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Advice please - won't eat pellets, otherwise fine

Vet advised to persevere with the meds and monitoring, give him a little time given that he's still eating and passing something but call them if he stops doing either or if I'm worried about anything else.

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:thumb:
 
Vet advised to persevere with the meds and monitoring, give him a little time given that he's still eating and passing something but call them if he stops doing either or if I'm worried about anything else.

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:thumb:
 
Hi again. The metacam and emeprid worked and tango was soon back scoffing his pellets, but now he's off them again.
Exactly the same - bright and happy eating grass or greens but not pellets.
There must be some underlying problem but unless we can find it it seems like we'll keep going in circles!
Is there anything you know of that the vet would look for? Has anyone had similar?
Any ideas if it could be she related? He's a big bun and is at least coming up to 7 (the rescue took a bit of an educated guess).
I'll ring the vets shortly but any ideas appreciated.

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Hi again. The metacam and emeprid worked and tango was soon back scoffing his pellets, but now he's off them again.
Exactly the same - bright and happy eating grass or greens but not pellets.
There must be some underlying problem but unless we can find it it seems like we'll keep going in circles!
Is there anything you know of that the vet would look for? Has anyone had similar?
Any ideas if it could be she related? He's a big bun and is at least coming up to 7 (the rescue took a bit of an educated guess).
I'll ring the vets shortly but any ideas appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Was the possibility of ear pain, as I mentioned in Post 10, investigated and ruled out ?

Has the Vet checked his ears ?

IME ear pain can cause a Rabbit to stop eating pellets.
 
Hi again. The metacam and emeprid worked and tango was soon back scoffing his pellets, but now he's off them again.
Exactly the same - bright and happy eating grass or greens but not pellets.
There must be some underlying problem but unless we can find it it seems like we'll keep going in circles!
Is there anything you know of that the vet would look for? Has anyone had similar?
Any ideas if it could be she related? He's a big bun and is at least coming up to 7 (the rescue took a bit of an educated guess).
I'll ring the vets shortly but any ideas appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


Have you tried him on Fibafirst sticks instead of pellets? Or changed the brand to see whether he feels like a change? :)
 
Thanks for your replies. The vet was very encouraging and savvy.

She checked everything again and said his teeth will become a problem again but she doesn't think they are yet. She has a theory that if it's not his teeth it could be the jaw itself causing pain if he's hiding any arthritis. If it was his teeth then as soon as I stopped with the meds last week he would have stopped eating pellets again, but he actually had a few days of normality in between.

As he's not tender in his tummy and is still eating hay and pooing, we're trying him with daily metacam to see if it helps. If he's not eating pellets normally by the end of the week he needs to go in and have the dental anyway just in case. If he goes back to normal she wants to see him in a month to check if he's ready for his dental at that point. And obviously if he stops eating the hay and pooing he goes straight back as matter of urgency.

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My bun stopped eating pellets when her heart began to fail, this was the first sign before any laboured breathing and lethargy started. I don't want to frighten you but thought I'd better mention it, although as he's had a good check over recently it's probably not that!
 
My bun stopped eating pellets when her heart began to fail, this was the first sign before any laboured breathing and lethargy started. I don't want to frighten you but thought I'd better mention it, although as he's had a good check over recently it's probably not that!
Thanks, hopefully it's not that! His heart was fast at the vets obviously he was scared.

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Thanks for your replies. The vet was very encouraging and savvy.

She checked everything again and said his teeth will become a problem again but she doesn't think they are yet. She has a theory that if it's not his teeth it could be the jaw itself causing pain if he's hiding any arthritis. If it was his teeth then as soon as I stopped with the meds last week he would have stopped eating pellets again, but he actually had a few days of normality in between.

As he's not tender in his tummy and is still eating hay and pooing, we're trying him with daily metacam to see if it helps. If he's not eating pellets normally by the end of the week he needs to go in and have the dental anyway just in case. If he goes back to normal she wants to see him in a month to check if he's ready for his dental at that point. And obviously if he stops eating the hay and pooing he goes straight back as matter of urgency.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

I hope that he wont need to have a Dental, sending more vibes for him xx
 
Thanks for your replies. The vet was very encouraging and savvy.

She checked everything again and said his teeth will become a problem again but she doesn't think they are yet. She has a theory that if it's not his teeth it could be the jaw itself causing pain if he's hiding any arthritis. If it was his teeth then as soon as I stopped with the meds last week he would have stopped eating pellets again, but he actually had a few days of normality in between.

As he's not tender in his tummy and is still eating hay and pooing, we're trying him with daily metacam to see if it helps. If he's not eating pellets normally by the end of the week he needs to go in and have the dental anyway just in case. If he goes back to normal she wants to see him in a month to check if he's ready for his dental at that point. And obviously if he stops eating the hay and pooing he goes straight back as matter of urgency.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


It's an interesting idea about the arthritis. I hope he won't need the dental and a GA.

