Can anyone list some foods to tempt a very non-food orientated bun with?
To make it a short story, bun (not mine) was fed lots of treat foods and fed on a mix, and not really encouraged to eat hay as she never showed any interest in it.
Possibly as a result of this, the bun got the beginnings of GI stasis while here with me. We caught it quickly and she was down the vet, but obviously if she goes back to just the food she's been on there's a good chance it'll happen again.
The bun has eaten hay while with me, but she seems to get bored/fed up of it quickly. Same with veg - she's always been fed on sliced spring greens and baby carrots, and she'll eat these but when I've introduced little bits of new veg she'll have a munch and then leave them.
I've managed to wean her onto pellets, and I'm now on the stage where she'll eat them without any of her mix added either - however, her owner says when she tries, the bun wouldn't touch the bowl at all, not even the mix that was in with the pellets.
Apparently she used to go mad for grass but no longer really likes it either. I picked some for her today, as well as a dandelion, and she had a sniff, a little nibble at the grass, and again, decided she'd had enough.
Is she just a really fussy bunny, or could it be something more sinister? She has problems with a blocked tear duct, but her teeth have been looked at with no problems. I'm just wondering if it's possibly a root thing making her duct block, and whether this would decrease her appetite too. Is there anything that could be done for this anyway?
It's awkward as she's not my bunny, and her owner is at her wits end as all attempts at converting her to a healthy eating have failed - and I have to say my success is quite limited too. Although bun is rather spoilt, the owner does love her and would do anything to make sure she's as healthy as can be.
Bun is due to go home tonight but we've agreed that I'll keep her for however long it takes for her gut to be working OK, as I've been syringe-feeding her which is a bit of a difficult task for me - even though I've done it many times before - so her owner prefered that I continued it.
I'm not sure whether keeping her is the right thing though - owner admits that she may not recognise the signs of GI stasis as well as I might, but then being in her home environment may help her get better sooner. I'm just a bit concerned that the healthy eating may lose out to eating something she really loves, like treatsticks, no matter how good the owners intentions are.
I'm just feeling awkward as it's not my bunny, and not really my responsibility, but when I know what needs to be done it's hard not to try my best to convince her owner - especially as, as her owner said last night, bun's done fine up until now on this diet.
I think if I could find a way to get bun to enjoy healthy food as much as the treats, etc. then she'd be fine but it's proving rather difficult :?
To make it a short story, bun (not mine) was fed lots of treat foods and fed on a mix, and not really encouraged to eat hay as she never showed any interest in it.
Possibly as a result of this, the bun got the beginnings of GI stasis while here with me. We caught it quickly and she was down the vet, but obviously if she goes back to just the food she's been on there's a good chance it'll happen again.
The bun has eaten hay while with me, but she seems to get bored/fed up of it quickly. Same with veg - she's always been fed on sliced spring greens and baby carrots, and she'll eat these but when I've introduced little bits of new veg she'll have a munch and then leave them.
I've managed to wean her onto pellets, and I'm now on the stage where she'll eat them without any of her mix added either - however, her owner says when she tries, the bun wouldn't touch the bowl at all, not even the mix that was in with the pellets.
Apparently she used to go mad for grass but no longer really likes it either. I picked some for her today, as well as a dandelion, and she had a sniff, a little nibble at the grass, and again, decided she'd had enough.
Is she just a really fussy bunny, or could it be something more sinister? She has problems with a blocked tear duct, but her teeth have been looked at with no problems. I'm just wondering if it's possibly a root thing making her duct block, and whether this would decrease her appetite too. Is there anything that could be done for this anyway?
It's awkward as she's not my bunny, and her owner is at her wits end as all attempts at converting her to a healthy eating have failed - and I have to say my success is quite limited too. Although bun is rather spoilt, the owner does love her and would do anything to make sure she's as healthy as can be.
Bun is due to go home tonight but we've agreed that I'll keep her for however long it takes for her gut to be working OK, as I've been syringe-feeding her which is a bit of a difficult task for me - even though I've done it many times before - so her owner prefered that I continued it.
I'm not sure whether keeping her is the right thing though - owner admits that she may not recognise the signs of GI stasis as well as I might, but then being in her home environment may help her get better sooner. I'm just a bit concerned that the healthy eating may lose out to eating something she really loves, like treatsticks, no matter how good the owners intentions are.
I'm just feeling awkward as it's not my bunny, and not really my responsibility, but when I know what needs to be done it's hard not to try my best to convince her owner - especially as, as her owner said last night, bun's done fine up until now on this diet.
I think if I could find a way to get bun to enjoy healthy food as much as the treats, etc. then she'd be fine but it's proving rather difficult :?