I Remember Miffy
Young Bun
Hi everyone !
I posted a few weeks ago about my nine year old bunny who had virtually stopped eating and got lots of great advice - thank you!
Well, she had a dental check under sedation just over a week ago and the vet said her teeth were pretty good. He clipped/filed a couple of tiny sharp edges just in case, gave her a thorough check all over and she came home.
She seems pretty well in herself (lively, good shiny coat etc) but she's still refusing a lot of food. She won't touch her pellets at all but has a few things she'll eat lots of - celery, parsley, grass, raw mushroom, sunflower seeds (I know these aren't recommended for buns but she's a touch skinny and we're just desperate to get her eating), alfalfa treats (these are quite hard so I don't think she really has a problem with hard foods) and bread. To be honest, I'm not sure if she's eating hay because I give her loads for nesting and can't tell whether she's eating it too. She also doesn't seem to be drinking water at all.
Ever since she first stopped eating we've been syringe feeding her about 30ml a day in three sessions with pellets mushed with warm water and banana/apple/live yoghurt. She acepts this quite readily. We've also been giving her a bit of water by syringe.
We just don't seem to be able to get her eating normally again. We thought maybe she was sinply full up/not thirsty because we were feeding her so we tried reducing the syringe feeding, but this seemed to make her worse.
I suppose my question is, how long should we continue syringe feeding her if she seems otherwise well and whether a bun would be ok not eating pellets at all and just having grass/hay/vegs. I'm happy to take her back to the vet of course.
Is there any chance this could be because she's missing her friend Miffy, who died in January? I've had no luck at all bonding her with my other bunny Manny. He's desperate to be friends and wouldn't hurt a flea, but she HATES him!
Pfew! Sorry this is so long - hope some one can be bothered to trawl through!
Anna x
I posted a few weeks ago about my nine year old bunny who had virtually stopped eating and got lots of great advice - thank you!
Well, she had a dental check under sedation just over a week ago and the vet said her teeth were pretty good. He clipped/filed a couple of tiny sharp edges just in case, gave her a thorough check all over and she came home.
She seems pretty well in herself (lively, good shiny coat etc) but she's still refusing a lot of food. She won't touch her pellets at all but has a few things she'll eat lots of - celery, parsley, grass, raw mushroom, sunflower seeds (I know these aren't recommended for buns but she's a touch skinny and we're just desperate to get her eating), alfalfa treats (these are quite hard so I don't think she really has a problem with hard foods) and bread. To be honest, I'm not sure if she's eating hay because I give her loads for nesting and can't tell whether she's eating it too. She also doesn't seem to be drinking water at all.
Ever since she first stopped eating we've been syringe feeding her about 30ml a day in three sessions with pellets mushed with warm water and banana/apple/live yoghurt. She acepts this quite readily. We've also been giving her a bit of water by syringe.
We just don't seem to be able to get her eating normally again. We thought maybe she was sinply full up/not thirsty because we were feeding her so we tried reducing the syringe feeding, but this seemed to make her worse.
I suppose my question is, how long should we continue syringe feeding her if she seems otherwise well and whether a bun would be ok not eating pellets at all and just having grass/hay/vegs. I'm happy to take her back to the vet of course.
Is there any chance this could be because she's missing her friend Miffy, who died in January? I've had no luck at all bonding her with my other bunny Manny. He's desperate to be friends and wouldn't hurt a flea, but she HATES him!
Pfew! Sorry this is so long - hope some one can be bothered to trawl through!
Anna x