Senior rabbit / Weight experiences

[Maya87]

My bunny Leo is close to 9 years old. I consult my vet regularly to get him the best treatment possible. He had a rough phase in december with gut imbalance and stasis problems where he went from 1450 g to 1350 g. He held that weight until recently.

A month ago we did his bloodwork and everything was completely fine. Two days ago he began having problems with arthrosis and the vet decided we try giving him daily pain meds. He seems to be more active now and i think he is also having less problems grooming himself. Aside from the Arthritis which is Being treated now the vet said he is totally fine and healthy for his age.

He still seems to have less hunger now which could obviously be from aging. He became very inactive at some point in december/january and the vet recommended changing his diet a bit as i gave him parsnip to gain more weight. We reduced the parsnip and he became much more active again. I kept talking to the vet regularly about small adjustments for his food. He eats mostly hay, greens, still a bit of parsnip for his weight and some oats and sunflower seeds for additional weight gain. I dont feed him any pellets.

He still lost weight and went down to 1270 g recently. I was totally shocked about this and fighting a lot with my anxiety over this at the moment. He had 1-2 weeks where he was very active and chased his partner a lot and i guess this was coming from spring fever. He ate less in that time and i guess that was causing the weight loss. He ate a bit more after we started the arthritis treatment.

I am still very worried about his weight. I know elderly bunnies can lose some of their appetite and lose muscle mass. The vet said he is still near normal weight. I am just worried he could lose more weight.

Anybody else experienced thos with their seniors? It is very hard for me to see him get old. I think that i always cared very well for him and give him the best vet vreatments possible. Do i need to be worried about this weight loss or is it just a normal experience with old buns when everything else shows him being healthy?

 

[Orenoko]

I had this with me elderly girl who I lost earlier this year. The vet said it was likely muscle mass as her appetite remained good and her bloodwork was mostly good as well. I started doing things like sprinkling some critical care in with her veg just to make sure she was eating enough at the time. It's a tricky balance as you don't want to fill them up with too much fattening foods but also don't want them to lose more!

 

[Maya87]

I had this with me elderly girl who I lost earlier this year. The vet said it was likely muscle mass as her appetite remained good and her bloodwork was mostly good as well. I started doing things like sprinkling some critical care in with her veg just to make sure she was eating enough at the time. It's a tricky balance as you don't want to fill them up with too much fattening foods but also don't want them to lose more!

Yeah i tried a lot of things with shifting around how much parsnip he gets but it always ended in him getting super lazy when he got too much. When i tried giving him more oats and sunflower seeds he ate less greens. It is really hard to balance.

With his current food he seems much more active and less sleepy which is really great to see if it wasnt for the weight loss. I try to give him a tiny bit more of the high calorie stuff and watch how many other food he still eats. Maybe being on pain meds for the arthritis will also help with his hunger

 

[tonibun]

Perhaps he would like a few pellets. Mine love them and my eldest will be 11 in June. I never feed Parsnip but prefer a tiny bit of Carrot along with the Cabbage. They like herbs as well and you could try him on some Alfalfa hay. Did the Vet check his teeth?

 

[Maya87]

Perhaps he would like a few pellets. Mine love them and my eldest will be 11 in June. I never feed Parsnip but prefer a tiny bit of Carrot along with the Cabbage. They like herbs as well and you could try him on some Alfalfa hay. Did the Vet check his teeth?

Yes, his teeth are still okay (they were checked last week). They will get checked again at the end of the month. He gets them done around every 4-5 months, we are at 3,5 months now.

I tried feeding him Cuni pellets. The first day he loved them. Then he suddenly didnt like to eat them anymore. I thought this would actually be a solution but he thought otherwise.

I try another thing at the moment. He gets a mix of rolled oats and sunflower seeds every day. A bit less than a tablespoon. He loves to eat that so far. He eats a bit less greens this way but overall i hope this is enough for him to at least hold his weight.

I always need to watch for his partner tho as she is slightlly overweight and cant have a lot of the things he gets. She also tends to have bladder problems. So it would be difficult with the alfalfa hay.

At the end of the month he will get a another examination by the vet for his Arthritis, weight and teeth to check where we are.