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Can a Rabbit Survive on Hay and Kale? UD 21/05 Really do not know what to do

H

happybunny

Mama Doe
We have had Leah about a year. She was from a free to good home ad and was advertised as healthy. When we got home with her we found she was blind in 1 eye and appeared to have an injury to her front paw that had healed oddly. Other than that she appeared to be healthy.

She loved hay, veg and excel pellets.

6 weeks ago she stopped eating her pellets. She was given a dental and never really pulled back. She had to have another dental last week and it was found that she had 2 ulcers. She is now eating just hay and kale but is maintaining a reasonable weight (less than she was before the problem but more than when we adopted her). She eats the occasional pellet and perhaps a small amount of other veg (if the kale is not there) but is this enough?

Any advice welcome.
x
 
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happybunny said:
We have had Leah about a year. She was from a fee to good home ad and was advertised as healthy. When we got home with her we found she was blind in 1 eye and appeared to have an injury to her front paw that had healed oddly. Other than that she appeared to be healthy.

She loved hay, veg and excel pellets.

6 weeks ago she stopped eating her pellets. She was given a dental and never really pulled back. She had to have another dental last week and it was found that she had 2 ulcers. She is now eating just hay and kale but is maintaining a reasonable weight (less than she was before the problem but more than when we adopted her). She eats the occasional pellet and perhaps a small amount of other veg (if the kale is not there) but is this enough?

Any advice welcome.
x
Click to expand...

Did the Vet take skull radiographs to assess the tooth roots and to look for any 'hidden' problems within the bones ? It sounds as though she may have tooth root elongation. This can cause significant bone pain, made worse when trying to eat pellets. Is she on any pain relief ?
 
There are bunnies on this forum who are on hay only diets but I know when I've put Doughnut on this when she's been ill she loses weight. Maybe it's because she is unwell though!

Sorry I'm not much help but maybe one of them will come along but as Jane says hopefully the problem will be put right and the pellets will continue. Doughnut has only ever gone off pellets when she is unwell.
 
The basic answer is yes they can do fine on just hay - the pellet v. muesli study had a control group that just ate hay for 18 months. They maintained weight but didn't grow as large as rabbits on dry food too (not an issue here as they were babies), but long term (months/years) there maybe issues with not getting the right vitamin combinations. You could help that by trying mixed hay varieties and seeing how she feels about other dried leaves eg dandelion - wilkinson stock small bags of dry mixes for a couple of pounds if you want to try them.

You could also try soaking her pellets and see if she'll eat them then, or try rolled oats - which take less crunching.
 
My rabbits have often been on hay/ grass/ veg diets for years at a time.

I would hesitate giving Kale every day as it's high in calcium. Best to vary the veggies if having no pellets.

Pellets are usually much easier for rabbits to eat than hay, as the tooth action needed is different (crunching, as opposed to grinding with hay, which wears the teeth down).
 
Thank you for all of your replies, it is greatly appreciated.

She is on metacam at the moment. She has not had x-rays of her skull but I am trying to decide if she needs to be rechecked or if it is just a waiting game.

We have tried soaking SS which she ate for a days and then stopped. I never thought to soak excel - silly me!

I bought some small taster hay varieties today but as yet she has not been very interested.

We have tried giving her veg other than kale but she will not eat it (well maybe a nibble but no major intake).
x
 
It sounds to me like there is still a problem since she isn't eating hardly anything. Is your vet rabbit savvy? Doughnut hasn't needed any dental work but I know bunnies on here who have and sometimes they need xrays done to see the problem.
 
cpayne said:
It sounds to me like there is still a problem since she isn't eating hardly anything. Is your vet rabbit savvy? Doughnut hasn't needed any dental work but I know bunnies on here who have and sometimes they need xrays done to see the problem.
Click to expand...

My vet has never been convinced that skull radiographs throw that much light on teeth problems ..
 
ripminnie said:
Indeed!!! I can't believe a vet said that! :shock:
Click to expand...

If they don't have a small enough plate then it might be the case for their xrays. That's why we go to FHB for xrays. Our vet won't do skull xrays on Scarlet. He said they wouldn't be anywhere near as useful.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
:shock:

Skull radiographs are the only way to assess the tooth roots !!

http://www.manorvets.co.uk/ckfinder/userfiles/files/dental dz(1).pdf

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/Rabbit_dentistry.pdf

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Rabbit_dentistry1.pdf

http://www.rabbitdentistry.com/Contents_files/Preview.pdf
Click to expand...

She says that it's very difficult to get the angle of X-ray correct enough to supply valid information. She is an ace vet, and I go with what she tells me :D
 
RedFraggle said:
If they don't have a small enough plate then it might be the case for their xrays. That's why we go to FHB for xrays. Our vet won't do skull xrays on Scarlet. He said they wouldn't be anywhere near as useful.
Click to expand...

This could well be the reason my vet doesn't see so much value in skull radiographs. FHB is one in a million :D
 
MightyMax said:
She says that it's very difficult to get the angle of X-ray correct enough to supply valid information. She is an ace vet, and I go with what she tells me :D
Click to expand...

Ah, so you dont mean Xrays are not helpful per say, but that specific dental Xrays are needed. That is what my Vet says anyway.
 
MightyMax said:
I think you'll find we're both talking about the same vet - Christobel from Twickenham Vets?
Click to expand...

I think you may have mis-interpreted what she said as I know for 100% certain she would never suggest that Dental Xrays are not useful :?

When she gets back from holiday I'll ask her to confirm :D
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I think you may have mis-interpreted what she said as I know for 100% certain she would never suggest that Dental Xrays are not useful :?

When she gets back from holiday I'll ask her to confirm :D
Click to expand...

No I didn’t misinterpret what Christobel said about dental x-rays in connection with two of my rabbits, as she was quite clear.

What I respect and admire about Christobel is the fact she doesn’t do ‘skull radiographs’ just because they may or may not provide useful information. In cases where other vets might have done them, she is aware of their limited usefulness and so decided their worth isn’t justified in terms of a general anaesthetic for the rabbit and the cost to the owner.

As we both know, Christobel is not only a wonderful vet, but also a warm and compassionate person, which infuses everything she does :D
 
MightyMax said:
No I didn’t misinterpret what Christobel said about dental x-rays in connection with two of my rabbits, as she was quite clear.

What I respect and admire about Christobel is the fact she doesn’t do ‘skull radiographs’ just because they may or may not provide useful information. In cases where other vets might have done them, she is aware of their limited usefulness and so decided their worth isn’t justified in terms of a general anaesthetic for the rabbit and the cost to the owner.

As we both know, Christobel is not only a wonderful vet, but also a warm and compassionate person, which infuses everything she does :D
Click to expand...

:thumb:

Many of my Rabbits have had Xrays taken by her during the course of a GA/Dental. IE the Rabbit was being GA'd anyway (for the Dental). Tooth root elongation and in one case osteosarcoma was diagnosed as a result.
 
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Leah has an x-ray taken yesterday and although her teeth are not great it showed something of greater concern. She has arthritis in her neck so we now think that perhaps the bowl is the problem and not so much the food. We are increasing her metacam to twice a day and trying way of feeding her that may help with her neck.
 
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