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Jasper off his food

dbowes

Warren Scout
Jaspy is off his food this weekend. Each feeding time he'll have 1 pellet and stop. He is still eating hay and eating plenty of greens instead (rocket etc.). I'll take him to the vets tomorrow but don't feel its an emergency as he has eaten something.

He doesn't want carrot but ate some banana and raspberries (high sugar content I know but better than nothing).

To me that suggests it could be his teeth but the vet checked them last Monday when we were there due to Jessica (she has been diagnosed with arthritis). I asked her to check as I felt he was a little less enthusiastic about his food. The vet said one back tooth seemed a bit longer but no spikes and were generally ok. Obviously now he has taken a turn for the worse.

He maybe feels a little bloaty but it's hard to tell, I've given him some tummy rubs anyway. That doesn't explain why he still eats hay though. In my experience hay is the first thing they stop eating hence I wondered if it was his teeth.

We experimented with mushed up pellets but just had a tiny bit and left it. Confusing!

We gave him some metacam but it made no difference. Wouldn't normally without vets permission but we have some for jessica. He is much bigger but gave him the dose that the vet prescribed for her so a relatively small amount.

He is not weeing much when he goes, could be a red herring. Maybe he isn't drinking as much.

Anyone any ideas??
 
What are his poos like ?

He may have a UTI possibly due to bladder sludge. Is he passing any urine at all ? Has he ever had issues with UTIs/sludgy wee in the past ?
 
What are his poos like ?

He may have a UTI possibly due to bladder sludge. Is he passing any urine at all ? Has he ever had issues with UTIs/sludgy wee in the past ?

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

They are smaller than usual but otherwise normal I think. About the same size as jessica who is smaller than him so difficult to tell who has done what. I've cleaned the litter tray out to make sure.

It's interesting you mention UTIs. He's had no history but we suspected Jessica had a UTI a few weeks ago. She was wetting herself and appeared to be straining. The vet checked her over and she appeared to be fine so the vet prescribed baytril and metacam to cover all bases. She improved and stopped wetting herself. She went back this week as we felt, despite improvement, that she wasn't quite herself and after x-rays we have found that she has arthritis so we have put all her problems down to that. I'm now wondering if she did have some kind of UTI or other problem and Jasper now has the same problem. I'm not doubting the arthritis diagnosis, but maybe this was in addition to another problem.

Are UTIs contagious, or any other conditions that could have affected both rabbits?
 
Actually he has just done some poops. They are a bit sticky, a bit like special poo but I normally see them in one big lump rather than a few little ones. Also he wouldn't normally go in his litter tray for special poos. His diet has been a abnormal with trying to get him to eat other food than his normal pellets. Going to try mushed up pellets shortly, they are due their feed
 
Hope the vet can help tomorrow and that Jasper continues to eat, is selectively, in the meantime.

It's not a new batch of pellets by any chance?
 
Hope the vet can help tomorrow and that Jasper continues to eat, is selectively, in the meantime.

It's not a new batch of pellets by any chance?

Nope the end of a big bag. He turned down carrot too so don't think it's the pellets. Also Jessica is eating them fine. Might be worth getting new food though, I'll try anything.

He's moving around fine, in fact the last few days he's been jumping up onto the windowsill and gnaws the corner of the wall till I stop him and he's just done it again. I think that rules out bloat. Must be his teeth. Maybe the vet missed something
 
Hi, just a little update on Jasper - I'm hoping for any theories i can suggest to the vet. I know it's their job but i like to cover all angles.

Jasper was off his food, he'd have a couple of pellets then lose interest. Interestingly he is eating loads of hay and I'm giving him plenty of rocket etc and some fruit such as banana and raspberries which id normally keep to a minimum but with him not eating his pellets I just want him to eat.

It all suggests his teeth so i mushed some pellets up but he still turned them away but with percevierance (sticking them near him every 5 mins) i've managed to get him to eat enough. His poos are back to normal size but much lighter in colour. In fact he's probably had quite a good feed all in all but we cant carry on like this - something isnt right.

We've had to wait till today to get an appointment with the rabbit-savvy vet. My girlfriend fed him this morning with pellets and he showed the same disinterest. We have got in a cycle the last few days of leaving him to see if he eats the pellets then when i get up an hour later i'll check on him and if he hasn't eaten I'll feed him alternatives. I got up today to find him eating them, not his usual amount but he had plenty. The first day (saturday) he seems a bit depressed but since then he perked up and is moving around quite happily. He didn't quite do a binky but had a little run at one point. He has also got that excitement back when he thinks you have a treat for him but still funny about the pellets. He keeps biting the corner of the wall so it comes back to his teeth again, the vet did check them last week though when we were in with Jessica and she said they were ok.

The other concern is that he doesn't seem to be drinking much.

so..

1) Any theories what the problem could be?
2) Should i go through with an anesthetic for further tests if its an option with the vet. It was no brainer at the weekend but he is improving?

Thanks for your help everyone
 
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