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Advice needed re feeding

vanessa

Warren Scout
Since having dental work three years ago, my rabbit can't eat hay anymore and his stomach seems sensitive to veg so he can't have too much of that either. About a month ago, I changed him over from Exel to Science Selective to try and help his sticky bottom problems. He seemed to have improved quite a bit although not completely, but this morning his room was quite bad mess wise. Because he can't eat hay or much veg, I don't restrict the amount of dry food he has because obviously he can't fill up on anything else and I don't want him to be hungry. He seems to eat slightly more of the SS than he did Exel. I realise that too much dry food can cause sticky bottom problems, so should I be restricting him to the recommended amount of 50g a day even though he can't eat much else? Would a different dried food be any better for him eg. Allen and Page or is it likely that too much of any dry food will mean he still has tummy troubles? I tried to change him before onto Bunny Basics T pellets but he wasn't having it! Any advice would be appreciated on what would be best to feed him and how much of it.
 
HI vanessa

You don't say how large a bunny you have. That will affect the amount of dried food he should have.

I had a similar problem to you before and in order to encourage bun to eat enough food, I had to use a blender to mash up every meal. Favourites were mashed carrot and greens with occasional riveta / brown toast mixed in for a treat. By cutting his Burgess Excel pellets down, I avoided the sticky bottom problem he was experiencing. Herbs are also excellent as they don't take much effort to eat and when mixed with hay, helps encourage interest in food. If you don't have a blender, try cutting small pieces of veg and holding them for bun whilst he has a nibble. Sounds like alot of hard work (it was at times) but it kept our bunny going through the worst of his tooth times and even when he wasn't having trouble, mushy food helped him eat the right quantities/mix of food and keep his weight up.

Worth a try and good luck.

Helenx
 
Thanks for your tips. My bunny is a medium sized lop, weighs about 6 lbs. The only thing he is unable to eat is hay, I've watched him struggle before, he chews on it for ages but has to give up as he can't manage to suck it up like they do. For the first two years of his life, he was hay mad so its not that he doesn't like it, I've since tried loads of different types to try to tempt him without success and if I put anything else in with it, he will just sniff out those bits and leave the hay! He can eat everything else without any problems, but too much veg makes his stomach worse so I can't give him too much of it. He loves bits of toast and ryvita, but I thought they weren't good for him so cut down on them. I suppose there isn't much I can really do if he can't eat hay and his stomach doesn't like much veg :(
 
Sounds so much like our past problem bun! Uncany.

Have you tried chopping and mixing his hay with his other food, especially stuff he likes.

Its not nice is it to watch them struggling to eat, especially hay as they make it look so difficult.

Helenx
 
No, haven't tried chopping the hay up, but will give it a go to see if it can get past bunny that way! How small does it need to be, half inch long or so or smaller?
 
My Buns have chopped timothy hay - not for dental reasons or anything its just the one i currently buy is chopped - you could try that
 
did he have his front teeth removed?

my friend had a bunny who had to have both front sets of teeth taken out. as long as the veg/hay was chopped small he could scope it up with his lips and eat normaly (his back teeth were normal).
you could try the burges 'forage'. (dried grass) thats chopped fairly short and it should help if he has lose stools too.
 
the brand of dry food isn't your problem, he's just eating too much of it - give him a handful twice a day, and chopped up hay the rest of the day, and I bet you will see an improvement - hope so anyway! :)
 
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