• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Underweight Rabbit

LaurasBunnies

LaurasBunnies

Young Bun
I'll try and keep this short and sweet. I have a 2yr old female rabbit who earlier this year had an unexpected litter (I don't really want to get into it, I was so mad at myself) the babies are 4months and are living with her. I think they are still feeding off her as the fur around her teats is practically gone. She lost a bit of weight and I've decided to separate them for a week and bring her indoors to try and fatten her up. Is this the right thing to do? What can I do t make sure she gains weighty healthily. She's still her normal self. Please help. Thanks
 
She should put the weight back on as time goes by, as long as she is healthy with no medical problems. Just an ordinary diet will be ok. Now you've separated her from her young, it might not be easy to reunite her, but then if she has all boys you would have had to take her away in any case. If you have 2 boys amongst the litter they might start fighting at any time so something to watch out for. Girls could stay with Mum for as long as they get on.

From what you say I think it is probably the best to take her out from them so she can recover and gain her weight back on. The babies certainly don't need any milk now from Mum. Her hormones might be all over the place at the minute so any strange behaviour could possibly be down to this. She will settle in time.
 
tonibun said:
She should put the weight back on as time goes by, as long as she is healthy with no medical problems. Just an ordinary diet will be ok. Now you've separated her from her young, it might not be easy to reunite her, but then if she has all boys you would have had to take her away in any case. If you have 2 boys amongst the litter they might start fighting at any time so something to watch out for. Girls could stay with Mum for as long as they get on.

From what you say I think it is probably the best to take her out from them so she can recover and gain her weight back on. The babies certainly don't need any milk now from Mum. Her hormones might be all over the place at the minute so any strange behaviour could possibly be down to this. She will settle in time.
Click to expand...

I was actually really lucky and ended up only having 3 girls (they all survived) I just realised she's lost some weight bad panicked. Thank you :)
 
Yes, I agree, the break should break the habit if they are still trying to feed, and just the lack of competition should mean she'll put weight back on. You don't want to feed them up too much and just have them pile on fat so a gradual increase is what you are aiming for. Weighing her would be a good idea, it's much easier to monitor that way as it can be tough to tell if they are going up/down just looking.

Some of the missing fur could be self-plucked if she's had a phantom pregnancy.
 
She doesn't seem to be eating much at all. She's hardly done any poops and the ones she has done are very small. I'm just about to do another check on her and see if there's been any improvement. I was lucky enough to get rid of my old indoor setup, so she's tucked up in my room so I can monitor. She's nibbled at her hay and only eaten a few pellets. I'm thinking it may be more than meets the eye and she's ill. I have noticed that she's drinking though. Could the sudden heat also have something to do with her not eating as much? She has lost more than I first thought though, she's always been a small rabbit, but I can feel she's quite bony. I feel like I've really let her down. I'm rambling now.
 
They can drop weight quite quick when not eating, so it could be illness. Try and tempt her with different foods - dandelion/bramble are good in this situation. Maybe a vet trip tomorrow (obviously sooner if she stops either completely)?
 
I think a Vet check is essential today. It sounds as though there may be something wrong and the sooner it is treated the better her prognosis

Good luck
 
I'm getting her to the vets today. She's not eaten any of last night pellets. I gave her some dried herb mix that usually she adores and she doesn't seem to have touched it. There are a few poops but they are very small and dark, there's also some cecals in her litter tray. She's usually got a very good appetite. I'll keep you posted.
 
We're back from the vet. It's not good. She had a check on her teeth and apparently all her back teeth are different shapes and sizes, which I was very surprised with seeing as she was a very good hay eater. He said her teeth could be why she's not eating, obviously ,but he doesn't want to operate because of how little she weighs. So I've been giving some Ranitidine and Emeprid to give her twice a day, and also some Recovery Plus liquid feed. He said it should help her start eating again and hopefully gain some weight, she only weighs 1.1kg right now.
I was also told to give her some soft food so we picked up some, basil, mint and flat leaf parsley, and she went to take a bite of it but didn't. I also bought a dried herb mix. So far she hasn't eaten anything, but the liquid feed I gave her and little nibbles at her hay.
If she does make progress we have to take her back just to check if there's anything else wrong with her and her teeth will also be checked.
If she doesn't make any progress or gets worse we'll be straight back to the vets, but I doubt it'll end well. She's staying indoors where I can monitor her closely.
 
