Weight loss- 11 year old bunny

[Zigzag]

My lovely Dutch bunny Zigzag, has been losing weight since Feb. He was 1.9kg, and is now just over 1.7kg, and is looking quite slim. I’ve been in touch with my vet at Twickenham and am likely to take him in, in a week or 2.

He’s got arthritis, and is on metacam, and over the last few years has got a bit more lazy, and doesn’t eat as much hay. His teeth were checked about 6 weeks ago, and had small spurs, but nothing serious.

I’m just wondering if anyone else has been through this with their older buns?

He’s eating and pooing ok, although his poops are currently smaller because he is going through a really bad moult.

Thanks

[Boots]

My 11.5yr old Illy has definitely lost weight very gradually over the last year or two. I give her science selective senior pellets (probably more than others on the forum would) and lots of treats to keep the weight on. I suspect it's just a matter of getting older, but your vet can always do blood tests if you're worried. Illy has had the full works of tests, including a CT scan, so we're confident we know what's going on and that it's a combination of age and heart troubles.

[joey&boo]

This seems quite common with older bunnies. Mouse is way too thin, prob something going on beyond muscle wastage but she has been too thin for over 2 years. Eats far more than J&B of everything except hay. Rightly or wrongly I liken it to elderly people who often seem to lose loads of weight in their final years.

Joey is 11 next birthday but he's keeping his weight more consistent

[Zigzag]

Thanks both, that makes me feel a bit better, I hate seeing Zigs get thinner! I’m going to Twickenham vets next week, so will ask about the blood work. I think you are both right though, he’s just getting quite old.

Joey- does Mouse do a good golden poo, despite not eating hay? I ask because Zigs poops are currently small, due to the moult, and I’m wondering what might help.

Thanks c

[joey&boo]

Thanks both, that makes me feel a bit better, I hate seeing Zigs get thinner! I’m going to Twickenham vets next week, so will ask about the blood work. I think you are both right though, he’s just getting quite old.

Joey- does Mouse do a good golden poo, despite not eating hay? I ask because Zigs poops are currently small, due to the moult, and I’m wondering what might help.

Thanks c

No her poops are terrible - they maybe got up to a 6 out of 10 on haybox hay but normally we score her 3 or 4

[bunny momma]

Sending vibes.

[keletkezes]

We're going through similar with 8.5yo Lopsy: no obvious cause without invasive procedures that aren't fair on him. He's still an active food loving glutton but he's super skinny, gone from 2.3kg in July to 1.8 last Friday, 1.9 each of the two weeks before that (100g difference isn't significant in a rabbit his size and could just be amount of food/water in him but the massive loss is). I'm getting to the stage where I'm going to have to start feeding him all sorts of rubbish (not really rubbish obviously but all that stuff they warn you about XD). He will enjoy it though He loves eating. Just got to keep it away from Chibbs' who's probably the chunky side of normal.

[bunny momma]

If your bunny is getting adult pellets , consider slowly adding some young rabbit pellets or increasing pellet ration.

[Zigzag]

Sorry about the delay, we are moving soon and have just been through the stress of it all!

Sorry to hear you’re going through the same thing keletkezes. I’m also planning to do the same, so feed him some oats (controversial I know), baby pellets, barley rings and treats. We’re going to the vets week after next, and like you I don’t think invasive treatments are a good idea as he’s rather old. But I do worry there’s something internal going on.

Bunny mama thanks so much for your tip, I read this on another website as well.

[keletkezes]

Sorry to hear you’re going through the same thing keletkezes. I’m also planning to do the same, so feed him some oats (controversial I know), baby pellets, barley rings and treats. We’re going to the vets week after next, and like you I don’t think invasive treatments are a good idea as he’s rather old. But I do worry there’s something internal going on.:

Yeah, given we've ruled out anything 'obvious' (and therefore potentially easily treatable) quality of life is definitely better than quantity. He's loving his banana, oat and pelletdust mash I don't want to move on to junior pellets yet (largely because Chibbs doesn't need them and separate feeding is hard with two active bunnies!), he seems like his weight is improving with this (I plan to weigh him today, what a rigmarole that'll be!) and once it's stable we'll stop and see how it goes. We're certainly not seeing any bad signs, I've seem one half of an uneaten caecotrope so far and we've been trying to do this daily for a week. I'm about to go and interrogate the bananas and see if I need to freeze them in 1" chunks (for ease of adminisration and so they don't go off!).

I hope you can find something that works for Zigzag, and that it's nothing sinister I also hope your move goes well