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Can science selective cause gas?

bunkin

bunkin

Warren Veteran
I have just read on here that it can. As you know I have been having problems with my bun for past two half years with bloat and a few weeks after I got him and his then partner I changed them over from muesli mix to ss pellets. His first bloat attack was about 4 weeks later and then from every 3 weeks to 12 weeks. I have tried everything to find the cause, have stopped all veg except small amount of herbs but nothing has helped. The only thing I haven't done is stop the ss pellets as I was told they are much better for them.

Any thoughts on this??
 
:wave: Mines having trouble with SS at the moment but that is only because he is having trouble with EVERYTHING at the moment. Usually most bunnies do better on unlimited hay, minimal pellets and more veg, although some can cause gas if the bunny is sensitive to it. Oxbow bunny basics do a good timothy hay pellet which he might be better on as he could be sensitive to alfafa and some people also use protexin profibre pellets to promote benefitial bacteria but the jury is still out there on that one.

Has he been examined by a vet to rule out any underlying physical cause?
 
Doughnut is on SS pellets and she had an episode of gas, I was giving her two egg cups full and since I cut it down to one she hasn't had it since.

Since she's been really ill she has only been having a few pellets but I was changing her over to the vetcare digestive formula ones.
 
He has seen alot of vets!! and the ones I have now found who are the best in my area are asking for opinion of Anna Meredith at Edinburgh vet school. He hasn't had any tests that require GA as he always recovers in 12-24 hrs and because he is old at seven and half any GA is risky.

It just seemed strange that I had tried chaning or cutting out just about eveyrthing else in his diet except ss pellets and then I read on here that they caused gas in a bunny and it made me wonder.

Trouble is he is a thin bunny and I am worried that if I cut his pellets down even more he will lose weight, he eats loads of hay but am sure he would lose weight if he didn't have pellets.

Muesli mix is supposed to be so bad for them! but his previous owner said he did not have any problems when she had him but as they only saw them for a short time once a day I was thinking she would not have known but maybe he was okay on muesli mix:roll:
 
Because Doughnut couldn't have her normal eggcup of pellets since she's been ill the specialist didn't want her to lose weight so she's now on a handful of alfalfa hay and a couple of pellets. She's been on this for about a month he now wants her to put on a bit of weight so I upped the hay to two handfuls and she's put on. I know alfalfa hay isn't recommended for adult rabbits unless they are ill and to gain weight but it may be worth a try. He's the best in the area and said she can stay on the hay indefinitely. I would check with your specialist though to see what they think as different issues obviously have different treatment.

You could then cut out the pellets with the weight maintained.
 
Oxbow Bunny Basics T are high in fibre and are timothy hay based. I have had mine on them for ages, don't know whether it might be ask your vet if they thought they may help.

They also do an alfalfa based one for younger bunnies which may suit your bunny if he is prone to losing weight.
 
Because I am a bit ocd I have kept all my bunny receipts since i got them:oops: I have looked back and I first bought ss pellets at end of November 2010 and slowly changed over from muesli mix and bun had his first tummy do on xmas day ( okay again on boxing day).

I have ordered a small box of fibrefirst as its timothy hay based and will try substituting some ss pellets for these and see if bunny likes them, slowly slowly.
 
If you would like to try some BBT, pm me your address and I can send you a couple of handfuls.
I used to use SS but one of my buns got bladder sludge (on Christmas day :roll: )a couple of months after starting using it and as it was higher in calcium than most others we looked around for an alternative high fibre one as he was a non-hay eating bun. Lovely poops.

I have heard the fibrefirst is good too but not tried it.
 
Some bunnies can't tolerate pellets in general. They are highly concentrated. You could well be on to something with your bunny.
 
SarahP said:
Some bunnies can't tolerate pellets in general. They are highly concentrated. You could well be on to something with your bunny.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this

I have several Rabbits who had endless gut problems on SS and other issues too. I no longer use it at all.
 
Bunnybabe I have pm'd you my details, huge thanks.

I am hoping I am on to something as well!

Are pellets more concentrated than the old muesli mix?? I know the muesli mix is thought of as the worst thing you can feed your rabbit but is there such a thing as a good muesli mix if at the end of the day my bun is best on that???
 
I found my bunnies were best on no dried mix at all, but some bunnies seem to do better with a muesli mix, yes. I'm not sure on good brands...
 
Thanks Jane for that, if you use it it must be good:thumb:

I will get some and see which he likes and change over very very slowly.
 
bunkin said:
Thanks Jane for that, if you use it it must be good:thumb:

I will get some and see which he likes and change over very very slowly.
Click to expand...

do make sure that you only feed a minimal amount and it is not suitable for rabbits who selective feed.

it is only ok for rabbits who have a mostly hay diet (80-90%) and eat all of the small portion of rr

i would not recommend it in preference to pelleted feeds in general it is just what works best for my rabbits
 
Best of luck with it. Let us know how you get on! I'd agree it has to be a very small amount. Clover once 'broke into' a bag of muesli and gave herself stasis.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
do make sure that you only feed a minimal amount and it is not suitable for rabbits who selective feed.

it is only ok for rabbits who have a mostly hay diet (80-90%) and eat all of the small portion of rr

i would not recommend it in preference to pelleted feeds in general it is just what works best for my rabbits
Click to expand...


I will just replace a couple of pellets with small amount of muesli and see if he eats it or not. He has access to unlimited hay of 4 varieties all the time and eats almost his body size every day.

The instructions on the bag say that they need 15g for every kg of weight but that seems high to me as he would then get 30g. I assume as with ss that you just give about 10g of rr a day?????
 
bunkin said:
I will just replace a couple of pellets with small amount of muesli and see if he eats it or not. He has access to unlimited hay of 4 varieties all the time and eats almost his body size every day.

The instructions on the bag say that they need 15g for every kg of weight but that seems high to me as he would then get 30g. I assume as with ss that you just give about 10g of rr a day?????
Click to expand...

I would give no more than an eggcupful to start with. He should eat every single bit of it. Dont be tempted to top it up if he leaves some bits. That will just encourage him to only eat the very tastey bits. Also weigh him every few days to make sure his weight remains stable. If he is eating loads of different hays then really he does not need a concentrated feed at all, at least not every day.
 
Thanks Jane for the advice. Because he is a thin bunny I am always scared of starving him:roll:

Weighing him is no easy matter:lol: husband had to stand on weighing scales first and then he had to catch!! bun and get back on scales with him. NO way would I do this!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This is strange - I have two buns and one, Charlie, has always been susceptible to tummy trouble (since I put them both on SS from Excel). My other bun, Poppy, has recently had an episode too (unusual for her). I have cut down to only a few SS pellets and the Vetcare Digestive as their pellet bit of their diet, but am now wondering whether to totally cut out the SS after reading this:?
 
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