Is it okay to remove a problematic food right away?

[Jenk]

Rabbit-savvy vets typically advocate that you wean a bun onto and off of foods.Has anyoneimmediately removed a food from your bun's diet--after the food has long been apart of it--without seeing a negative effect on your bun's digestion?

My CPS bun, Zoe, has been having more serious fecal issues for the last few weeks. My vet would like me to wean her off of pellets entirely. (She only got 1.5 tsp./day when her seemed to better handle them. But now her colon region doesn't seem to be absorbing water, and my vet and I are concerned that the drying effect of the pellets is making things worse.

Thank you,

Jenk

 

[pamnock]

Hasyour vet given you a time-line for weaning your rabbit off the pellets?

 

[Amy27]

I know at the shelter I volunteer at. The rabbits are switched diets right away. They are feed what the shelter feeds regardless of what they had before. So far there hasn't been a problem. Would I do it with my own rabbits? I am not sure.

 

[maxysmummy]

i took my bunnies of the bad pellets straight away. in my mind i couldnt feed them any more of the stuff that was making them sick

 

[Jenk]

maxysmummy wrote:

i took my bunnies of the bad pellets straight away. in my mind i couldnt feed them any more of the stuff that was making them sick

I would typically think/feel the same way, but the rabbit in question has Cow-Pile Syndrome; so her gut is over-the-top sensitive to every little thing. Pellets seem to upset her gut; greens seem toupset her gut; Critical Care seems to upset her gut. So, at this point, her vet would rather I wean her off of (or onto) foods.

To answer a previously-asked question: my vet and I did not discuss a time line for weaning Zoe off of pellets. I figured that I'd feed her each new amountfor a week. At this point, I'm only giving her 1/2 tsp. of Oxbow BB/T mashed with warm water. So I may just cut out pellets entirely when the week is up.

I'm to call the vet this upcoming Monday to give anupdate on Zoe's condition. I'll ask then for her thoughts on the weaning time line.