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Pat's bony bum

catxx

Mama Doe
Pat seems to have lost some muscle on her hind end and has some sharp little hip bones. She still has a nice rounded belly and her spine doesn't feel sharp. She is 9 years old though. We had a vet trip on Tuesday and he just wanted me to monitor it for now. She's still binkying and running about and eating normally.

She had lost some weight, from 1.6 to 1.4, but Bob had also lost the same amount, from 2 to 1.8, so that might just be the season - more running around and binkying.

She does sometimes seem a little stiff with her hind end though and after her latest big binky session she was very quiet a few hours later, like she'd over done it and was a little sore. Was bribed back around again with some pain meds and some bramble leaves (her favourite!).

I don't have pain meds prescribed for her at the moment though. Is there anything I should be considering that could help her joints??

She's still pooping normally and cleaning herself up normally too.
 
It might be worth feeding something a little higher in protein e.g. exchanging some of her adult pellets for the junior version as that will help maintain weight - sometimes older rabbits need slightly more calories.

I imagine the next step might be xrays to see if there are physical changes to the bones e.g. arthritis.

I take it she's moving normally then if she's running around binkying! It's worth keeping an eye and sometime down the line you might need to do things like adding ramps or lowering steps but whilst she's still able to then exercising is good for maintaining the muscles. Any big jumps it might be worth adding an optional step for the way down, as landing a down jump would be the sort of thing that puts most strain on her back end.

I'll let someone else answer if there is anything food/diet wise that will help.
 
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