Eating has changed?

Hi All,

I was really unsure whether to post this in the medical section or diet section, but its a bit of both!

On Saturday we did a full day bonding session with Marmite & Kinder. Kinder is naturally stressy and gets hyped about silly things, where as Marmite is the opposite - nothing bothers her.
Since then, Kinder has refused to eat her pellets. She used to finish the whole bowl (of a set amount of grams) each day - and now I'm lucky if she eats a few.
She is however eating - she's had a variety of forage, vegetables and herbs. I also bought her camomile hay, to go along with her timothy hay, and she also has had blackcurrant leaves, apple twigs and herbal dried forage too. She is pooping as normal, and is active - running around and binky-ing. She also is chewing willow sticks and other wooden toys.

I tried mixing some burgess pellets in with her normal science selective - still nothing.

She's still being her usual self, no extra aggressiveness or lethargy.

Its a mystery, as everything is normal, except her turning her nose up.

I have a vet who I trust extremely well and their practice is just at the top of my street if I should need to go.

Any suggestions on what it could be?

I did worry about GI stasis but her poop is normal, and as for her teeth, would she be eating willow sticks and other wooden toys if her teeth where that sore that she couldn't eat pellets?

Right now she's doing the dead bunny so she's clearly happy! - I'm just worried sick. My previous rabbit was fussy and I had to change her pellets every 6 months, what a nightmare. Kinder is only just over a year old too, and has recently been on a sugar free and pellet controlled diet with unlimited hay.

Thank you in advance

Also I should add, I've been keeping Kinder in the living room (I work from home) so I can keep an eye on her. I have observed some excessive grooming of her private area, she almost rolls backwards because of this!

Did they have a bit of a scrap on Saturday and was Kinder bitten below?

Maybe it's just the stress of being with another female rabbit which has upset her appetite.

Are they both neutered? Favourite question!

tonibun said:

Did they have a bit of a scrap on Saturday and was Kinder bitten below?

Maybe it's just the stress of being with another female rabbit which has upset her appetite.

Are they both neutered? Favourite question!

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply! They did have a scrap, and then after a while they were fine to just "ignore" each other. But when they were having their scrap they didn't actually bite each other, just boxing, so no major contact was made! I was wondering if it was the stress, but they have been having bonding sessions for about 4 weeks now, so its not an unusual activity to her.

Yes they are both neutered! Marmite is from a rescue and was neutered at a very young age, I understand she was about 11 weeks old - by a rabbit savvy vet! And Kinder was neutered at 5 months old too.

I feel so awful not knowing why she's so upset! If she's no better I have a vet appointment in the morning set up as a "just in case"

It may well be worth having her checked over as long as that is not going to cause unnecessary stress.
Some people actually tale bonding bunnies on a car ride together to help cement the bond as they will look to each other for reassurance. I never did it but I know some people so. Only you will know whether they are at the stage of being in a carry cage together or not- reason I mentioned this is because if you take kinder to the vets be careful with the bonding after as if you take her separately she will smell 'funny' to marmite and it may delay the bond even more as she will see her as a 'new bunny'.

rachylou said:

It may well be worth having her checked over as long as that is not going to cause unnecessary stress.
Some people actually tale bonding bunnies on a car ride together to help cement the bond as they will look to each other for reassurance. I never did it but I know some people so. Only you will know whether they are at the stage of being in a carry cage together or not- reason I mentioned this is because if you take kinder to the vets be careful with the bonding after as if you take her separately she will smell 'funny' to marmite and it may delay the bond even more as she will see her as a 'new bunny'.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! We are wary of leaving them together in the crate since Marmite still gets all wound up by Kinder, I think in a few more sessions once they've decided who is boss it will be one route that I would definitely consider - I kept an eye on her all day yesterday and last night and luckily she has started on her pellets again, not as many as her usual but she is pooping as normal and looks a lot brighter this morning than she did 2 days ago, she came bounding around the corner to the kitchen when she heard me this morning and was looking for fresh herbs straight away
- I am really cautious of taking her to the vets as she really really doesn't like the vet (the last time we went she knocked over their computer and clawed the vets arm before retreating into my jacket and thumping against my leg) so I try to avoid the vets as much as possible!