Aging Rabbit

Hello!

My rabbit, Sumi, is 9 years old and I have a few things I'd like some advice on - hope that's ok

Over the last few months Sumi has been loosing a lot of weight, to the point where you can feel his ribs and spine clearly. He is always hungry and eats everything in sight, however I've noticed over the last week or so he hasn't been eating his dried food (nuggets) and he's slowly eating less of the veg I give him. I took him to a local vet a week ago because he wasn't pooping very much and they were very small and hard - they gave me some medicine (sorry can't remember the name) which has sorted this out. He's pooping EVERYWHERE now haha

They also mentioned that his back teeth are long but not sharp. Sumi has had teeth issues all his life (I usually have to get his teeth done once a year), so I'm wondering if the weight loss is because of his teeth and not old age... He usually does start to go slowly off his food when they're too long and causing him discomfort.

I'm asking for advice mainly because I've never had a rabbit live to 9 so it's all new to me and there could be something else going on due to his age that I don't know about. Any advice would be great!

Thanks and here's a little pic of him doing what he does best, sleeping, for kindly reading my post

I had a 9.5 year old bunny who struggled to maintain weight. Her teeth were fine so I think sometimes it's just age related. I used to give her lots of fattening foods such as whole porridge oats (not Ready Break type but proper rolled oats). She had about a tablespoonful every day. I also fed higher sugar veg such as carrots, baby sweetcorn, peas etc, alongside her normal green, leafy veg, pellets and hay. But you need to make sure the extra sugars don't upset delicate bunny tums.

Thank you, that's really helpful

I took him to the vets and they said he's pretty healthy considering his age and that his weight seems to be leveling out, so fingers crossed he'll stay healthy.

You can feed Junior rabbit pellets to older buns to help with weight issues, but I would definately get his teeth checked again as the fact his eating habits have changed is usually a sign a dental may be needed.

I agree, junior pellets (introduce slowly) plus rolled oats are good for adding a bit of weight. His teeth could certainly be causing the problem. I think you have to be careful with older bunnies you don't write everything off as old age as they can the same perfectly fixable issues young buns get to

He's lovely