Bunny won't eat

My rabbit, Nora was spayed yesterday and whenshe came home she was fine. There were no problems and she ate rightafter she came round and ate some of her usual rabbit mix when I gother home. I kept her confined to her pen in a quiet calm roomthat evening so she could rest .

But then this evening when I cleaned her pen I noticed her dropingswere smaller than usual. When I put down a bowl of food every daywithout fail both my bunies stick their noses right in. But she didn'ttoday. I tried to hand feed her carrot slices but she wouldn't takeany. She even refused a little piece of banana which is her favouritetreat.

She still seems fairly bright and is moving around fine butshe hasdrunk a lot less water than usual and I'm not sure she has drunk anysince this morning. If it was a different kind of animal Iwould just leave her to see if she settled down but isn't it dangerousfor rabbits to stop eating because of the way their digestion works?

She doesn't seem unhappy or ill to look at, she is just off her food.

It could be that the pain medication wore off.My baby went off pellets for a few days when she got spayed. I was ableto tempt her with little bites of alfalfa hay though. You might want topick up some additional pain meds from the vet, and continue to trytempting her with any food you can think of.

Welcome KatyG,

I agree with jordiwes in that she may just be uncomfortable and themeds could be wearing off. Rabbits won't eat if they're inpain. Make sure she stays hydrated. That's the mostimportant thing. If rabbits become dehydrated, it veryquickly becomes fatal to them. Pedialyte or Gatorade can helpto keep the electrolyte levels up and staying hydrated.

As Jordiwes said, keep tempting her with different foods - anythingshe'll eat. We have NutriCal over here, I believe theequivalent to it in your country is called NutriCare. Ithelps stimulate their appetite, will help them poop, boosts theirimmune system and provides the nutrients they need when they go offtheir feed. If you have any, I'd give her an 1/2 inch to aninch depending upon her weight.

Sometimes the pain medication given to rabbits will prolong theirappetite. If she isn't eating after 24 hours of in herrecovery, you might want to call the vet. Some people willmake a pet slurry - soak her pellets in water and syringe feed it toher. I realize you don't want to stress her out any more thanshe has been, but it is something that you want to keep a very closeeye on. I'd definitely make sure she gets something in herbelly by way of food by this evening as you don't want her digestivesystem shutting down.

Keep us posted.

-Carolyn

Hi Katy

My bunny did the same thing when she came home from her spay too....shewould nibble on a few pieces of hay, wouldnt touch her pellets and herpoo's were definately alot smaller than usual.

First I found out she was a super drama queen and would eat her pelletsif I hand fed them to her one by one...so see if your girl is highmaintenance as well lol

However, she would readily gobble up dried cranberries or papaya at anychance she got...so try some sweet stuff andalso parsley..some musclun greens anything to see if shell take it.

I also added vitamins to her water ...she didnt drink too much the dayafter ..only a few ounces, and I know she likes my green tea so I madea weak brew and we had no more problems with the water.

I also gave her nutrical for three days, until she started eating herpellets on her own again....mind you she was not sent home withpainkillers so all her after affects stemmed directly from her spay,not as a result frombeing dopey...

It took her about 3/4 daysto get back into the full swing of things....

but if shes not touching anything by the end of the businessdaytoday I would def. give a ring to the vet who did thesugery...

Hope she feels better soon!

Carolyn wrote:

As Jordiwes said, keep tempting her with different foods - anythingshe'll eat. We have NutriCal over here, I believe theequivalent to it in your country is called NutriCare. Ithelps stimulate their appetite, will help them poop, boosts theirimmune system and provides the nutrients they need when they go offtheir feed. If you have any, I'd give her an 1/2 inch to aninch depending upon her weight.

Sometimes the pain medication given to rabbits will prolong theirappetite. If she isn't eating after 24 hours of in herrecovery, you might want to call the vet. Some people willmake a pet slurry - soak her pellets in water and syringe feed it toher. I realize you don't want to stress her out any more thanshe has been, but it is something that you want to keep a very closeeye on. I'd definitely make sure she gets something in herbelly by way of food by this evening as you don't want her digestivesystem shutting down.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Syringe feeding may be the best avenue here.

