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Why do my bunnies keep going on hunger strike?

M

Marmot

Young Bun
I have a 4 year old Dwarf Lop neutered male, Rowan and similar age spayed English Spot female, Holly. Over the past few months they keep taking turns in refusing to eat.

They apparently do not have GI stasis, bad teeth or blockages but nevertheless I end up fighting to stimulate their appetite and syringe feeding until they feel willing to eat on their own again.

They are house rabbits and weren't so "awkward" until a couple of months ago. The only thing that is different in their setup is that I started using Back-to-Nature litter for their hutch bedding (where they sleep at night). After the last episode with Rowan, I replaced that bedding with hay and was only using BTN litter with wood litter in their litter tray. Then Holly has just had an episode and is just about recovering after 2 days. Rowan is looking iffy again. I am going to remove all BTN litter as I am wondering if that is the cause. Has anyone else had problems with Back-to-Nature Litter ingestion in their buns?
 
I would look very carefully at their diet and treats, and see if you can find a cause there. Do you feed any corn based treats or treats containing corn? Some members have cut out things like fenugreek crunchies because they contain corn and have reduced the amount of stasis episodes their rabbits are having.

I take it that they have plenty of hay in their diet? I would recommend using hay in their litter tray because most rabbits like to eat and poop at the same time!

Has a vet checked their teeth recently for spurs?
 
Thanks for your reply Zoobec.

The vet has checked both their teeth recently and said they are OK. I don't think they have any corn-based treats - I will check. Both buns do not eat much hay - how do you make them eat it? - I try to use high fibre pellets to compensate. They have lots of greens - Romaine, Cavolo Nero, Kale.

The thing is, these episodes have only been happening regularly over the past few months. I've been keeping house bunnies for 17 years without this happening with this frequency. I am ready for the funny farm!!!
 
Marmot said:
I have a 4 year old Dwarf Lop neutered male, Rowan and similar age spayed English Spot female, Holly. Over the past few months they keep taking turns in refusing to eat.

They apparently do not have GI stasis, bad teeth or blockages but nevertheless I end up fighting to stimulate their appetite and syringe feeding until they feel willing to eat on their own again.

They are house rabbits and weren't so "awkward" until a couple of months ago. The only thing that is different in their setup is that I started using Back-to-Nature litter for their hutch bedding (where they sleep at night). After the last episode with Rowan, I replaced that bedding with hay and was only using BTN litter with wood litter in their litter tray. Then Holly has just had an episode and is just about recovering after 2 days. Rowan is looking iffy again. I am going to remove all BTN litter as I am wondering if that is the cause. Has anyone else had problems with Back-to-Nature Litter ingestion in their buns?
Click to expand...


Hiya Marmot and welcome to the Forum :wave:

You know what, I would take away the BTN and see whether it ever happens again. Don't use it at all, just hay (and newspaper) for litter. Straw is good for bedding as it's insulating, but don't add anything that wasn't there before their problems began.

Readigrass is a very good substitute for hay, and usually very tasty for rabbits. If they don't eat that I would seriously suspect their teeth.

Poor rabbits - they aren't being awkward but I can see it looks like that :)
 
If you want them to eat more hay, I would recommend that you cut down on their pellets. You should really aim for around 85-90% of their diet to be hay, grass or readigrass. If your rabbits are filling themselves up with pellets, they will be more reluctant to eat hay.

I would also remove the BTN, as it seems likely to be connected.
 
Have you tried lots of different types of hay? Mine prefer Timothy over meadow and they love the stuff from Timothyhay.co.uk I've never seen them eat so much. You could also try mixing in dried herbs/forage to encourage them to eat more. It can be really frustrating trying to get them to eat more but it's so important that I would persevere! It's odd that this has only started happening recently though, it could well be the litter. Are any of them moulting heavily at the mo? I think that was the cause of my bunnies recent stasis episode but like yours it's a bit of a mystery!
 
Thank you all for your input. I have removed the BTN litter and now feel happier about putting hay in their litter tray. For a while I had been cutting down on the pellets in the hope of them eating more greens and hay - no such luck - greens, yes, hay, no. It is so weird that both bunnies are affected. They aren't moulting any more than usual. I've got a couple of "posh" hays I am going to try them on - fingers and paws crossed. Could they be bipolar? :eek:)
 
Marmot said:
Thank you all for your input. I have removed the BTN litter and now feel happier about putting hay in their litter tray. For a while I had been cutting down on the pellets in the hope of them eating more greens and hay - no such luck - greens, yes, hay, no. It is so weird that both bunnies are affected. They aren't moulting any more than usual. I've got a couple of "posh" hays I am going to try them on - fingers and paws crossed. Could they be bipolar? :eek:)
Click to expand...


It may be worth at some point getting a vet to have a really good look at their teeth. You can't cut food down to mainly hay if they physically can't eat it. The problem is, that most vets can't see the back molars without knocking a rabbit out .. They can see about 50% with their otoscope, but that's not really enough. They will have to use their judgement.

No I don't believe your buns to be bipolar :D
 
Marmot said:
Thanks for your reply Zoobec.

