Sick or something else?

So usually I feed my 3lb lionhead 1 teaspoon of pellets in the morning and 1 at night along with unlimited hay and lots of veggies.
4 days ago I put 1 teaspoon in her bowl and she has t touched it since which is unusual for her.
She’s eating hay but it’s hard to tell how much. She is eating her veggies... well the couple ones she likes, she didn’t touch her arugula yesterday I had to go out and buy her coriander which is her favorite and she ate it all. She isn’t acting different, she’s running around still and being silly still. She isn’t ACTINH sick but her poop is smaller than usual. I tried hand feeding her pellets and she will eat one pellet and that’s it. I dumped out the old pellets in her bowl and gave her new pellets thinking that was it but nothing changed.

I moved her about a week ago from the living room to my spare room but she seems happy here, she is binkying way more. So I don’t know what’s going on... small poop is a bad sign and her change in eating is a bad sign. Is she sick or all of a sudden changed what she likes to eat? Please help.

View attachment IMG_7424.jpg

Here a pic of her poop.

Rabbits don't suddenly stop liking a food they normally eat. Any refusal of a food they usually eat is a sign that something is off. It could be something with the food (like moldy pellets, old hay, or too old greens), but more often is something GI related (or dental).

Rabbits can stress from being moved and that can cause early signs of GI stress. The more you can get her to eat (especially hay and greens) the better. Not eating the pellets isn't a huge deal in itself other than that it is a sign that something is off. (I assume these aren't a new brand, but same as she's used to.)

A dental issue could also cause a rabbit to not eat a certain type of food (either pellets or hay).

Keep a close eye on those poos. Hopefully they'll start returning to normal size.

Since her behavior appears normal, that can most likely rule out gi stasis as the cause. I also think you are looking at either a bad batch of pellets(especially if you just opened a new bag when this started), or if not the pellets then I would suspect dental problems, probably molar spurs. This can make a rabbit selective about what they want to eat because chewing certain foods causes the sharp points on their teeth to dig into the tongue and cheeks causing mouth sores and pain.

One way to check if the pellets are bad is by buying a completely new bag that has a different batch date. If your bun still won't eat the pellets after trying a new bag and batch, then I would suspect dental problems and take my bun to a good rabbit vet for a dental exam. Until you can get that done, you will need to ensure your bun is still able to eat enough food or lack of appetite alone could end up making your bun unwell. If she's eating enough hay and veggies that's fine, but if not you may need to start syringe feeding until you can get the dental done. You can buy oxbow critical care feeding mix online(I suggest apple/banana flavor) or your vet will probably have it for a bit higher cost.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/D_problems1.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Treatment/Clipping.htm

http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/


If your bun will eat the new bag(with different batch date) of pellets, then it probably means the last bag was bad in some way and you definitely should not try and feed any more of it as bad pellets can make rabbits very sick.

One of my buns stopped eating his pellets and was only eating his hay when he usually prefers pellets over the hay. I took him to the vets and it turned out he had a tooth root abscess. He would eat the pellets if I added some warm water and let it sit for a little while.

Wouldn’t something dental cause pain and therefore change their behavior?

Now I’m so nervous. I guess I’ll start by buying new food and see if that helps.

katiecrna said:

Wouldn’t something dental cause pain and therefore change their behavior?

Click to expand...

It only changes their behavior(reduced appetite, unusual chewing behavior) when they are actually eating, because that's when it is hurting(while they chew). So the rest of the time(when they are not chewing) they usually behave as normal, at least until it gets to be really bad and the pain is more constant and they can hardly eat.

Maybe try what PaGal mentioned. Moisten your buns pellets in warm water and see if she will eat them soft. If she will, then it almost certainly is a dental problem.

If it is a dental problem, usually it's sharp points on the molars, and this is actually a pretty common problem with rabbits. It's not usually something to be too worried about as long as you have a good rabbit vet to burr those sharp points down.

Ok thanks. I think it’s dental because I bought 3 different pellets and she barely ate them.