Grace and Louis - diet problems

[Sayuri]

Louis is now 10 weeks old and he seems to have a tummy problem....sorta.

I give him a palm sized amount of bunny course mix in the mornings and at night and even this tiny amount seems to produce a lot of soft poos. I mentioned it to his vet and she said it could be that he isnt getting enough fibre and he should eat lots of hay but he already does due to the small amount of food that he is getting.

I know your all going to say that the bunnies should be on a complete pellet diet but then we get to the other problem. Grace will only eat 1 bunny food, which we have to go 200 miles to get! - We try and introduce other diets to her and she will pick out her course mix that she likes and refuse to eat the pellets...you cant leave the pellets for her to eat because if you dont take away the food she doesnt like she just pees in it!! -- she does selective eat BUT in the past week or so she has begun to eat all of her dinner so this is a lot better.

We need to keep louis on the same diet as Grace because they will hopefully be living together eventually.

He had had his diet suddenly changed 2 days before I bought him home and as they didnt have any of his food I had to just put him straight onto Graces food but I would have thought that after 2 weeks any tummy upset from that would have been caused by that would have sorted themselves out.

He seems good and find and healthy, as does Grace

 

[Michaela]

I thought Pebble and Ebony would never switch from a mix to Excel, they were acting just the same as Grace, but eventually they did, even when it seems impossible it can work. The benefits are so great, they are much healthier for it.

What mix is it that they are on?

 

[Flashy]

I also had troubles changing mine, but I persevered and they are now eating the food I want them to eat.

I started really really slowly, with a small pinch of the food and mixed it right in, and did that for a few days, and just sort of persevered through. It took a long time, and we had some paddies and tantrums from the buns along the way, but they did get there.

When it came so that they only had the new food, a couple of them didn't want to eat it, but I gave it to them, and I free fed hay, they got loads of it, but eventually they took a little bit, and thena bit more and went onto it.

Keep persevering! You'll get there

 

[Sayuri]

Im not too worried about getting them on a different food while they arent selective eating but I just want to get Louis's tummy sorted

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Just a couple of comments on your concern, At that age, your rabbit is barely weaned and it's gut is nowhere close to being properly established. It is vitally important to get things settled down and allow the gut to build the proper bacteria level. Switching foods, adding foods, etc should be done gradually over a period of several days to weeks to allow the gut to adjust. Anything that can cause a bacterial imbalance in the gut can lead to serious problems. A rabbit's gut doesn't do well with changes....steady as she goes. Get a ready gut.

I would also suggest you listen to your doctor. The primary food source of any hind gut fermenter (rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, degus, horses) should be unlimited grass hays...timothy, orchard grass, brome, oat, etc. Pellets are much too high in protein and are pretty much more for our conveneice that for the rabbit's benefit. Hay is vitally important to keeping the digestive system in good working order, keeping a proper weight and also wearing down those ever growing teeth. I have two huge rabbits...one of which is getting near 30 pounds (13.6kg) and he gets less than a quarter cup pellets per day. Many of my smaller rabbits get no pellets...only hay and greens. The key is to offer high quality grass hay.

At your bun's age....it should be getting umlimited pellets and hay...and it can have unlimited alfalfa hay. I usually feed that young a rabbit a mix of alfalfa and grass hay. As it gets up to about 6 months old, I suggest converting over to all grass hay in umlimited amounts....the more good grass hay, the better....and offer a very small amount of pellets. That should lead to a happy and healthy bunny.

Randy