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Increasing The Weight Of An Elderly, Very Recently Ill, Bunny

Jinny

Young Bun
This is a sort of follow on thread to all of the others, about my 12yr old (13 in April) un-neutered, pet, indoor, Netherland Dwarf, male bunny, but I felt it was worth separating, for ease of other people, who may be searching.

Since he has been ill, he has gone off all of his food, even the treat foods. He is just starting to show interest now, after yesterday, stealing, much to my surprise, a bite of my French Stick, that I was nibbling while feeding him. The only other food he wants to eat, is fresh romaine, or carrot - which he can't have, because fresh makes him ill.

He has basically been syringe fed every 2-3hours around the clock, on Oxbrow Critical Care, and Supreme Recovery liquid feeds, since December 21st. He maintained his weight well, until about 3 weeks ago, when his bladder infection really got bad, and due to constant diarrhea, and the anti-biotics, his weight just fell off, and you can feel all his bones now. He's like a fur covered skeleton now. :(

But now his Diarrhea has stopped, and he's showing interest in his food dish again - other than banging the full dish, to tell me it's feeding time! - I want to start building his body weight back up gently..... so my question is how?

His normal daily feed is:
  • Bunny Basics T pellets
  • A pinch of Burgess Senior Bunny Pellets
  • A pinch of Naturals Boredom Breakers Herbs Plus
  • A pinch of Naturals Boredom Breakers Nature's Salad
  • 2 Naturals Boredom Breakers Fenugreek Crunchies
  • 2 sticks of Supreme Bladder Support Feed
  • 2 Vitakraft Lofty's pillows
  • 2 Vitakraft Alfalfa biscuit rings
  • A pinch of Ocean Spray Craisins
  • 3 quarters of a Supreme Joint Support Biscuit
  • As much hay and Western Timothy Hay as he wanted
  • 0.6mls of Metatone Tonic
  • Drinking about 120mls - 150mls of water a day from a bowl

All of this fits in one bunny sized bowl, and he'd eat a fair bit of that every day - usually there was just dust, and a few Bunny Basics T Pellets, left 24hours later.

If he has anything fresh in terms of vegetables or fruit - within 20mins he has really bad Diarrhea, so he's long since been on small amounts of the dried stuff a day. If I give him too much of the dried, he gets a runny tummy too.

The items from Vitakraft are things I generally consider Junk Food, and the Burgess pellets, were only added when he was last ill and lost interest in eating and went on normal food strike, and would only eat the junk. He slowly went back onto eating the larger amount of Burgess Pellets - but now he won't eat any of it, but a couple of bits of the Boredom Breaker Herbs Plus, and Nature Salad.

Any advice you can give me, on how to build him up slowly, would be great.

Thanks in advance.
 
Firstly I apologise for this being a brief reply. I am very unwell, but I did not want to read your thread and not reply at all

It sounds as though your Rabbit may have rather a lot going on internally regarding his major organ function, especially his Liver. Sadly in very elderly and/or very ill Rabbits this is not unusual. He is also likely to have Dental problems now if he has not really had much but liquid feed since 21st December. So chewing may be very uncomfortable for him. Even with all the love and best will in the world I am not sure that he is going to start eating enough again to enable him to regain some weight. When was he last examined by a Vet and when was a last full blood profile run ?

I am so sorry that your Rabbit is really struggling now, it is obvious how much he means to you. I think the best course of action is to get him seem by a Vet again today to try to establish if he is infact in Liver failure. It is very hard when we reach this stage with a much loved Rabbit, I know :cry:
 
This is a sort of follow on thread to all of the others, about my 12yr old (13 in April) un-neutered, pet, indoor, Netherland Dwarf, male bunny, but I felt it was worth separating, for ease of other people, who may be searching.

Since he has been ill, he has gone off all of his food, even the treat foods. He is just starting to show interest now, after yesterday, stealing, much to my surprise, a bite of my French Stick, that I was nibbling while feeding him. The only other food he wants to eat, is fresh romaine, or carrot - which he can't have, because fresh makes him ill.

