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Newbie here needed a bit of advice

Hello everyone

We got a beautiful rabbit on last saturday and she doesn't appear to be eating much. if at all.

She did get handled alot on the first few days, then I read that they do notl ike being picked up all the time, so now we put her in the front room with us and sit on the floor and wait for her to come to us, whcih seems to have settled her down some what.

But I am worried about her eating, she has got the rabbit food with fruity bit, doesnt seem keen, i have tried, carrot, banana, lettuce, peas, and we gave her some oaty meusli type beakfast cereal, whcih she seems keenest one,

her water doesn't seem to be going down much but then I do not know how much she is supposed ot drink

We have had 2 rabbits before her and they wer both fine, they were different breeds not sure if that makes any difference at all

Is this because she is in a strange surroundings

We got her from the RSPCA where she was a stray and she is around 6 months old.

Any advice would be great!
 
Parsley is very good for tempting buns to eat! :D Be careful though, if she's not used to veg, giving her them could upset her stomach.

Has she plenty hay to eat? Is she still pooing?

If she stops eating completely and is not producing droppings you'll need to take her to the vet a.s.a.p. for something to get her stomach moving again.

It's probably the stress of moving that's put her off eating :? ?

I'm sure others will be along soon who can offer good advice!!
Welcome to the forum :D

Kate and Jack
x
 
I would suggest changing her food to pellets. Something like burgess excel or science selective. You have to do this gradually though over 10 days. Add a little of the new food to the old until by day 10 it is all new type of food.
Her main food should be hay so make sure she has an unlimited supply of timothy hay.
She can have carrot, romaine lettuce (but not iceberg) broccoli, cabbage, kale, parsley, celery leaves, dandelion, but introduce new food slowly.
Please do not give her peas, corn or breakfast cereal as they are bad for her.
Hope this helps.
What is your bunnies name? :D
 
Welcome to the forum!

The ideal rabbit diet is plenty of hay - nice green looking stuff not the chopped up brown stuff petshop sometimes sell.

For dry food go for a complete pellet rather than the mix. You'll probably find Burgess Excell or Supreme Science easiest to get hold of. Cereals/grains aren't ideal for bunnies their tummies are designed for leaves/stems of plents not the seeds :) It also stops them just picking out the tastiest bits and not getting a balanced diet.

For greens again go for leafly/green - carrot tops aswell as the bottoms. Avoid lettuce - particularly iceberg as that has a tendancy to upset their tummies. Things like banana should only be fed in small quantites as it's full of sugar. Parsley, basil are good for treats.

You could try offering her a bowl if she's not used to drinking from a bottle.

Keep an eye on her poop - if she stops producing them or they go very small/hard you need to take her to the vet.

Best wishes,
Tamsin
 
Hello
Thank you for your reply

Yes she is pooing. couple of nights ago she was pooing in the living room where we let her run round so this is why I noticed LOL. My daughter changes her hay everyday and yes there is poo in there.

We have put her back in her hutch for a while tonight and left her with a little bit of food in the the bottom of her bowl so we can notice properly if she is eating or not.

She is still nervous as she crouches down when someone goes near her and her nose quickens up and her heart rate speeds up too.

We all talk very quietly and calm to her. but try not to overwhelm her. I wish she would understand that we just love her to bits!

Thanks again for reply

Michele
 
Thanks Tamsin

So I have been feeding her all the wrong stuff then!!

We have no pellets so will have to get her some tomorrow and yes the hay is brown not green, where do you get the good stuff from. We live in the countryside so I am presuming the local famers would have plenty!

And Yes it was iceberg I gave her , we have given her carrot and she really isnt interested. I am going to call the RSPCA tomorrow and see if they can add anything, she has pet insurance for first 6 weeks too so can use that if necessary.

Thanks again
Michele
 
hi

I got a new rabbit on Saturday too, a 2yr old nethie from a rescue - She was acting just the same as your bunny is and I was very worried about her as they die very quickly from this type of behaviour when their stomach shuts down completely. I held the water bottle to Tia's mouth and she drank loads - she'd been too nervous to get out of her litter tray for 3 days! I gave her a couple of dandelion leaves to keep her eating - they are irresistable to bunnies - and she had a nibble on her hay - Has your rabbit got lots of nice fresh green hay, or dried grass? Pets at home do forage which is basically dried grass - that might tempt her? The thing that really cured her was I let her have the run of the room, after bunnyproofing it so she couldn't get hurt or damage anything - After 5 or 6 hours left to explore the room she had got her confidence up, pooed loads (who cares about carpet? :) ) and is absolutely fine now - But I am guessing your rabbit lives outside in a hutch?

Banana, lettuce, peas and museli are all foods which are too carb rich for bunnies, and lettuce is not recommended for other reasons - If she already has a slow down in her gut due to stress, inactivity and not eating/drinking, these foods will feed the bad bacteria building up in her stomach - I think long grass and dandelions, maybe a bit of spring greens will tempt her - If she's not used to a particular type of food it needs to be introduced gradually, but if she's not eating much then the main thing is to get her eating :)
 
We let her run around the living room alot
She lives in her hutch but it is in the garage/outside house

Would you think she might like me to pick some grass from the garden???

I am so worried about her

Will definately get her the pellets tomorrow first thing.
 
Aww she is gorgeous! and I love her name :D
I'm a bit concerned the RSPCA didn't give you any advice on feeding her. You can usually get a free care booklet from your vets which tells you what to feed her and other general health care info :D
My rabbit loved a bit of fresh picked grass before she was allowed a run in the garden. I'm sure Lyla would love some!
 
No there is no car in the garage

It's not really a garage, it is hard to explain, it is like a huge room linked to the house but the size of a garage

We did get a booklet from RSPCA which we read and it told us to feed her dry food etc which we did

All confused now!
 
Lyla is very beautiful and so is your daughter!! I see you are getting wonderful advice so will look forward to her coming on in leaps and bounds
 
Hiya! It does get quite confusing - there's so much to know! I'm still learning. If it helps, I feed my bunnies with excel pellets (just a handful a day each), plenty of hay and they have spring greens in the morning, and a variety of other veg in the evening. They ADORE fresh grass, so trying her with a very small bit may help?
Looking forward to seeing pics of her!
 
Wow you are all brilliant

My daughter is giving her water out of the bottle and she is having a bit, my daughter thinks it might be her teeth,

I think a visit to the vets is called to check on the teeth.

I am a total animal lover, been veggi for 22 years and been on many protests against hunting ETC. and It really upsets me when our pets seems unhappy

Thanks to you all for the advice
 
could be teeth probs but i would contact rescue before you go rushing to vets to see how she was eating there. vet visits often stress bunnies so if its just a matter of settling in it could make things worse. you could try to get some avipro from your vets to put in her water it is a probiotic and it is goood for animals who are under stress.
Angie
 
Just a thought that has not been mentioned.Your rabbit has come from a rescue and the likley hood is that it was a cage rabbit. From experience i know that to bring a rabbit in the house to start with is like an allian enviroment so give her time to ajust to all that space and new things. val
 
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