alemargo wrote:
Hi. I have a 3 month old jersey wooly for 1 week now. He is a very picky eater. We already switched 3 brands of pellets in 1 week and still don't know what he likes. Now he won't even eat the pellets we got from his breader. Today we noticed he does not drink so much. He seems to lick the water bottle but not drinking. He is unusually quiet, not exploring. Just laying in his cage. Is he just depressed or sick? HELP!!!
ray:
If a bunny stops eating, it is a cause for worry. If he stops eating and drinking for 24 hours or more, take him to a vet right away.
Part of the problem may be switching his pellets around quickly. Rabbits are very conservative eaters. You need to change food slowly - if you must change, add new pellets to the old kind a little at a time, until he's getting all new pellets. Make sure the new pellets are a good kind, not the pet store sort with sugary treats or seeds.
I'd leave the original pellets for a while. If he was eating them at the breeder's, he should be used to them.
Three months is old enough to start introducing veggies, I think. I'd try a kale leaf or a romaine lettuce leaf to see if you can entice him to start nibbling. From my experience, if a rabbit isn't eating, if you can coax them into nibbling something, that gets things going and the appetite returns. After that, try introducing green vegetables a little at a time to see what he likes.
If he's not drinking from the bottle, try a water bowl. It's a bit more natural for them to drink from a pool of water than from a spout. Some bunnies just won't drink from bottles, and many will drink more from a bowl. If he starts knocking the bowl over, try fastening it to the side of the cage or get one of the bowls that clip to the bars above the bottom of the cage.
Does he have hay to eat? At three months he should have unlimited alfalfa hay to eat. Switch to grass hays in six months or so, but for now alfalfa's the right sort.
I hope that you can entice him into eating, and he'll bounce right back. If not, or if you have questions, RO is here to help. We've got lots of folks on the site who are very experienced.