Hi there!
This is my first post on here and unfortunately it is about needing advice with my elderly rabbit.
Harry is a 11 year old dwarf lop. I rescued him when he was 5 years old where he was terribly neglected. He has been living like a king ever since, free ranging the whole house, all the best foods, and all the love and care he deserves. His diet consists of constant supply of grass or oaten hay, whichever is the nicest at the time, oxbow pellets, and fresh greens.
He is on a arthritic powder called joint guard, and also oxbows joint support tablets.
Harry was diagnosed with glaucoma in his right eye in October last year. He almost had it removed due to the pressure but the eye specialist got it sorted with good drops that he now has for the rest of his life.
We have been having trouble with Harrys weight for about a year now, blood tests always showed normal, but we were able to manage it with critical care daily, oats, and corn(These are addition to his diet). So it was put down to natural body condition loss due to his age.
Since November, it has been going down more rapidly, and despite him having critical care daily, corn every other day, oats, even two extra types of pellets, a new one called Momi pellets and a fattening usually bad for bunnies supermarket pellet (still eating well, but maybe not quite as much as usual, but nothing alarming) , anything to get weight on him, has not been working.
He was a healthy weight at 2.2kg-2.3kg and he is now 1.8kg and getting lower. He has just had a new blood tests, which came back with in normal range, apart from that his muscle enzymes were low so he has muscle wastage so vet wants me to increase protein like alfalfa, clover and Lucerne.
The vet didn't know what else to do, other then to put him on metacam daily to help with any aches and pains that may be making him eat less. He has been doing better since, so about two weeks now. He used to always follow me around the house and grunt at me, and do circles around my feet. Where as now he just sleeps all day and rarely come out of his cage. But since being on the metacam he has come back to his normal self, following me a little again, and doing circles. The only thing is I have been bunny sitting another rabbit, and got him around the same time as he went on the metacam, so I'm not sure if its the metacam or Alfie making him more lively. He does like to go and visit him by his cage.
So basically what I am asking is, what else can I do? The vet doesn't know anymore. Should he get a poop test? X rays? What other tests? Surely this weight loss isn't just natural ageing loss, there has to be a reason behind it.
Any advice or suggestions would be more then welcomed, Harry means the world to me and I just want to do everything possible for him.
Thankyou for reading.
Kelly.
This is my first post on here and unfortunately it is about needing advice with my elderly rabbit.
Harry is a 11 year old dwarf lop. I rescued him when he was 5 years old where he was terribly neglected. He has been living like a king ever since, free ranging the whole house, all the best foods, and all the love and care he deserves. His diet consists of constant supply of grass or oaten hay, whichever is the nicest at the time, oxbow pellets, and fresh greens.
He is on a arthritic powder called joint guard, and also oxbows joint support tablets.
Harry was diagnosed with glaucoma in his right eye in October last year. He almost had it removed due to the pressure but the eye specialist got it sorted with good drops that he now has for the rest of his life.
We have been having trouble with Harrys weight for about a year now, blood tests always showed normal, but we were able to manage it with critical care daily, oats, and corn(These are addition to his diet). So it was put down to natural body condition loss due to his age.
Since November, it has been going down more rapidly, and despite him having critical care daily, corn every other day, oats, even two extra types of pellets, a new one called Momi pellets and a fattening usually bad for bunnies supermarket pellet (still eating well, but maybe not quite as much as usual, but nothing alarming) , anything to get weight on him, has not been working.
He was a healthy weight at 2.2kg-2.3kg and he is now 1.8kg and getting lower. He has just had a new blood tests, which came back with in normal range, apart from that his muscle enzymes were low so he has muscle wastage so vet wants me to increase protein like alfalfa, clover and Lucerne.
The vet didn't know what else to do, other then to put him on metacam daily to help with any aches and pains that may be making him eat less. He has been doing better since, so about two weeks now. He used to always follow me around the house and grunt at me, and do circles around my feet. Where as now he just sleeps all day and rarely come out of his cage. But since being on the metacam he has come back to his normal self, following me a little again, and doing circles. The only thing is I have been bunny sitting another rabbit, and got him around the same time as he went on the metacam, so I'm not sure if its the metacam or Alfie making him more lively. He does like to go and visit him by his cage.
So basically what I am asking is, what else can I do? The vet doesn't know anymore. Should he get a poop test? X rays? What other tests? Surely this weight loss isn't just natural ageing loss, there has to be a reason behind it.
Any advice or suggestions would be more then welcomed, Harry means the world to me and I just want to do everything possible for him.
Thankyou for reading.
Kelly.