Vibes he keeps eating :)
 
Hi again. The metacam and emeprid worked and tango was soon back scoffing his pellets, but now he's off them again.
Exactly the same - bright and happy eating grass or greens but not pellets.
There must be some underlying problem but unless we can find it it seems like we'll keep going in circles!
Is there anything you know of that the vet would look for? Has anyone had similar?
Any ideas if it could be she related? He's a big bun and is at least coming up to 7 (the rescue took a bit of an educated guess).
I'll ring the vets shortly but any ideas appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

My boy had an inner ear infection and the first sign was that he went off pellets. After speaking to lots of people going through the same thing it seems to be a common occurence with ear infections. Even though your bun has had a full MOT an inner ear infection is hard to diagnose, it usually requires an xray or ct scan.
I'm not saying that this is the case here but keep it in the back of your mind and keep an eye out for other symptoms too.
If he does need to have a dental then maybe your vet could do an xray whilst he is under to rule it out?
Xx
 
My boy had an inner ear infection and the first sign was that he went off pellets. After speaking to lots of people going through the same thing it seems to be a common occurence with ear infections. Even though your bun has had a full MOT an inner ear infection is hard to diagnose, it usually requires an xray or ct scan.
I'm not saying that this is the case here but keep it in the back of your mind and keep an eye out for other symptoms too.
If he does need to have a dental then maybe your vet could do an xray whilst he is under to rule it out?
Xx
That's interesting, thanks. Did your boy continue to eat greens and hay? What other symptoms did you see?

I've had a quick Google and seen things like rolling, head tilt and shaking head but nothing I've come across with Tango. He doesn't seem to be having trouble with balance but he is my only lop so I guess would be more likely to have ear trouble.

I'll see what my vet thinks about x raying when he next has his dental. If arthritis would also show up if present then it could be a useful next step, assuming we're right in thinking it's not his teeth at this stage!

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That's interesting, thanks. Did your boy continue to eat greens and hay? What other symptoms did you see?

I've had a quick Google and seen things like rolling, head tilt and shaking head but nothing I've come across with Tango. He doesn't seem to be having trouble with balance but he is my only lop so I guess would be more likely to have ear trouble.

I'll see what my vet thinks about x raying when he next has his dental. If arthritis would also show up if present then it could be a useful next step, assuming we're right in thinking it's not his teeth at this stage!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

For a long time it was just that he was off pellets and we didn't think much of it. The symptoms progressed over time. His left ear dropped, his eye started to close up and eventually his left eye started to bulge a little and he got a very small tilt and horizontal nystagmus. No rolling, no head shaking etc. When we finally got the correct diagnosis there was so much damage to the inner ear that we were only left with surgery as a last resort. Our vet said that it had probably been there for a long time, slowly getting worse and worse and we never could have known.
 
For a long time it was just that he was off pellets and we didn't think much of it. The symptoms progressed over time. His left ear dropped, his eye started to close up and eventually his left eye started to bulge a little and he got a very small tilt and horizontal nystagmus. No rolling, no head shaking etc. When we finally got the correct diagnosis there was so much damage to the inner ear that we were only left with surgery as a last resort. Our vet said that it had probably been there for a long time, slowly getting worse and worse and we never could have known.
Hmm ok thank you this seems similar. When you say a long time what kind of timescale do you mean? Sorry for all the questions!
Will see how he does with the metacam and definitely mention your boy and your experience.
Thanks 😊 I hope the surgery went well for him?

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Hmm ok thank you this seems similar. When you say a long time what kind of timescale do you mean? Sorry for all the questions!
Will see how he does with the metacam and definitely mention your boy and your experience.
Thanks �� I hope the surgery went well for him?

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Yes he's doing remarkably well. He's my little hero!
I reckon he first went off his pellets around December and his op was in May so it was over quite a long period of time :)
Chances are that this isn't whats wrong with your boy but it's worth being aware :)
 
Yes he's doing remarkably well. He's my little hero!
I reckon he first went off his pellets around December and his op was in May so it was over quite a long period of time :)
Chances are that this isn't whats wrong with your boy but it's worth being aware :)
Yay that's fab! And yeah of course, they're all different, but any info is worth knowing. Thank you 😊

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My old boy went through the ringer this year with various infections on top of an arthritis diagnosis. He spent a good chunk of time at the vets (where he was fed pellets, hay and veg), but came home absolutely refusing pellets. We tried all different kinds, all different flavours- nothing was going in! He's been checked over so thoroughly including xray and 2 or 3 blood tests that I can't think it's anything serious. At the risk of being completely shot down, we actually switched him to mix as we and the vets felt it was more important to keep him eating than to get too worried about mix vs pellets. Obviously I'd much prefer him to be on pellets, but at his age and after gawd knows how many bouts of stasis and hospitalisation for various issues, I'm happy with him eating anything he darned likes!
 
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