He has basically been syringe fed every 2-3hours around the clock, on Oxbrow Critical Care, and Supreme Recovery liquid feeds, since December 21st. He maintained his weight well, until about 3 weeks ago, when his bladder infection really got bad, and due to constant diarrhea, and the anti-biotics, his weight just fell off, and you can feel all his bones now. He's like a fur covered skeleton now. :(

But now his Diarrhea has stopped, and he's showing interest in his food dish again - other than banging the full dish, to tell me it's feeding time! - I want to start building his body weight back up gently..... so my question is how?

His normal daily feed is:
  • Bunny Basics T pellets
  • A pinch of Burgess Senior Bunny Pellets
  • A pinch of Naturals Boredom Breakers Herbs Plus
  • A pinch of Naturals Boredom Breakers Nature's Salad
  • 2 Naturals Boredom Breakers Fenugreek Crunchies
  • 2 sticks of Supreme Bladder Support Feed
  • 2 Vitakraft Lofty's pillows
  • 2 Vitakraft Alfalfa biscuit rings
  • A pinch of Ocean Spray Craisins
  • 3 quarters of a Supreme Joint Support Biscuit
  • As much hay and Western Timothy Hay as he wanted
  • 0.6mls of Metatone Tonic
  • Drinking about 120mls - 150mls of water a day from a bowl

All of this fits in one bunny sized bowl, and he'd eat a fair bit of that every day - usually there was just dust, and a few Bunny Basics T Pellets, left 24hours later.

If he has anything fresh in terms of vegetables or fruit - within 20mins he has really bad Diarrhea, so he's long since been on small amounts of the dried stuff a day. If I give him too much of the dried, he gets a runny tummy too.

The items from Vitakraft are things I generally consider Junk Food, and the Burgess pellets, were only added when he was last ill and lost interest in eating and went on normal food strike, and would only eat the junk. He slowly went back onto eating the larger amount of Burgess Pellets - but now he won't eat any of it, but a couple of bits of the Boredom Breaker Herbs Plus, and Nature Salad.

Any advice you can give me, on how to build him up slowly, would be great.

Thanks in advance.

I'm so sorry to hear about your sick bunny :cry:

I can't remember from your other thread whether he's had a blood test recently? Older rabbits can suffer from kidney issues, and it would be best to know what you're dealing with, however upsetting. At least then you can compensate and make his twilight years as good as possible.

It's always a great worry she they refuse to eat, or only eat sporadically.

Very best wishes for you and your well-loved bunny :love:
 
I'm sorry your little one is unwell :( I would be inclined to agree with Jane to get blood tests done to assess his organ function and have his teeth checked. I wanted to comment because I noticed a few things in your post that if changed might help. The first is the Alfalfa, I would avoid any foods containing this in a rabbit with UTI issues as it can increase calcium in the urine. The boredom breakers herbs might not be your best option, indeed the Natures salad contains carrot. My instinctive feeling is that there is too wide a variety of food stuffs and perhaps you need to focus on content. Did he have a probiotic of any kind when he was on antibiotics? These really are essential in helping to maintain gut flora that the antibiotics destroy.

I'd look at finding foods that will support him: Blackberry leaves are an appetite stimulant as well as an excellent gut soother, plantain is also excellent for gut support, oat hay has more calorific value than other hays so that might be worth adding in too. The probiotic is use is Protexin Pellets. Some coneflower/echinacea may also help boost his immune system.

The problem with many high calorie foods is that they may upset his gut... its a catch 22. I have used a teaspoon of dried organic oats in the past, but this is somewhat controversial and with your buns gut issues is not something I would recommend. I would instead be looking at good quality dried herbs and forage.

Those are just my ponderings, you clearly know what you are doing to have nurtured him to such a wonderful age. xx
 
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