FreddysMom wrote:

I know she likes my green tea so I made a weakbrew and we had no more problems with the water.

Click to expand...

I know JimD suggested vanillain water, but I use regular tea withsomehoney, and Pebbles would slurp it upso fast, you can hear her stomachgurgle as itfills with water.

When Pebbles doesn't eat, I would switchher Timothy Hay to Alfalfa Hay, and shewould go for that. But this would only bea temporary measure to treat thesituation at hand. Normally Alfalfa Hayis just a treat.

Rainbows!

Pet_Bunny wrote:

I know JimD suggested vanilla in water,

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That was good old Buck Jones who got to JimD and others withthat great advice. It works wonders for preventing FlyStrike. It's said that the flies don't like the smell andwill stay away from the rabbit.

Wish my bunnies liked the vanilla or flavored water. Tucker turns his nose right up at it.

-Carolyn

Carolyn wrote:

Pet_Bunny wrote:

I know JimD suggested vanilla in water,

Click to expand...

That was good old Buck Jones who got to JimD andothers with that great advice. It works wonders forpreventing Fly Strike. It's said that the flies don't likethe smell and will stay away from the rabbit.

Wish my bunnies liked the vanilla or flavored water. Tucker turns his nose right up at it.

-Carolyn

Click to expand...

Yeppers.....Buck gets all the credit for that one.

I've always had good luck with giving them parsley, too(asFreddysMom stated). It prompts them to eat. Mine often eat the parsleyand then belly-up to the food bowl or hay rack.

hi thanks so much for all the advice.I just got her to drink a little water if I held the bottle forher. The dried fruit seems to be a good idea aswell. She seemed a little more interested in it.She took a little nibble from a white raisin, its not much but at leastit is progress.

You may also want to call your vet about gettingadditional pain meds. The 4 Dutch I am fostering were spayedSunday and came home with enough Metacam (pain meds) to last for 3 or 4days. It really made a huge difference in their appetites onMonday.

hi carolyn

what a buetiful bunny he is

is he a blueish colour

love varna xxxx

I thought she had made progress last night butthen she seemed worse this morning and wouldn't eat at all so I tookher straight to the vet.

Her stitches have come out and she needs to be put under anaesthetic tofix it but they said that was too risky if she hadn't eaten.

So she has had some more shots of painkillers and anti inflammatoriesand the vet gave me this high fibre food I have to make up with waterand see if I can feed her it with a syringe. Then take herback in the morning to see if she can get stitched up again.

lucylocket wrote:

hi carolyn

what a buetiful bunny he is

is he a blueish colour

love varna xxxx

Click to expand...

No, Dear Heart.

He's milk-chocolate.

* * * * * *

I'm glad you brought the little one to the vet, Katy. Do keep us posted, and I'll keep the prayers going from here.

ray:

-Carolyn

My poor bunny went back to the vet today and gotmore stitches and now she has to wear one of those collars to stop herlicking at it. She doesn't like it! She has to goback on saturday to get it checked and then again to get the stitchesout in 10 days. They had originally used dissolvable stitches but thevet felt the other sort were better in this situation.

Poor little Girl. :sad:

ray: for a quick and complete recovery. Those collars are a drag!

-Carolyn

What a poor girl! Those collars are the worst for them (or any other animal for that matter, although they do work and help.)

We had a lot of the same issues after our doe Abby was spayed. Shewould not eat or drink, so we had to force feed her. You may want totry doing that so her system keeps moving.

We made a slurry mix of pellets, water, canned pumpkin and oats, whichI ground out in my mortar and pestle. We swaddled her in a towel andfed her that way. Also, for pain, baby aspirin is safe to give them.Dissolve it in water and syringe feed it to her that way.

We had to do this for three days/nights. On the fourth day she was back to her old self, attitude and all.

Keep us posted.

Poor bunny. It was awful when my bunny had towear a collar once. I had to feed her cecals back to her. Yuck ! Mybunnies had disolvable stiches for their spays and everything was fine.Hope your bunnyhas no more problems with the stiches andall