Maple - Weight Update - Vet Visit

I decided to take Maple to the vets today. Something just hasn't seemed right and I had a gut feeling that I needed to get her checked out. My vet weighed her and she has lost around 500g in weight. He checked her teeth and said he couldn't see any soreness or spurs, but we're booked in next Thursday anyway (earliest appointment we could get) for a dental.

Right now, she isn't really eating much hay at all, so I'm thinking extra pellets is the way to go for the next week, or anything else that she fancies. I gave her a dandelion flower today, and whilst the others would chomp it down in one go, she was fussing with it and took a long time. To me, this says it's a dental issue. Lily was much better once she had a dental. From what I can tell, her previous owners hardly if ever took them to the vet, and they are both 5 this year, so that is a long time to go without a dental - especially given that in their previous home, their diet did not seem very good.

My vet said I did well to bring her in at this stage - to catch the problem early before it becomes much worse.

Any more advice on what I can do to keep her eating if the hay is too difficult for her? I've tried grass but she doesn't seem interested. He said that there were no signs of stasis or anything like that. I'm just a little concerned at how long we have to wait for her dental, due to them being really booked out at the moment.

Oh poor baby girl ! Well done for acting on your intuition though. I hope she'll feel much better. I've heard of bunnies having to wait for a while for a dental - luckily my vets have (touch wood) been able to do it really quickly - apart from when Boobly got her Uveitis & we had to wait 2 weeks to give the panacur a chance . If she is struggling to eat enough to sustain her it becomes an emergency so worth a call to your vet if this happens - although i know we are in bank hol territory & all proceedures will back up.

What is she eating at the moment?? Boobly used to eat well before her dental (she had weird signs of not drinking water & grooming Bobs head in the middle of the night:lol in the main, but one time at least she struggled. When this happened to her (& Noodle) I do focus on giving as many health foods as I can & work down(so if they'll eat fresh forage, offer range of herbs, feed veg but try grated & chopped, I'd up the nuggets & I'm not shy with offering bits of fruit. But both those buns have / had cast iron stomachs. The risk of upping carbs through fruit & nuggets is you cause digestive upset & you're worse off than when you started.

joey&boo said:

Oh poor baby girl ! Well done for acting on your intuition though. I hope she'll feel much better. I've heard of bunnies having to wait for a while for a dental - luckily my vets have (touch wood) been able to do it really quickly - apart from when Boobly got her Uveitis & we had to wait 2 weeks to give the panacur a chance . If she is struggling to eat enough to sustain her it becomes an emergency so worth a call to your vet if this happens - although i know we are in bank hol territory & all proceedures will back up.

What is she eating at the moment?? Boobly used to eat well before her dental (she had weird signs of not drinking water & grooming Bobs head in the middle of the night:lol in the main, but one time at least she struggled. When this happened to her (& Noodle) I do focus on giving as many health foods as I can & work down(so if they'll eat fresh forage, offer range of herbs, feed veg but try grated & chopped, I'd up the nuggets & I'm not shy with offering bits of fruit. But both those buns have / had cast iron stomachs. The risk of upping carbs through fruit & nuggets is you cause digestive upset & you're worse off than when you started.

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Yeah, it really sucks that we can't get her there sooner I think it's a combo of the bank holiday and also the vets just being overrun by so many new pet owners. Several neighbours of mine for example, have bought puppies since the lockdown.

At the minute, she is still eating pellets and fresh greens, but is barely eating the hay, which is how I know something is up, because she usually loves her hay, and they have three different types to choose from at present. So I think exactly what you're saying is spot on - more pellets and greens until we can get that dental.

I don't know what a healthy weight would be for a bunny of her breed, because I don't know what breed she is, but just looking at her and Lily side by side she is much bonier, which is how I knew something was up. She was definitely overweight when they came to us last summer, so losing 100 grams might have been healthy, but certainly not 500.

Looking back, I think it would have been a good idea to give them a dental as soon as we adopted them, but my vet said that there was no need. He said that Lily's teeth were worse, but not bad enough to need doing. I guess you have to take their word for it. But she has since had them done due to lack of appetite, and now Maple is following.

Yes more pellets, soaked if needed and you can give a bit more veggies if she is used to them, chop them a bit. Dired dandelion, or other forage migh do the trick also. I hope it is just some spurs or loose teeth or abscess.

Has the vet given any metacam and gut meds? You could try Readigrass.

Loads of vibes for Maple. Hopefully she'll continue to eat pellets before she goes in for her dental.

Thank you for the vibes guys <3 The vet hasn't put her on anything as she seems to be in no pain and her gut hasn't slowed. I've just ordered three different types of hay for her to try - they should have arrived by the time she has her dental. Has anyone tried hay from happyhay.co.uk? I've just ordered the rye and meadow hay from them. I'm happy to throw my money at all of the hay companies right now, if I can find one she likes enough to eat lots of and put some weight back on!

Try adding some of these too, may help maintain hind gut health whilst she is not eating hay
https://www.animeddirect.co.uk/protexin-pro-fibre-for-rabbits-800g

Weight gain :
Alfalfa Hays
Readigrass
Barley Rings

Hope her Dental goes well x

InspectorMorse said:

Try adding some of these too, may help maintain hind gut health whilst she is not eating hay
https://www.animeddirect.co.uk/protexin-pro-fibre-for-rabbits-800g

Weight gain :
Alfalfa Hays
Readigrass
Barley Rings

Hope her Dental goes well x

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Thank you Jane! That is really helpful. I do have a large bag of barley rings, it says to only give one daily but I'm sure that will help

Do you know anyone with horses? If you can get hold of some grass pellets you could soak them just enough to break up and soften, small amounts at a time so that it is always fresh, which would help with keeping fibre content up and possibly weight while she can't chew grass or hay. I'd send you some but they won't get there much before your dental!

dollyanna said:

Do you know anyone with horses? If you can get hold of some grass pellets you could soak them just enough to break up and soften, small amounts at a time so that it is always fresh, which would help with keeping fibre content up and possibly weight while she can't chew grass or hay. I'd send you some but they won't get there much before your dental!

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I do have friends with horses! I'm an equestrian myself but not a horse owner, I'll ask some of my friends and see if they have any, great idea