Feeding/Teeth issues?

Just wondering if someone can help me...

I've got a 2 and half yr old buck, who for the most part has lived on his own in the shed with my pigs (separately, not the same hutch or anything) - he did have a lady friend who ended up not being spayed and that resulted in babies and a whole load of craziness, so after that (and due to housing constraints) I decided to just let him get on and he seems to be fairly happy.

Well anyway, every so often he stops eating his food for a few days, but will eat veg, and then carries on eating his mix (rabbit royale). He's been doing this on and off for the entire time I've had him basically. So when he did it again a week ago I thought nothing of it, kept putting him fresh mix in his cage and a little bit of veg each day, until I realised it had gone on longer than a few days and that he'd lost a bit of weight too. So I went out and got him some different feed, burgess nuggets, and he started eating it straight away. I booked him into the vets regardless, as wanted to get his teeth checked, but his appetite does seem to have picked up since swapping his feed over.

The vet said that his teeth were a little overgrown at the back and starting to go outwards, but weren't too serious, however they wanted him in today to have his teeth burred. I got a call from the vets this afternoon saying that they had taken another look at his teeth and they weren't as bad as they thought (no ulceration on the inside of his mouth) and would need doing in the near future, but they didn't want to put him through that today as they thought the issue was with his gut, as his gut didn't seem to be moving properly. So they have sent him home with Fibreplex to give him over the next 2 days and told me to call them friday with an update.

Now, I would have thought that if he wasn't eating properly for about a week, that his gut wouldn't be moving properly regardless and is likely that this wasn't the cause of him not eating.

Does anyone have any ideas? He gets lots of fresh hay, I've been giving him rabbit royale mixed with justgrass, as well as the burgess nuggets, fibre stick things from P@H, veg and mini dried alfalfa compressed bales (the tiny ones from P@H in a bag). I'm at a loss, and the vets don't seem to have any idea either

to me it definitely sounds like his teeth. your vets don't sound very experienced. whereabouts are you? hopefully we can recommend a rabbit savvy vet for you. :wave:

The episodes you are describing sound like stasis - that's when the gut slows down and they stop eating and often pooping too. It can be quite serious as if they don't start again pretty quickly they can go down hill fast. Rabbits digestion system is designed to process food continually so they loose weight rapidly too. Stasis is often a secondary symptom to something eg teeth problems or pain - something that puts them off eating and then their gut slows and they don't feel like eating - vicious circle. Sometimes it can be tough to find out out what the underlying issue is though.

To be honest, you've been quite lucky, not eating is usually something you'd treat as an emergency and start on gut mobility drugs etc. that he starts eating again and is still alive/perky after a few days not eating is unusual. Was he pooping? - at a guess he was probably eating something eg hay and maybe just leaving the dry food? A change in food preferences is quite common with teeth issues.

The fact that he's got some teeth problems definitely points to that as a potential issue. Teeth problems can be diet or genetic or some and some. Some bunnies have very mild spurs all their lives without it becoming a problem others need them trimming regularly.

I think I'd try altering his diet, pellets are better than mix and mix has recently been linked with teeth issues so I'd stick with those. I'd give him a few day to perk up and gain a little weight and then reduce the amount of dry food - around 15g per 1kg of rabbit (generally works out about 1-2 egg cups). Then the rest hay (sounds like he's getting a good variety there

Hay or grass is best for wearing teeth so you may find that increasing that is enough to help the teeth or he may need them filed to the right shape initially. Then monitor him and see how it goes. I'd record his weight weekly and any times he goes off his food.

Thanks both. I'm in Gloucestershire, about 20 mins from Stroud. I've managed to find another vet who's seeing him tomorrow, just to give me a second opinion.

Every time he's stopped eating his dry food, he's carried on eating something else, I usually notice and give him a bit more veg than normal just to make sure that he's getting something in his tummy. It never usually lasts more than 2 days, and his personality/temperament never changes. Even now, he's a bit flatter than normal, but he's still boisterous/inquisitive.

