New rabbit not eating

Hi! we took our rabbit to the RSPCA 9 days ago in order to get her a friend as she'd recently lost her mate and we didn't want her to be lonely. They had a lot of young boys who'd recently been neutered. They put one of them with my rabbit and after a bit of thumping and chasing they said that they were getting on really well and very relaxed with eachother.

I took them home and put the two of them back in the shed - no fighting, so I was very pleased. The problem is, the new rabbit won't eat. He still looks well, hops around, is lively and inquisitive, so I assume he's eating hay when I'm not there. And yesterday he ate half a dandelion leaf in my presence. But otherwise I haven't seen him eat yet. I rang the RSPCA and they said that he was used to muesli not pellets, and they gave me some of the stuff that he's used to. It still doesn't help, he just doesn't seem hungry. I've tried separating the two rabbits in case mine is making him nervous, but I didn't want to separate them for too long, and just 10 minutes or so didn't help.

He seemed a bit chubby when he first came, now he still seems fine but I'm still worried. I've started putting them out on the grass every day, there's lots of moss in the grass - maybe he's eaten something wrong and feeling sick|? But if I haven't even seen him eat the grass, he can't have been eating the moss? Our rabbit's just so happy, she's stuffing herself all the time, choosing the grass and leaving the moss.

We went away for the week-end and the neighbour fed the rabbits for 3 days. Not seeing me for 3 days probably didn't help but yesterday he also kept thumping when I came into the shed to put them out - clearly didn't want me to be there. He's obviously not used to being picked up and finds it quite scary but the shed's at the bottom of the garden, so if I want to see my rabbits I have to put them in the run (the shed's got a run, but it's in the shade, not visible from the house and has no grass in it).

Did you ask the RSPCA how much meusli he was being fed? It is quite possible that he was only fed a very smally amount of meusli, and eating loads of hay, and he could be quite happy with what he has got if he has unlimited hay and grass.

How long have you had him at home?

Also, what are his poops like? If they are large, solid and crumbly then I wouldn't worry too much. Keep offering him small amounts of dandelion/herbs/veg etc if you know what veg he was fed on at the RSPCA.

If his poops are small and he doesn't want to eat anything, then you will need to take him to a vet.

You say he seems a bit on the chubby side - I have found if I bring an overweight rabbit back home sometimes they don't eat so you must find out exactly what his favourite food is, be that grass or dandelions or veg, and give him some of this. This is to make sure he is actually eating something even if it isn't muesli etc.

This is important so as he doesn't suffer from "fatty liver" which is serious.

As he gets to a normal weight he will become hungrier and start to eat his proper diet.

Also let him have access to hay and a little bit of muesli and later on you can gradually wean him off that onto pellets.

Have you got some of the muesli he was eating at the RSPCA?

I hope he starts eating soon - if not you might have to syringe-feed him with special food from the Vet.

A great pity that the RSPCA didn't give you some of the food he was used to when you first collected him, but at least you have it now.

It was a very quick bonding - but you say there has been no fighting so I assume they are getting on ok. Do they snuggle up and interact? (Just asking in case he hasn't really settled).

I would find a rabbit-savvy vet and take him to be checked over - rabbits really need to eat all the time, otherwise they can go downhill extremely quickly.

out if my 2 buns I very rarely see Tonic eat. Even if I put somethin yummy in, he likes to eat out if sight of us humans x

Thank you for your helpful replies. I got the muesli that he'd been fed at the RSPCA and tried to feed him that but it made no difference. So on Monday I started subdividing the run where they go during the day, so that they could still see each other but I could tell which rabbit was eating and pooing what. Well, I did see him eat quite a few times on that Monday, both grass and muesli. But it took him 2 days to eat two thirds of a handful of muesli and where the other rabbit 'mowed' the lawn his was still high. And although he enjoyed the cauliflower leaves he ate them little by little. Also, he didn't poo in his part of the run but then I've heard of some rabbits waiting until they're back in their shed.
Today I finally took him to the vet because I'm wondering if his teeth are giving him trouble. Not enough to stop him eating - he's still looking gorgeous and binkying around perfectly happily - but enough to make him go off his food.
Well, they looked at his mouth and said they saw a red patch but weren't sure if it was a sore area or not. So I should bring him back tomorrow morning to be put under general anaesthetic, so that they can have a proper look and maybe file his teeth.

Now, what do you think? Isn't that a bit drastic? I'm wondering about perhaps waiting a few days and monitoring his weight before risking a GA? Should I cancel the appointment for tomorrow? I want to help him if he's in pain but I don't want to risk his life before making sure that there's really something wrong. I know that a rabbit not eating is dangerous but he's survived for nearly 3 weeks without any apparent ill effect... I should have started weighing him earlier but I've only thought of it today.

Personally I would follow your vets advice, I really hope it all goes well xx

I am sorry you are having this problem.... what a worry...

hope all goes Okay at the vets...

Fee xxx

The two rabbits are getting on great, by the way. They're really comfortable with each other.

Thank you for the good wishes.

Hope all went well at the vet's :wave:

tulsi said:

Hope all went well at the vet's :wave:

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Thank you to everyone. The teeth have been done and I'm glad we did it. I think he's more comfortable now and eating better. Still not that keen on pellets or muesli though, so I gave them separate food in 2 bowls today and split the run. Well, I went away and within 10 minutes they'd worked out how to push aside the barrier so that they could be together again. Now they're sitting next to each other happily, munching grass.

That's lovely, a happy ending... Nice to see too that you were on the ball about his teeth!,!

Fee xx