Any ideas why rabbit may stop eating??

[Sonja05]

Hello everyone,

I’d love your thoughts on what happened to my angora bunny Belle.

Two evenings ago she stopped eating and was looking very sorry for herself. I gave her one dose of loxicom and emeprid along with a few tummy massages. The next morning she was better eating dried apple leaves but not particularly keen on pellets. She’d had a dental 6 weeks ago so I was pretty sure she had another spur forming. I made an appointment for the vets that evening.

Roll on a few hours later she’s more than full of life, eating everything in sight and binkying away without a care in the world. She’s been like it ever since. We didn’t go to the vets.

Can rabbits have a bout of just feeling under the weather? She had torn and dug at a carpet 4 days before, I wonder if that was linked.

Any of your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. Xxx

 

[InspectorMorse]

Impossible to say. It could have been abdominal pain caused by ingesting carpet fibre. It could have been a build up of gas due to slow gut motility.

It’s important NOT to give a prokinetic drug eg emeprid to a Rabbit who isn’t eating unless you are 100% certain that there’s no obstruction. This means a full abdominal examination, auscultation and blood glucose testing must be carried out. Giving a prokinetic drug to a Rabbit with a GI tract obstruction can prove to be fatal, the stomach can rupture.

I would get your Rabbit’s teeth checked again as it could be that another dental will be needed soon.

Do you feed her a diet based on 80%-90% hay? Hay is the most important part of a Rabbit’s diet to insure good gut motility and dental attrition.

Monitoring poo output is a good way to monitor gut motility. Small poo/less poo is a sign of reduced gut motility, even if the Rabbit is still eating. So a Vet check is always needed.

 

[Sonja05]

Thank you so much for your reply. I didn’t know that about emeprid. I’m horrified and won’t be using again before a vet visit. Belle is an avid hay eater. She has a small amount of pellets in the morning and herbs in the evening. She usually has 10 months between dentals. I’love get her checked at the vet this week.

I really appreciate your reply.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thank you so much for your reply. I didn’t know that about emeprid. I’m horrified and won’t be using again before a vet visit. Belle is an avid hay eater. She has a small amount of pellets in the morning and herbs in the evening. She usually has 10 months between dentals. I’love get her checked at the vet this week.

I really appreciate your reply.

Your welcome

 

[bunny momma]

You already got good advice. Sending vibes Belle continues to eat and poo until the vet appointment.