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my lionhead stopped eating.....desperate for advice

N

noddy

New Kit
can anyone please give us any suggestions..for nearly a week now our 5 year old female neutered Lionhead's eating habits have changed. First of all we noticed she had stopped eating altogether including her favourite treats. We took her to the vets they did all the normal checks everything seemed fine although we were told she had a few small spurs on her teeth which she had removed but still 3 days later she still refuses to eat hay or nuggets but will eat soft stuff such as apple, dandelion and dandelion leaves. She is constantly grooming and seems to be drinking a lot more than she used to. She is still active and enjoys strokes which indicates shes not in pain. We have had her back to the vets and were told to keep up the force feeding with recovery and she did not have a sore mouth as we had suspected. Her poo's are smaller than normal and not as many as usual, but shes passing water more frequently.If theres anyone out there who can help with any suggestions or have had the same issues with their bunnies we would very much welcome your help. looking forward to your suggestions....2 very confused owners, had bunnies for 7 years and never experienced this before.:)
 
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Has the vet given her any drugs? Rabbit's hide pain well so giving metacam (painkiller) can help sometimes if only to rule pain out as a factor. They can also give appetite stimulants to help encourage her to it.

Her poos will be smaller as she's not eating hay which provides the bulky fibre that make big round poops. The fresh foods she's eating will be increasing her water intake which could be why she's urinating more too.

It's good she's eating some things, you might be able to build on that - grass would be a good one as that can be used as a replacement for hay. You could also try soaking her normal pellets with some water to soften them and see if she'll then eat them. Another thing to try is rolled oats (porridge oats), you can mix them with water to make a mush which is tasty and if she likes that you can also mix in the recovery goo rather than syringe feeding (which must rabbits are not happy about!).

Sometimes when they've had a period of not eating it can take a few days for them to be back to normal and they'll have odd preferences. Either way, it's really important to keep her eating whilst you work out the underlying problem so at this point keep offering her different things and provide plenty of what she's happy to eat.
 
Tamsin said:
Has the vet given her any drugs? Rabbit's hide pain well so giving metacam (painkiller) can help sometimes if only to rule pain out as a factor. They can also give appetite stimulants to help encourage her to it.

Her poos will be smaller as she's not eating hay which provides the bulky fibre that make big round poops. The fresh foods she's eating will be increasing her water intake which could be why she's urinating more too.

It's good she's eating some things, you might be able to build on that - grass would be a good one as that can be used as a replacement for hay. You could also try soaking her normal pellets with some water to soften them and see if she'll then eat them. Another thing to try is rolled oats (porridge oats), you can mix them with water to make a mush which is tasty and if she likes that you can also mix in the recovery goo rather than syringe feeding (which must rabbits are not happy about!).

Sometimes when they've had a period of not eating it can take a few days for them to be back to normal and they'll have odd preferences. Either way, it's really important to keep her eating whilst you work out the underlying problem so at this point keep offering her different things and provide plenty of what she's happy to eat.
Click to expand...

thank you, thats very helpful, we will certainly try with the porridge.yes she had pain killers at the onset but not since.
 
I'd ask the vet about painkillers then - metacam can be given orally so you give it at home.

Sometimes it's hard to guess what they'll feel like eating so trying lots of different things is key, they can turn there nose up completely for some things and then pig out on others.
 
Over the last few days she has improved, she has been eating dandelion leaves, apple, fresh carrot, broccoli & dried carrot and even her nuggets, but still she will not eat her hay !! Any suggestions as to why ???
 
That's good to hear. It might just be it takes a couple more days for her to start on the hay, or she could have so many other yummy things to eat at the moment hay isn't looking very tempting, or her teeth could still be a little sore. You could try handfeeding it - sometime they think things you hand them must be tasty. Or leaving her with just hay for an hour or so at whatever time she usually eats. Also make sure the hay is easily accessible wherever her favourite place to sit and relax is.
 
Hope your bunny continues to improve. I have a fussy hay-eater who often responds to hand-feeding so it is certainly worth trying this.
 
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