His appetite has gone down a bit more the last 24hrs, I've tried giving him some critical care, but he's just not interested in it, however I have managed to get him to eat some spring greens. I'm thinking that with the vets visits and the new buck (who we only got sunday) he's a bit stressed out and that may be causing him to eat even less!? I'm contemplating bringing him inside for a few days just to see if he gets his appetite back.

it could be the presence of a new rabbit. best to get him checked out though. good luck for the vets :wave:

Whilst he's off his food, then feeding anything that will tempt him is good - they can be quite fussy when there stomach is sore - I find dandelions often go down well.

Stress can trigger stasis but I think there is probably a little more going on with his history and it going on so long. The smell of a new bunny wouldn't usually be enough to cause a problem, particularly if he's used to other animals around anyway. I would probably keep him in his current home as he'll be most relaxed there if he's not used to indoors - just check him regularly and offer different food - sometimes they'll eat stuff put under their nose when they can be bothered to get up and get it.

Let us know what the vet says

thanks, will update later today.

So far all he's eating is fibreplex and spring greens hopefully the vet will be able to do more.

Good luck for today :thumb:

I'm so glad I got a second opinion on him.

The vet has just been (mobile vet, so she came to us! so much less stress for him!) and she was a bunny person. She had a really good feel of him and found a hard mass in his gut which she says has been there for a few days and the other vets should have picked up. She is pretty sure it's all the food sat in his stomach rather than his cecal-bit-thingy. She's given him metacam, a weeks course of baytril (incase she needs to operate), and I've got a nurse coming shortly to give him something to flush his system (euripidim? something like that, I've seem it mentioned on a few threads on here). Vet is coming back tomorrow to give him another injection of the stuff the nurse is giving him. But she's said he could pass away over night, it's very serious. If he doesn't empty his gut over the weekend or improve slightly then she's going to recommend operating on monday - but she's said there isn't a very good prognosis for that, so she wants to try everything else first.

She really seemed like she knew what she was talking about, and I'm really glad that I had her take a look at him today. At least he's getting better treatment now than he was.

He's currently out on the grass, and seems to be eating a bit of it too.

Aww, hopefully it breaks down itself, sometimes it can be it gets a bit dried out and clumps together so hopefully the moisture from the grass and spring greens will be a help The metacam should make him feel better too if he's sore.

He's having a good go at the grass...so I'm just keeping my finger's crossed right now that this works and he doesn't need surgery

Usually bunnies with a blockage/partial blockage need to be admitted and put on sub cut fluids. Did she say to syringe water into him? Water is very important for helping everything to break down.

He's still drinking by himself, a normal amount of water as well - she did ask about that. But I'm keeping a close eye on his intake of everything atm, and if his water intake drops I'll syringe him water

Adding a splosh of pure apple juice to the water can encourage drinking, won't hurt him to drink a little more than usual atm.

I give my piggies metatone tonic when they're down...would that help him as well? It's just vitamins and supplements (for people)

well he's eaten almost all of his nuggets this morning and all the dandelions (although he's left a huge pile of grass...but hey, beggars can't be choosers!)...so finger's crossed the vet thinks his gut is a bit better today

I want to thank everyone who's commented for their helpful advice.

Although Fidg improved after seeing the vet and began eating again, she queried whether he had an issue with his kidneys and recommended booking him in for a scan or X-ray today. He was very agitated this morning, so we decided to take him in and left him with the vet to receive any treatment they thought necessary. Sadly it was very bad news. The scan showed that it wasn't an impaction, and that he infact had a mass the size of an apple near his stomach. The vets thought it could be his kidney inflamed, tumour or abscess, but that they would have to do exploratory surgery to find out what it was. It was clear that this wasn't going to be rectified, or even easily fixed, by a few more days of drugs. So I took the difficult decision to have him pts, as more tests and scans would have stressed him out and he was quite visibly in pain with it now.

I am devastated to loose such a wonderful bun so early on in his life. But I am happy that I made the right decision and that he is no longer in pain.

RIP Fidget :'(

Aww, I'm very sorry to hear that. It's great that you did everything you could with getting a second opinion and the tests, it sounds like the right decision for him, even if it was a tough one

I'm so sorry you lost him Binky free Fidg xx

So sorry. There have been too many bunnies lost recently through no fault of their caring parents.

Binky free.