Poorly bunny refusing food

This is my first post here - hello everyone!

Hope, my oldest (8 or 9 years), greyest, grumpiest bunny is not very well . She had a runny white discharge coming out of her eyes and nose at the weekend so I took her to the vet on Monday. He said she had blocked/infected tear ducts probably caused by the roots of her teeth growing up into her tear ducts and gave me antibiotics to give to her.

Since Monday night she has been refusing almost all food. She hasn't touched her pellets or hay and the only things she's eaten are a few sprigs of parsely and lavender, a few raisins and a nibble of carrot. She won't even eat grass.

Do you think the antibiotics could be making her feel ill? I know that it can be dangerous if a rabbit stops eating, but is she eating enough to keep her stomach moving?

One of my other rabbits died a few weeks ago and I'm wondering whether she's missing her. Giving her the oral antibiotic also really stresses her out.

I really appreciate any advice. I know she's an old lady, but I really don't want to lose another bunny so soon.

Thanks in advance!

Anna x

Hello and welcome!

Sorry to hear that your bunny is sick, she may not be eating because her teeth are hurting her. If they are growing and irritating the tear duct it would be quite painful for her to eat.
Did the vets do anything about her teeth? if not they really need to check them. I had a bunny with runny eyes caused by the back teeth growing at an angle. They had to put him out and file them down. His tear ducts had to be flushed out too.
antibiotics can make bunnies go off food but it's important that you try and get your bunny to eat. offer her lots of her favorite foods, if she won't eat them you might have to syringe feed her. It's very important that a bunny has food in their tummy at all times of their gut will slow down and evenchally stop.
I would call the vet again if you can't get her to eat.

Hello and welcome to RU!! If your vet suspects your buns eye problems are due to the roots of her teeth overgrowing then it is likely that she has spurs on her molar teeth. These are sharp points on the teeth which are not being worn down properly and will eventually cut into her cheeks/tongue. You need to take your bun back to the vets TODAY as if she is hardly eating she is at great risk of developing GI stasis. This is when the guts just stop moving things through, the liver starts to build up fatty deposits causing liver failure. I would ask your Vet about checking your buns teeth. To do this thoroughly will need a GA and so you cannot leave things any longer as without sufficient food intake your bun will be a very high anaesthetic risk. Hope your Vet can sort out her problem. Please keep us posted. Jane and Buns xx

Thank you both for replying so quickly!

The vet did look at her teeth and he couldn't see any spurs on her molars. She was struggling though and he didn't want to stress her out by looking for too long. He said that if the antibiotics don't work the next stage would be to give her an anaesthetic and look closely at her teeth, file/clip them if necessary and flush out her tear ducts.

Her eyes are almost completely better now though, just a little "sleep" in the corners this morning and they don't look red under the lid anymore.

I have been trying to tempt her with her favourite foods, but she just isn't interested - even turned up her nose at a bit of toast this morning.

If I can get her to eat maybe a handful of greens a day, should that be enough to keep her tummy working?

I will call the vet and ask him what he thinks too. I just don't want her to be put under anaesthetic at her age unless it is essential.

It's horrible - I'm stuck here at work and I just want to go home and check on her.

Thanks again!

Anna x

have you tried syring feeding her? If you cut the end off a syringe to make it bigger, you could get some mushed up pellets into her - just put a splash of boiling water on them and soak for 5 mins, then mix with some apple or pear baby food to make it taste nice.

Do you wrap her in a towel when you give her the antibiotics? You would need to do this if you syringed food into her as it would take longer - If she's a struggler you'd need to wrap her firmly and put her under your arm.

I will try syringe feeding her tonight if she's still refusing food.

She's very affectionate and sociable but HATES being pinned down and held. I'm not sure whether wrapping her in a towel would freak her out even more but I'll give it a try!

Anna x

If you lay a bath towel out on the floor, then just pick her up, plonk her on it, then wrap the sides up and over her so she can't kick and just her head is poking out the end - You can either back her up between your legs while you kneel on the floor, lifting her front end up so you can see her mouth, or sit on a bed and have her kind of under your arm and next to you - you need to have your arm around her back end or she will wriggle out of the towel backwards!

They can get hurt easily if they struggle too much, so it's safer to wrap them up rather than pin them down unwrapped. Hope it goes OK - don't forget the baby food - I ate my stocks last week on my porridge

Thanks everyone!

To my HUGE surprise, after a bit of persuasion, Hope ate readily from the syringe last night. I think she had about 20ml of pellet/water/baby food mush, but she's still refusing proper food except the odd nibble of parsely.

Does anyone know whether this is enough food to keep her going if I do that every day til she feels better, or should I take her to the vet's tonight? Our vet charges £95 for weekend callouts :shock: so I want to avoid that if at all possible. She's due to go back to see him on Thursday anyway.

Anna x

When you go back to the vets, ask for some of the rabbit recovery sachets.
These are the ones that they give after an op,and have loads of useful enzymes in them to keep the stomach and intestines working.
Have you tried mashed up banana and porridge,mine swear by it when they are poorly.

If you are worried than ring the vet today, they usually all have a few emergency slots put to one side for afternoon/ evening consultations.
I should know I'm frequently using them with my 8. :lol: :lol:

glad she's eating - does sound like her teeth though - did your vet wrap her in a towel to check them, as she's a struggler? When they get old, the bones in the skull get thinner and the tooth roots press through sometimes - only an x-ray would show your vet this, and even tooth extraction might not help - As they need an anaesthetic for an x-ray that would be a lot of GA for an old bunny.

If you keep up with the syringed pellets several times a day I expect she'll be OK till Monday - are you giving her plenty of water too? A splash of apple juice in that might encourage her to drink more - In fact I put pineapple juice half and half with antibiotics and they like the taste better.

Really you need to give her painkillers every day as she's probably not eating because it hurts - you could ask your vet for a bottle of metacam but they are reluctant to trust us public with dangerous drugs - understandably I guess as they don't want to get struck off.

When Zinniea had a bit of stasis I dissolved half an asprin and a raspberry rennie rapize in 100ml warm water and syringed a couple of tsps of that into her, but proper painkillers would be better if you can get to a vets.