Maple's Health

[Beapig]

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't been on here much again, I'm really struggling to balance everything in life since the pandemic began last year and am generally quite scattered.

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts/tips on Maple's health/weight. I still need to buy scales for her, but I know that she had gained some weight upon her last vet visit.

She just doesn't have a massive appetite, and I'm wondering if anyone might have any ideas as to why that could be. The timeline looks like this:

-We had a 9.5kg sack of Ings hay, which she really liked and ate a lot of. When it ran out, I bought a new sack and they all refused to eat it at first. They are now getting through it slowly, but I could see that the quality of this batch was not as good and it was quite dusty compared to usual, so I don't blame them at all. To compensate, I have bought multiple hays from Haybox, Herby Hay etc. Maple didn't take to any of these and was super picky. She did eat the Haybox 'soft cut', but I didn't want to just give her that because 1. it made her poops really dark (which I don't think is generally considered good) and also it was so soft that it would do nothing for her teeth.

This is when we decided a dental might be a good idea. That went ahead, and the vet said there were some small spurs, but nothing serious and no damage done to her cheeks or tongue.

Just after this I got my first delivery of Rye Hay from Happy Hay Co, which she really loved and has eaten loads of. They have all loved it actually, so it got used up very quickly, but then I noticed some cecotropes every other day or so - not great. Still, the hay ran out a couple of days ago, and she's back to picking at bits here and there.

On their website it says 'Rye grass is around 3% higher in protein and 0.2% higher in sugar than standard Timothy hay'. I'm just wondering if this says anything about her state of health - is she craving more protein for some reason, or is it that the hay is just more delicious (because of the sugar increase) so it's like having chocolate as a main meal?

It is worth mentioning that she's a happy rabbit. She binkies a lot and is active. She eats her pellets well (1.5 tablespoons per day). I'm just wondering if there's something that I could be missing. Obviously nothing came up at the vet, during examination, but maybe it could be taken further, I don't know.

Any advice/speculation is much appreciated, thank you

 

[bunny momma]

I still feed my bunnies a few pellets as a treat, though I much prefer they eat hay. Courser bits of fiber go through the gi system faster than smaller bits.
I give mine a mix of timothy hay and softer hay. Also try mixing the end of the old bag with the new bag even with same brand type.

Consider comparing the hay she likes to the pellets and perhaps use it to replace some pellets.
Generally teeth wear against teeth and the eating of hay requires a different mouth movement than pellets and results in good wear. Though that does not fully explain why my Raven wears his back teeth practically to the gums yet gets needle-like spurs when he eats hay until he needs a dental.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Without knowing exactly what is going on with her weight it’s difficult to comment. If she is not underweight and not losing weight I think you may be stressing unnecessarily. All my Rabbits have dark poop, it is due to the types of hay and grass they eat and not indicative of a health problem. The idea that golden poop is the be all and end all is a myth.

Excess protein in the diet can cause uneaten cecotrophs, but IME it seldom happens in response to hay types, except maybe Readigrass in some very sensitive Rabbits.

I think if you can obtain some scales and keep a record of Maples exact weight you may find it very reassuring.

 

[bunny momma]

I knew you could count on Jane to give the scoop on poop!
Mine have dark brown poo. If it was almost black/tarlike and smelly have vet test.

 

[Zoobec]

I feed Fern rye hay and Timothy hay, both from M&T haylage. She does prefer the rye and will often empty the rye hay rack first! I’ve been feeding her those for a few months now and she’s remained healthy on it. None of my rabbits would eat the ings hay :roll:

 

[keletkezes]

Soft blade-y hay is just as good if not better than stalky hay for teeth: it's the silicates in the blades of grass that do the real grinding down :thumb: Are they on grass a lot? It might be she eats a lot of grass so doesn't need hay? Smaller, darker poos will come from grass: the golden boulders are something easier with house bunnies IME XD I figure as long as my bunnies' poo is at least as big and same-colour as wild rabbits' then they're OK. Wild rabbit poo is much smaller (I mean, they ARE smaller rabbits usually!) and varies from quite dark to 'green hay' coloured IME around here

This was Lopsy's indoor poo: you can see when we fed him brambles and other forage, and when he was left without :lol: 90% of my lot's poo March-December looks like the dark stuff

 

[tulsi]

Mine all have dark poo and all have grass, hay, veg and a few pellets.

 

[joey&boo]

I'd let her eat whatever hay she likes best I think. When she's put on weight maybe you could reduce nuggets. Theres loads of tasty forage about now & I'd not hesitate to feed that. Maybe switch the nuggets for fiba first. She sounds like a pretty healthy bunny to me but maybe I'm just comparing to mine. Defo buy scales .

Scattered is such a good description - I can identify with that

 

[Beapig]

Thank you so so much everyone for your comments, honestly they have reassured me so much!

I'm not sure where I read about dark poops being bad and soft hay not wearing down teeth, but it's very good to know that this isn't the case.

I think I've just become overly paranoid about Maple's health (I'm not sure why). I sat with them for a while tonight in the shed, and she was eating hay just fine. I will definitely purchase scales - I'm not sure why I have put it off for so long.

Thanks for everything guys, you're honestly all the best

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thank you so so much everyone for your comments, honestly they have reassured me so much!

I'm not sure where I read about dark poops being bad and soft hay not wearing down teeth, but it's very good to know that this isn't the case.

I think I've just become overly paranoid about Maple's health (I'm not sure why). I sat with them for a while tonight in the shed, and she was eating hay just fine. I will definitely purchase scales - I'm not sure why I have put it off for so long.

Thanks for everything guys, you're honestly all the best

I totally understand how it is possible to become convinced the a particular Rabbit has a serious problem when this may not be the case. I have done that myself several times over my 24 years of caring for Rabbits. Maple may just be a naturally slim Rabbit. Many Does will be green with envy !!