Badly need advice on food for rabbits.
One of our bunnies, a very old fellow, has gut stasis and potentially a bacterial infection (the vet thinks that's what caused it)
Basically, he's all but stopped eating and his gut is slowing down, he's lost condition very quickly, and being and old guy he didn't have heaps to begin with.
He's on baytril and maxalon twice a day. And we're trying to syringe feed him. The vet said 75mls a day absolutely minimum.
Up until now, he was eating about a third of a cob of corn (his favorite food that we know of), and a little bit of silver beet, plus a few blades of grass. He had a nibble on some slices of pear and another nibble on some carrot. We're not seeing any droppings in his hutch and this is the third day he's been on the medicine.
The past two days we've been able to feed him ok, but today he just wasn't coping, I'm waiting for the vet to call me back. He started biting everything in sight and shaking. Normally he settles down after a few minutes with his head covered but today he was a wreck.
What I need is advice from anyone who's had to deal with anything like that on how to keep him calm, and what kinds of foods he might like.
We've tried;
Carrot
Broccoli
Silverbeet
Pears
Pineapple
Dry bread (with jam on it)
Fresh grass
White clover hay
Apple
Corn on the cob
Lettuce
Cabbage
Pureed carrot, broccoli and kumara
Pureed pineapple and pear
His medicine in jam
For calming him down;
Wrapped him in a towel and let him sit for about ten minutes before feeding him
Taking breaks between mouthfuls
Letting him out of the towel to sniff around and wander for a bit before I feed him (it worked yesterday but not today)
I'm not very experienced with bunnies as ours have always been pretty healthy and easy to care for. The big problem is while this guy was hand reared he's always hated being handled, and gets really distressed.
Any ideas, even if they seem really basic would be appreciated.
One of our bunnies, a very old fellow, has gut stasis and potentially a bacterial infection (the vet thinks that's what caused it)
Basically, he's all but stopped eating and his gut is slowing down, he's lost condition very quickly, and being and old guy he didn't have heaps to begin with.
He's on baytril and maxalon twice a day. And we're trying to syringe feed him. The vet said 75mls a day absolutely minimum.
Up until now, he was eating about a third of a cob of corn (his favorite food that we know of), and a little bit of silver beet, plus a few blades of grass. He had a nibble on some slices of pear and another nibble on some carrot. We're not seeing any droppings in his hutch and this is the third day he's been on the medicine.
The past two days we've been able to feed him ok, but today he just wasn't coping, I'm waiting for the vet to call me back. He started biting everything in sight and shaking. Normally he settles down after a few minutes with his head covered but today he was a wreck.
What I need is advice from anyone who's had to deal with anything like that on how to keep him calm, and what kinds of foods he might like.
We've tried;
Carrot
Broccoli
Silverbeet
Pears
Pineapple
Dry bread (with jam on it)
Fresh grass
White clover hay
Apple
Corn on the cob
Lettuce
Cabbage
Pureed carrot, broccoli and kumara
Pureed pineapple and pear
His medicine in jam
For calming him down;
Wrapped him in a towel and let him sit for about ten minutes before feeding him
Taking breaks between mouthfuls
Letting him out of the towel to sniff around and wander for a bit before I feed him (it worked yesterday but not today)
I'm not very experienced with bunnies as ours have always been pretty healthy and easy to care for. The big problem is while this guy was hand reared he's always hated being handled, and gets really distressed.
Any ideas, even if they seem really basic would be appreciated.