Should diet change as rabbit gets older?

Hi

My rabbit is now 8 1/2 years old. Unfortunately he gets a messy bum quite a lot now.

The past year I have cut down on his greens but I feel he has only got worse.

He gets a good handful of science selective pellets twice a day with one small handful of greens. He has unlimited hay but can never tell how much he is eating.
I keep his greens in the fridge (always done this) but can this be adding to the problem?

Is it possible he has any arthritic type pain that prevents him keeping himself clean like he used to?

My vet said there's generally three reasons why buns get a messy bum - poor diet and/or being overweight, pain making them more reluctant/difficult for them to clean themselves and then some (not many, but some) are just plain lazy.

shame bless him...I would say as Beckie20 mentioned above....I will be aksing my exotics vet when the bunnies get their vaccinations this year about age related diet etc as mine are now 6/7 years old.

Perhaps adding more foraged dried food could help abit. Dried ribwort plantain is high in fibre as is bramble leaves.
Willow is a natural pain relief so you could try adding that occasionally for helping with pain from arthritus. Heat pads is another option to perhaps just have out permanently for him..snuggle safe or something - you might find he snuggles up to it and he is able to clean his bottom abit easier.

I dont know how he h as been with veges in general but my one rabbit is fine with veges - the next one so so if not given too many and the last one loves them but has real issues with them. So generally I dont give much.

I don't think a rabbit's diet should necessarily change as they get older, as long as they are healthy. I have 6 rabbits over 8 now, one is 11 in April and she is eating the same as always. I think possibly you could reduce the amount of pellets and so encourage her to eat more hay, as all the pellets as well as the veg add up to quite a bit of food which needs to be processed.

tonibun said:

I don't think a rabbit's diet should necessarily change as they get older, as long as they are healthy. I have 6 rabbits over 8 now, one is 11 in April and she is eating the same as always. I think possibly you could reduce the amount of pellets and so encourage her to eat more hay, as all the pellets as well as the veg add up to quite a bit of food which needs to be processed.

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Yeah I agree about the hay thing...just wondered if they should perhaps be given more say echinacea to help keep their immune systems up or something that helps with joint pains...the usual old age stuff. You could add this in plant form and they would probably love it.

k.mdaniels said:

Hi

My rabbit is now 8 1/2 years old. Unfortunately he gets a messy bum quite a lot now.

The past year I have cut down on his greens but I feel he has only got worse.

He gets a good handful of science selective pellets twice a day with one small handful of greens. He has unlimited hay but can never tell how much he is eating.
I keep his greens in the fridge (always done this) but can this be adding to the problem?

Click to expand...

I think it totally depends on your rabbit's current weight.

You don't want him too plump as arthritic changes are quite common and would put strain on joints. Though I don't view him as ancient yet Good to get a vet's assessment on that one, as mobility issues are a very common reason for a previously clean rabbit to have a dirty bum.

That's quite a lot of pellets, but he may need them to keep his weight up. Some rabbits, and more so than not in my experience, get thinner as they get older, so need a bit of TLC