confused....

Over the past week or so I have noticed that my male bun has been acting a little strangely when he's been eating.

Regardless of whether it's pellets or fresh veg, at mealtimes, and mealtimes only, he sometimes has a little sneezing fit, and pulls a really weird face (I thought he may have been choking the first time he did it). :? I thought at first it could be dust from his pellets but he does it with his fresh veg too, both organic and not organic. He still seems to be eating OK, and isn't really moulting a lot, so I cant put it down to that either.

His girlfriend is off to the vets on Tuesday for her jabs, so he will be going too and I'll ask for his teeth and him to be looked at as well, but I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what it could be? :shock:

im not too wise on rabbits health but could your bunny be allergic to the food?

sorry i really do not know but thats my wild guess :lol:
goodluck with the vets
amys

It's possible I guess! Does the veg and stuff get put inside the same bowl as the dried food, so there could still be a dusty residue of that around? Or maybe he has something stuck in his throat which is causing him irritation when he eats? I don't really know, just a couple of thoughts.

pellets get put in a bowl, and his fresh stuff is put on a tray in between the two food bowls for them to both share. It just seems a little odd that it's only when he's eating, and he only does it once and then he's fine :?

Sounds like it could be spurs on his back teeth, best to get a vet to check them out.

wow I didnt know spurs could cause sneezing, thats a great bit of info to have!

cazza269 said:

wow I didnt know spurs could cause sneezing, thats a great bit of info to have!

Click to expand...

yeah it can cazza , cheekybun used to sneeze alot when his back teeth got too long and this was usually b4 he went off his food so we were able to catch it quite early every time . The roots of the molars can start to push into the nasal tract causing irritation which is made worse when eating .

Ooh, thanks for that. The vet has said that Bobby's back teeth may become a problem, I'm making sure he eat lots of hay, and monitoring his eating, but that's a really good 'clue'.

:? I was worried it could be teeth related, since it's when he's eating, but he's still eating pellets and carrots OK, and I'd have thought that if it was spurs it would put him off hard foods?

He was neutered around 4 months ago, and the vets didn't mention anything then. (Do they usually check things like that all in one go whilst they are under? - just makes more sense to me ) Yet, when my new bun went in for her myxi jab two weeks ago, the first thing the same vet checked was her teeth. I will get them to check his teeth tomorrow when my girl goes back for her VHD jab (they're bonded now so will go everywhere together! :roll: - juggling 2 bunnies is a nightmare, as soon as one goes in the pet carrier they jump out just before you get the other one in there, cheeky gets!! :lol: )

Just out of interest, if it is spurs, how much do you think it'll cost roughly to have them filed - I know a lot of people have posted on this forum to say they've had it done. I'm just worried as I thought it was more in older buns, mine is only 17 months old

As per a previous post of mine, he still wont eat hay, even if I get him the really nicr rich stuff. Is the mass amounts of veg (parsely, basil, corriander, grass, carrots - with tops, brocoli, and spring greens) enough to wear his teeth down in their natural way. As I know that the criticism of pellets is that the buns chew in a different way to eat them that doesn't wear their teeth down enough. I thought that with all the greens he would hopefully not need to be forced onto the benefits of hay, as he just wont eat it, not even if I take away the rest of his food....

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

If your bun is not eating much hay, will he eat grass instead, that is good for wearing down their teeth as well.

Janice

My bun's had his spur problems for a couple of years now, and he's only about 3.
It costs around £60-80 to have them filed down under anaesthetic, which they have to do most of the time as the tool they use to do it without anaesthetic relies on the incisors being used to hold the mouth open. Mary doesn't have these so it's pretty hard to do, though the other day they did manage to do it, and it was a much nicer £8!
Mary still pigs out when his spurs are playing him up, but eats less hay (guess the side-to-side chewing motion pushes the spur into his tongue, whereas biting down on pellets doesn't)
What kinds of hay have you tried? Mine get a bit of a selection to encourage them to eat, as I have 3 with tooth problems (thankfully just the one with spur problems but apparently these can occur after incisor removal, which all 3 have had), including timothy hay, seed hay, JustGrass, ReadiGrass, a combination of hay/grasses, and occasionally some meadow hay (though they're not that keen)
I eventually took the 'cruel to be kind' approach and changed to a non/very low pellet diet, and his hay intake increased dramatically (as well as offering the different types of hay), and he gets more leafy veg than things like carrot. I try to leave it in as long pieces as possible to get him grinding his teeth rather than biting down, and it took 7 months of this new diet for him to have problems with his spurs again, as opposed to going every couple of months.

I've tried him on timothy, medow hay, super excell or burgess alfalfa kinda stuff, but he's just never eaten much of it. But he does have a lot of herbs and grass to make up for it, but I don't know if it's as abrasive. :?

I will let you all know what my vet thinks tomorrow

UPDATE!

Well, we went to the vet, nothing wrong with his teeth, and his breathing seems OK too, the vet checked him over and could find nothing obviously wrong so I'm just to keep an eye on him, although the sneezing seems to have calmed down a little now.

I've also found something new to give him to replace all the hay I'm buying that he wont touch. I got some sticks from P@H, they're made by Excell (I think) and these ones are dried grass and mint in a mini edible tube (look like cigar shape :shock: ) But they're really high in fibre and trhe buns are loving eating them and throwing them around!! - treacle has been banging them against Travis' head?! :roll: