave her teeth a chance to grow, which put her in pain so that once we've got her back on the straight and narrow she'll be fine again.

Obviously, she's going to have another anesthetic, which isn't ideal, but there's not much else we can do - it's pretty soul destroying watching her not be herself.

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Hope all goes well with her tomorrow....

Wishing her all the best for tomorrow.
It may help her eat pellets if you moisten them with water so they're just "pickable upable" not mush & for a few days after her dental while her sore mouth settles down.

Good luck for tomorrow :wave:
It might be worth asking the vet for some metaclopramide to get her tummy going if she stops eating again.

Bunzle seems to eat grass and dandelion leaves with more ease when his teeth start. The metacam will help loads too.

She's home, and rather sleepy, but has had a little bit of hay already. I didn't get to talk to the vet as he was busy, but he will call us tomorrow and we have a check up in a month, with plenty of metacam to tide her over.

We've been discussing the potential possibility of needing dentals on a monthly basis. Given that she gets stressed out going to the vets to start with, is it fair to put her through all this every 4 weeks? Hopefully this won't be an issue - she's now on a pellet-free diet, so more hay will hopefully keep things under control in a more natural way. Maybe we're jumping the gun - we've had her 10 months now, so suddenly needing dentals every month would be a very odd thing.

Bertie_Bear said:

She's home, and rather sleepy, but has had a little bit of hay already. I didn't get to talk to the vet as he was busy, but he will call us tomorrow and we have a check up in a month, with plenty of metacam to tide her over.

We've been discussing the potential possibility of needing dentals on a monthly basis. Given that she gets stressed out going to the vets to start with, is it fair to put her through all this every 4 weeks? Hopefully this won't be an issue - she's now on a pellet-free diet, so more hay will hopefully keep things under control in a more natural way. Maybe we're jumping the gun - we've had her 10 months now, so suddenly needing dentals every month would be a very odd thing.

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I'm delighted that her dental went so well.
I understand your concerns about the frequency of dentals, both from her viewpoint & that the cost is astronomical.
My bridgebun Thumper needed dentals every month. In fact although he stressed out at 1st. he soon realised that a dental made him better. He'd even throw his food around to tell me he needed a dental after a few months!:shock:
We always had to go through the "token" sulks afterwards though & I'd go through the ritual of making up to him.:shock:

I agree that this sudden needing them every month is strange. There are quite a few things you can do with diet eg intoducing wild forage foods, safe twigs to chew on, but I think take it slowly for now 7 wait to see what your vet says.

Bertie_Bear said:

She's home, and rather sleepy, but has had a little bit of hay already. I didn't get to talk to the vet as he was busy, but he will call us tomorrow and we have a check up in a month, with plenty of metacam to tide her over.

We've been discussing the potential possibility of needing dentals on a monthly basis. Given that she gets stressed out going to the vets to start with, is it fair to put her through all this every 4 weeks? Hopefully this won't be an issue - she's now on a pellet-free diet, so more hay will hopefully keep things under control in a more natural way. Maybe we're jumping the gun - we've had her 10 months now, so suddenly needing dentals every month would be a very odd thing.

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I'm glad she's home and ok

I had exactly the same thing in June. I was in doubt as to whether its fair. Ask sky-o told me, nobody knows your bun better than you. She's spot on. My bun recovers very well and very quickly. This is why I persevere with the dentals. He had 6 weeks between his first and second, then he went 8 weeks and he's just about ready for another one.

You'll start to see the signs earlier as time goes on. You'll know when it's no longer fair to keep going.