The vet has checked both their teeth recently and said they are OK. I don't think they have any corn-based treats - I will check. Both buns do not eat much hay - how do you make them eat it? - I try to use high fibre pellets to compensate. They have lots of greens - Romaine, Cavolo Nero, Kale.

The thing is, these episodes have only been happening regularly over the past few months. I've been keeping house bunnies for 17 years without this happening with this frequency. I am ready for the funny farm!!!
Click to expand...

Do you thoroughly wash the greens before giving them to your Rabbits ? I ask as the 'cleaning' process of vegetables used by supermarkets uses a bleach like solution. Feeding the greens without thoroughly washing them can cause gut problems. This scenario has been noted by a few RU members over the years not just by me, although I am sure there will be those who think I am talking out of my backside !!

What brand of pellets are you feeding ?

In between the 'hunger strike' episodes what is the Rabbit's poo output like ?

Do they both drink well ?

Are they both eating their cecotrophs ?

Sorry for all the questions, but a bit of additional info' would be useful :)
 
I actually haven't been washing the veggies - I shall do so from now on. However, I believe the veggies have not been previously washed at all by the supermarket. I think they drink OK but I admit I don't actually observe it that often.
They have a mix of pellets - mostly vet-approved brands, and they usually eat them all so there is no selective feeding.
They seldom eat cecotrophs and the consistency of the poo is very variable. Still it always has been like this and they've never been so troubled as now.
I know they need to eat more hay but that is a struggle-in-progress. My previous bunnies weren't hay eaters either but they survived without all this fuss, just like these current two little horrors :) did until a couple of months ago.
I'm baffled!
 
Marmot said:
I actually haven't been washing the veggies - I shall do so from now on. However, I believe the veggies have not been previously washed at all by the supermarket. I think they drink OK but I admit I don't actually observe it that often.
They have a mix of pellets - mostly vet-approved brands, and they usually eat them all so there is no selective feeding.
They seldom eat cecotrophs and the consistency of the poo is very variable. Still it always has been like this and they've never been so troubled as now.
I know they need to eat more hay but that is a struggle-in-progress. My previous bunnies weren't hay eaters either but they survived without all this fuss, just like these current two little horrors :) did until a couple of months ago.
I'm baffled!
Click to expand...

Is that a typo or do you really mean that they leave all their cecotrophs ? If so that would result in lots of GI tract issues.

Personally I would try to stick with one brand of pellets. Or rather than pellets try to get them onto Fibafirst

http://supremepetfoods.com/fiba-first-2/


Or Vetcare Plus (Digestive)

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-food-...care-plus-digestive-health-formula-1kg-p-5639

Roughly how much pellet feed do they have a day ?
 
It can be really difficult to get rabbits who don't like hay to eat it and may even take weeks or months of trying before they're eating the proper amount. I've done it with my buns though and it really was the best thing for their gut, teeth and just general health. It's a very long process in some cases but worth it by the end! I hope you can figure out how to get your buns to eat a good amount of hay and less pellets :)
 
Marmot said:
I actually haven't been washing the veggies - I shall do so from now on. However, I believe the veggies have not been previously washed at all by the supermarket. I think they drink OK but I admit I don't actually observe it that often.
They have a mix of pellets - mostly vet-approved brands, and they usually eat them all so there is no selective feeding.
They seldom eat cecotrophs and the consistency of the poo is very variable. Still it always has been like this and they've never been so troubled as now.
I know they need to eat more hay but that is a struggle-in-progress. My previous bunnies weren't hay eaters either but they survived without all this fuss, just like these current two little horrors :) did until a couple of months ago.
I'm baffled!
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right :) The only veggies that are pre-washed in anything undesirable are the bagged up salads.

Hopefully changing the litter and perhaps providing readigrass as a tempting alternative to hay will help. At least you'll have something to go on if it doesn't.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
Is that a typo or do you really mean that they leave all their cecotrophs ? If so that would result in lots of GI tract issues.

Personally I would try to stick with one brand of pellets. Or rather than pellets try to get them onto Fibafirst

http://supremepetfoods.com/fiba-first-2/


Or Vetcare Plus (Digestive)

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-food-...care-plus-digestive-health-formula-1kg-p-5639

Roughly how much pellet feed do they have a day ?
Click to expand...

They don't eat foods you recommend. Vetcare Plus is dang sharp - I break it up and sprinkle it over their food - I will try doing more of this.
They have a couple of handfuls of pellets per day (between the 2 of them). I sprinkle Fibreplex ProFibre pellets in the mix too.
They don't eat all their cecotrophs at night - I know this as I have to clean up their cage in the morning.
They don't like Readigrass - in the summer (even now) I sometimes give them cut fresh grass from our untreated garden lawns.
I am trying to put more hay around the place to tempt them. They are both eating this morning (sigh of relief) and I want to keep it that way.
I really do try hard to do what's best for them - I even grow my own Cavolo Nero in the garden as a backup to the supermarket stuff! My last 2 bunnies lived to the age of 9 so I can't be that bad a mum!
Thank you all, sincerely, for your helpful responses. Much appreciated! :)
 
Last edited:
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