Girls not eating much AT ALL

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Love your rabbit
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

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

maherwoman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
11,038
Reaction score
4
Location
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Hey guys...

Wanted to get your thoughts on this...

When Danny shut the front door to take Fiver to his neuter on Tuesday, Flower immediately started thumping...LOUD. Then, when I heard Maisie awake, she started thumping as well. I suspect him being gone freaked them out quite a bit.

When I initially heard Maisie thumping, she was in a near PANIC...wouldn't sit still to be pet...was just FREAKED OUT. And Flower REFUSED to come upstairs, but stayed downstairs and wouldn't be pet.

So, I gave each girl a little bit of oats and lots of love...and they seemed to be calmer. They still lightly thumped back in forth, to answer one another...but it calmed down from frantic thumps.

Well, Fiver came home...he was gone about six hours, so about a quarter of the day...and the girls VISIBLY relaxed...and went about eating as normal. I didn't hear anymore thumps that night.

So, I went over to feed everybun around midnight, like I always do, and found that each girl hadn't eaten about a quarter of the food I normally gave them. Meaning to me that they hadn't eaten the WHOLE TIME he was gone! :shock:

In response, I took what they had, put it in the measuring container (each one has a different one but for SweetPea and Maisie), and then hand filled the rest of the way up the measuring cup, so they would just get their normal amounts.

Okay...so last night, had to still do the same, Maisie still hadn't touched much of her food...but there were poops for every bun, and they seemed calmer. So I gave Maisie a touch of oats, mixed in, and she DOVE IN. I was hoping this would solve her not having eaten but a TOUCH of her pellet food.

Well, tonight I went to feed everyone, and found that AGAIN Maisie, Flower, and Trixie ate very little of their food. Trixie ate about half, but Flower and Maisie looked like they had eaten so little...so now I'm starting to worry. Again, there were poops...so I know their gut is moving along. SweetPea ate most of her food, so she seems fairly fine all in all...each girl was excited about their nightly allotment of hay and seemed kinda sorta interested in their pellet food.

So...question: is this not eating all of their pellets due to stress? It's been two full days since he was gone for his neuter...so I'm puzzled. Could they all five really be that bonded that Fiver being gone for 6-7hrs affects them this much??

Any other ideas of what I can give them to help them calm down? I've spent lots of time with each, letting them know that Brother is healing and will be just fine...but they still seem stressed. In fact, tonight Maisie stood up on her hind legs for a LONG TIME for kisses and love...when normally, yes, she'll stand up on her hind legs for a moment as the door is opening, but then she'll go down like a bunny puddle for love. Tonight she seemed AMAZINGLY eager for love.

Are they worried? What can I do to help them? I love my girls so much, I hate that they're stressed...:(
 
With all of them off the food, I would first consider the food being bad. Can you check it somehow?
 
I would also consider the feed.

I am going through a problem right now with pellets. It seems that the feed

store that I use ran out of the pellets I use and got some from a different

mill. The same company though. Quite a few of my rabbits stopped eating

pellets. They would eat hay and oats but wouldn't touch the pellets. I brought

back all of the pellets from the BAD mill and got some from the GOOD mill and

they are starting to get an interest in the pellets again. I hate when I have

feed problems.

Roger
 
I agree with everyone else - I'd try a new bag of food (even if that one is fairly new)- if possible see if you can get it from a different batch number or something.

I'd also keep giving them oats and stuff to keep them eating.

Are they eating their hay at all?

Peg
 
I didn't know until a few years ago that dog chow can go bad. It can get moldy or just yucky from being old or the bag not being sealed correctly when packaged.

I check everything but I don't think there is always evidence either.


 
I agree with everyone else. First thing I thought of was the food. If they are still eating the hay, but not the pellets... get a new bag of pellets and try that.

Are they getting any kind of veggies? Drinking ok? etc? As long as they are drinking and eating hay, they're fine, but definately try a new bag.

Nadia


 
Okay, I'll check the food. The only thing that makes me think it's NOT the food is the fact that Fiver and SweetPea are eating it just fine, and that the food sits in a container that has one of those two interlocking flaps for a lid...so I know nothing could have gotten into the food. :?

BUT...I will try a different bag tonight and see how that works...just in case.

I'm honestly not trying to be difficult...I'll check by giving them food from another bag just in case.

Until tonight, though...if it's a stress thing...do you guys have any ideas as to alleviating that?

Oh, a note: They are drinking and eating their hay just fine. :)

Edited to add a picture of the food container...the bags of food are kept quite a ways from them, and are sealed, so I know nothing's wrong with the bagged food.

000_2838.jpg

 
Could it be he is like a new bun? Doesn't there scent change after neuter?
 
It's not that something might have happened to the food there - it's more like "did something not go right in processing? or did it go bad?"


 
Ah, okay...

I'll try another bag...

Though, I think I figured it out...

There are guys doing maintenance in our apartment (was just a little until today) ...and that may also be what's making them nervous.

Any tips on how to reduce that stress? Noisy men, weird smells, noisy machines working (not like jackhammer noisy...but hammering and such), etc. The apartment is so small, there really isn't anywhere else differnet for them to be during all this...:(
 
Ahhh we had people working on our road today (might be why Tony isn't pooing in the xpen too) and I covered the buns with nice blankies, gave them plenty of food and water and pettings and talked to them. Then I turned on the television so it sort of drowned out the noise. They seem fine.... cept Tony is stressed over something.
 
I guess it looks like we'll just have to wait it all out...:(

I hope they're okay after this...the TV's on, and they're all hiding out...I'll spend loads of time with each of them...

Pray for my babies, guys...
 
Prayers from us x

If they are eating hay then at least they are filling up on something, that's a good thing. They obviously aren't getting into the food so perhaps it is a bad batch. Or, as you say, it may be stress. Keep giving them some love and I'm sure things will improve soon :)
 
So, for an update:

Trixie ate all her food last night! WOOT!

Flower ate ALMOST all of it...

And Maisie ate about half, so we've got progress! I'm not surprised that it's her that is getting back on her feet last...she's so sensitive to change...

As for Fiver and SweetPea...they've not had a problem pretty much since the beginning.

:biggrin2:

Hopefully with the guys NOT coming in to work on the apartment for a couple days, they'll calm down. I think the combination of workers doing stuff in the apartment and Fiver being gone for his neuter was just too much all at once.
 
Glad things are better. Buns even slightly off feed are nerve wrecking.
 
Thanks...I'm happy, too...

I told Danny when I heard the "guys" outside the apartment, working in the one next to us, that if they knocked on the door to work more today, I was going to say no...to come back Monday. I'd tolerated them enough last week...didn't feel like giving them my weekend, too...

:biggrin2:
 
Hehe They have been pressure cleaning the outside of the house and its driving the dog nuts.
 
Ugh...I HATE that...they did that last year...thankfully I think I only had, what, two buns last year this time, lol! Some kinda bunny bomb must've gone off in here! LOL!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top