Did they give her any painkiller? If she goes to eat but doesn't its often because the mouth is sore so it's painful to chew.

Offering her lots of different things is good as they can have weird tastes when unwell.

You can also soften normal pellets by soaking them in water, or even water with a little pure apple juice.
 
I just saw her run into the "bedroom" side of the hutch and through the hole and I can see her eating some of the parsley!!!! She wont eat directly in front of me and is still yet too eat some hay. I don't believe I was given any pain killers, just stuff to gut her moving I think. As for pellets he advised me not give her any for the time being and just give her soft foods to eat. She's stopped eating now and is just sitting again. That's major improvement though.
When she was first living with me she'd only eat in private, is eating in secret normal behaviour?
 
I would have thought they should give her pain relief, I don't feel much like eating when I have toothache either! Unfortunately some tooth problems are genetic and they'll have issues regardless of their hay eating habits x
 
Poor girl. I personally wouldn't restrict her from eating pellets - if she doesn't want to eat them, fair enough, but at least she'll have a choice if you put some down. It's good that she's eating parsley, though, as that'll help keep her gut moving. Having had stasis bunnies before, I just tend to give them everything and be grateful for whatever they eat :lol:

Did the vet say when he'd be happy to do a dental on her? I'd recommend getting some painkillers in case that may help her eat more, especially if it'll be a while before the dental.
 
I'm pretty sure he said he'd do the dental once she's gotten to a safe weight. I definitely wasn't giving any pain killers for her, and I think that's because he doesn't know if it was her teeth that was the problem or whether it's something underlying, not 100% sure though. I'll put some softened pellets down now, just in case she wants them.
 
Recovery food is very similar to crushed up pellets - I imagine he just meant pellets were hard food. Sometimes they'll lap up the recovery too. Soaked oats would be another one to try as they are very tasty and very good for weight gain. If she likes them you can also mix in other things like the recovery.
 
No it isn't normal for rabbits to eat in private. Thy will eat anywhere, anytime. Sometimes when you give them a piece of spring greens or similar they will run away with it. Maybe this is what she is doing.
 
Just gave Cupid her first lot of medicine and some more herbs. I can see her eating which is good, but there are lots of cecals left. There are a some normal poops to and they look like they're getting bigger, but getting her to eat hay is still an issues. I was told to weigh her everyday, but is it even likely she'll put weight on in a day? When I was giving her last nights medicine I got her out to give it to her and she had enough energy to kick me and leave a scratch! Something's working!
As for the food thing, I think it might just be that she has the hump with me and is a bit scared that I'm going to force to have her nasty meds, as she used to eat in front of me before this happened.
 
Are you syringe feeding her with Critical Care? When my past bunny was in stasis/losing weight, she put on 40g in 2 days :lol: This was with me feeding her Critical Care every four hours, so quite regularly. I've definitely found CC to be good for weight gain.
 
JemimaH said:
Are you syringe feeding her with Critical Care? When my past bunny was in stasis/losing weight, she put on 40g in 2 days :lol: This was with me feeding her Critical Care every four hours, so quite regularly. I've definitely found CC to be good for weight gain.
Click to expand...

I was giving Suprem's Recovery food which is fed through a syringe,(not sure if that's the same as CC) and she seems to tolerate it quite well so I can get her to eat a fair amount of it one go.
I just finished with her "breakfast" and she'll have some more about 12ish, it's just the medicine she plays up with.
She's still eating lots of herbs and I've seen eat a few strands of hay. I think she might just make it through this, but then we have the whole dental thing at the end, I just hope that wont set her back afterwards, but for now I'm just focusing on her weigh gain and eating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Advice please
Replies
8
Views
249
Jb31
J
Z
After spaying earlier today need help!
Replies
1
Views
139
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
PumpkinBells
Healing and forearm lifting question
Replies
11
Views
214
PumpkinBells
PumpkinBells
Back
Top