4-5 month old bunny not eating much

[Tweetiepy]

I posted a while ago about my 4 or 5 month old baby lionhead Popcorn not eating - I thought that maybe he was off his alfalfa and preferred the Timothy but now, he seems to be eating very little compared to my older lionhead whos about 11 months old. I started him on veggies slowly and he's weird about it, he won't eat them if I give them to him, but once I'm gone, he'll eat them.

However, lately, he's not eating all his portion of pellets, and his hay tray goes down very, veeeeery slowly. He gets about 1/4 cup of pellets a day and unlimited hay & water. If I feed him the hay, he'll take them and eat it, if he finds stray hay, he'll eat that too and I can see he's eating his pellets too but now devouring them like our other rabbit Peaches does.

Peaches is a poop machine, he cleans everything out each day almost. I never find any leftover pellets in his cage an his hay tray is almost always empty. Multiple times during the day I can find him chewing his hay, Popcorn is almost always laying around. But when I leave the cage door open, he comes racing out and binkies and does the bunny 500 multiple times around his run at top speed. He seems content, his belly doesn't feel abnormal. He likes to chew the bark off fresh apple branches and then eat the wood - could this be filling him up?

Could I just be biased because Peaches is such a hog and poop machine and maybe Peaches is the abnormal one? do some bunnies just eat less? He doesn't seem lethargic or unhappy

 

[PerpetualAnimalLover2011]

Hey there. I think your situation would make me a little nervous too, mostly because you do have the other rabbit eating so much.

What about Popcorn's bathroom habits? Have you noticed a big decrease (maybe you were implying that with the descript of Peaches'...?)? How comfortable with you is he? Will he eat anything out of your hand? Try a wedge of apple or melon, something rabbits really go for. If he is eating in front of you, you probably have nothing to worry about and he just eats less. If he doesn't eat with you around, I would also guess he just may not be totally comfortable with you yet?

let us know. I have a 5 month old Mini-Lop mix, and he is a piggy.

 

[Tweetiepy]

He eats in front of me and is totally comfortable with my, he'll literally walk all over me. He does eat hay that I give him, but maybe he's the normal one and Peaches is the piggy. He's pooping and peeing a lot (but obviously not tons like Peaches does). He'll eat an apple branch that I give him or hay pieces or I can even feed him a couple of pellets, but it seems that he doesn't eat very much. Some days he does finish off his pellets but there is always hay leftover.

 

[elrohwen]

Did you ever get him to the vet? I know in your last post you said he was going in for a check up soon.

I don't think it's normal for a bunny to be a super slow eater or to eat very little, so I wouldn't assume it's just the way he is. The majority of bunnies get excited about food and love to eat (if not hay, at least one thing they're fed)

 

[Tweetiepy]

I scheduled a vet appointment for next week and I've started weighing him on the Wii balance board (which has better increments than our scale) and I'll be able to see if he's losing weight until then. I mean he does eat cuz I've seen him eat pellets, hay and some veggies, but could he be hormonal & scared because there's another bunny nearby? He's never been very nice towards Peaches who's cage & run is about a foot apart from his so maybe he's stressed and will calm down once he's fixed - I'm thinking Peaches is eating more since he's been fixed.

 

[elrohwen]

I don't think being fixed has anything to do with eating habits - if anything younger buns eat more because they have higher metabolisms and are growing quickly. I still think there may be an issue with his teeth if you haven't seen the vet yet.

 

[Tweetiepy]

Popcorn, 4-5 month old male unfixed lionhead
Are poops that "fall" apart a problem? I've seen some poop in his litter box that looks like they've fallen apart - they're not held together and they look like they've been chewed or are powdery (like sawdust) - nothing runny or wet. What could cause this and what can I do to help this? I've seen lots of poop on his hidey shelf too that are all apart, so he's either chewing them or they're coming out like this - like I said his litter has these as well, and they're under his grate. So unless he's chewing and then spitting them out, they must fall this way. He's going to the vets on Tuesday and I put in a call for the vet to phone back when she gets a chance.

I cleaned out his litter yesterday and there were a few poops and some pee in there, and I did see him eat this morning so he is eating - I have some critical care at home that I could give him if I need to - maybe crush up his pellets?

 

[MiniLopHop]

Is he drinking enough? Sounds like he may not have enough fluids? Glad he's going to the vet soon.

 

[Tweetiepy]

Called the vet, she said to check his weight to see if he's losing weight, and to let him run to get his gut going. I changed his hay and he ate some. She'll check his teeth when he goes for his appointment and I've changed out both his litters to check how much he's pooping & peeing. I asked if maybe Popcorn was stressed because he had another male nearby, she said it could be a possibility and to monitor his behavious until next week. Worse case, I can force feed him some critical care if his poop size or quantity diminish.