Bunny tooth grinding, only eating romaine

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MulberryContessa

New Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2018
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
Ilinois
Tl:dr version:

-Bunny used to eat all her greens and pellets and loved eating her hay. She's only eating romaine and bits of parsey now and ignoring the rest. She doesn't finish her pellets. I haven't seen her eat hay in awhile.
-I think she's grinding her teeth. I haven't seen her poop today.
-I took her to the vet Friday when I first noticed she was eating less and sort of chewing on nothing and the vet said her teeth and ears look fine so I'm probably overly worried. But I am certain she is acting strange.
-I gave her baby gas x a few hours ago but no real change. She's kind of lethargic and looks like she wants to eat greens other than romaine but changes her mind and won't. She's still mostly ignoring pellets and hay and only eating romaine and parsley

Detailed version!

Hi, guys. Thanks in advance for your help. I have an incredibly sweet, wonderful, light of my life bunny named Cocoa Bean. I rescued a bunny before her named Clover but she only lived 4 months after rescue because her teeth were so bad when I got her that she needed surgery. She passed away in surgery. I'm mentioning this because I'm still relatively new to bunny having (Clover was my first; I've had Cocoa Bean 7 months now) and:

Cocoa Bean hasn't been finishing her food lately. She leaves half her pellets and some of her greens sit in her dish so long during the day that they just wilt and she ignores them. I also noticed that she seems to be moving her mouth a lot like she's chewing the air. I can sometimes here a clicking sound and I think it might be grinding. She is shedding now and there has been fur in her poops-- and it also looks like she's pooping less than normal too.

Today she's hardly eaten anything at all. I've seen her eat a pellet here or there and then kind of stop and look uncomfortable. I haven't seen her eat any hay in the last few days and she usually goes crazy on her hay.

I actually took her to the vet for this on the day I first noticed she wasn't eating as much (Friday) and she was doing the tooth thing, but the vet took a look at her teeth, then at her ears, and said they both look great and told me I am just worrying too much.

I thought that might be the case, that I'm just paranoid, because I don't want to lose her like I did Clover, but today I am certain she is acting weird.

She used to go crazy for food, but now she'll ignore everything except the romaine and some parsley. She's still not eating hay. I haven't seen her poop today.

I gave her some baby gas drops 2 hours ago, but she doesn't seem any better.

Any advice? Am I overly worried? Should I not worry until she ignores the romaine too? I don't want her to be feeling bad. I want my lil bunny to be happy and comfortable.

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Anytime a rabbit is eating less than they normally do and is refusing food especially when they are not eating hay it is considered an emergency, she sounds like she is in the start of GI Stasis. It sounds like your vet is not very rabbit-savvy and I would consider going to another one. You need to take her to the vet ASAP. If you are in the lower part of Illinois then there is a good exotic vet in Evansville, Indiana.
 
Anytime a rabbit is eating less than they normally do and is refusing food especially when they are not eating hay it is considered an emergency, she sounds like she is in the start of GI Stasis. It sounds like your vet is not very rabbit-savvy and I would consider going to another one. You need to take her to the vet ASAP. If you are in the lower part of Illinois then there is a good exotic vet in Evansville, Indiana.

Hi, thanks for replying! She started eating more yesterday and also pooping. She's still not pooping as much as she used to though. And I haven't seen her chomp on hay. I annoyed her by putting some in front of her and she ate a little of it to get out of her face, but then refused to finish it.

That's the thing: I live near St. Louis, Missouri. There is a vet there that was recommended by the House Rabbit Society. She's a bunny specialist. Evansville is about 3 hours from where I live. The HRS doesn't recommend any other vets. It's crazy to me that there are so few vets that work with bunnies!

Should I make an appointment to go back again and insist that she doesn't seem quite right and isn't eating as much hay? Or should I wait to see if it gets a little worse? My husband doesn't seem too concerned, but, obviously, I am.
 
Selective eating is often due to a dental issue. Did the vet do just a visual check or did she use any dental tools or take x-rays? The molars in the back of their mouth aren't easy to see with a normal visual inspection. Sharp points can develop on molars or infection can set in, either of which can cause pain for a rabbit when she eats certain foods. That is a reason a rabbit may stop eating what they normally would not refuse.

How are her poos?

Simethicone is pretty safe. If bunny is just uncomfortable with gas, she may need several doses of simethicone. You can offer 1-2 cc every hour for 3 hours if needed, and then a cc every 3 hours.
 
Back
Top