Help with feeding liquid feed

Hi, I had to have one of my rabbits put to sleep on friday night. Her partner Zebedee stopped eating last night so I took him to the emergency vet. Vet said he is very healthy and is grieving but that I needed to syringe feed him with recovery food every two hours. I am really struggling to get any into him, even if I get it into his mouth he seems to spit it out. Does anyone have any tips on encouraging him to take it? Thanks.

NJK said:

Hi, I had to have one of my rabbits put to sleep on friday night. Her partner Zebedee stopped eating last night so I took him to the emergency vet. Vet said he is very healthy and is grieving but that I needed to syringe feed him with recovery food every two hours. I am really struggling to get any into him, even if I get it into his mouth he seems to spit it out. Does anyone have any tips on encouraging him to take it? Thanks.

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I am very sorry for your recent loss. Is Zebedee still producing poo ?

Have you tried tempting him with some fresh herbs ? Coriander often tempts an anorexic Rabbit to have a nibble of it. You could try mixing some veg/fruit baby food into the syringe feed which may make it more palatable.

Is Zebedee moving around and not sitting all hunched up ?

Thanks for your reply. There has been a few poos but none in an hour :-( I have however just seen him eating hay and he is moving around. He has recently had a tiny bit of parsley. I will be feeding him in 45 mins so will pop to the co op and buy some baby food, thanks for the tip xx

NJK said:

Hi, I had to have one of my rabbits put to sleep on friday night. Her partner Zebedee stopped eating last night so I took him to the emergency vet. Vet said he is very healthy and is grieving but that I needed to syringe feed him with recovery food every two hours. I am really struggling to get any into him, even if I get it into his mouth he seems to spit it out. Does anyone have any tips on encouraging him to take it? Thanks.

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So sorry to hear that Zebedee is not eating.

I use Ella's Kitchen baby food to mix with the recovery food, and the blueberries pouch goes down very well with my tribe

A bit of info on stasis, in case you need it :

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv/basic

It's sometimes helpful to have the info standing by, just in case.

Good luck xx

NJK said:

Thanks for your reply. There has been a few poos but none in an hour :-( I have however just seen him eating hay and he is moving around. He has recently had a tiny bit of parsley. I will be feeding him in 45 mins so will pop to the co op and buy some baby food, thanks for the tip xx

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You're welcome. Its good to hear that Zebedee has some output and that he is eating a little for himself now. Hay is excellent for getting his GI tract moving. If you can encourage him to have some fluids too that would be great. If he gets stressed by syringe feeding try offering the liquid feed to him on a dish. Or blob a bit on his front paws which he should clean it off. Once he realises that it is rather tasty he may lap it up from the dish. Hopefully he will start to eat a bit more as the evening progresses.

Have managed to get a small amount of food into him but nowhere near enough so have taken your advice and put some on his feet and a dish. Next feed in 2 hours so we'll see! Xx

Just an update on zebedee. I fed him every two hours during the night (or tried to!). He also ate some parsley and a few pellets but I'm not sure about hay. I managed to get the day off and reduced it to every 3 hours and will do every 4 hours tonight. There have been a few poos and he has taken a fair amount of feed although he is very sly and keeps it in his mouth until he gets back in the hutch and then spits it out. He doesn't seem to like the baby food so resorted to mixing the feed with crushed pellets from the bottom of the bag which I think helped. I really can't take another day off so will leave him with plenty of food and panic all day :-(

NJK said:

Thanks for your reply. There has been a few poos but none in an hour :-( I have however just seen him eating hay and he is moving around. He has recently had a tiny bit of parsley. I will be feeding him in 45 mins so will pop to the co op and buy some baby food, thanks for the tip xx

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Hay is good

I hope his eating picks up very soon