might have fed bunnies bad food!

[SnowyShiloh]

Uh oh, guys. We bought a new bag of bunny food (Nature's Promise Timothy Pellets) today. It was the last bag in the store and I couldn't read the expiration date on it. I thought it was probably fine and took it home... Paul fed the bunnies while I made dinner. I noticed they weren't eating as much as usual, so I sniffed the new bag of bunny food. It has a stronger, kind of... tangier smell than usual. I took the food that the bunnies didn't eat away from them, and we're going to go back to the Petco tomorrow. Now I'm really worried that they're going to be poisoned by bad feed. What should I keep my eyes open for? Is there anything I can start doing now, other than lots of water, exercise and lots of hay? I don't have any Benebac in the house. I'd have to buy it at Petco. When I bring the food back, should I ask for a free bottle of Benebac since they are possibly selling bad food?

Please hope with me that my babies will be okay! I remember lots of people on the forum like Peg have lost rabbits to bad feed :nerves1

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Keep an eye on them, I'm not sure, besides going to the vet what to do. How are they now? Keep that feed away from them of course, push hay, lots of hay.

Anyone else have any insight?

Good luck with those buns!

 

[Flashy]

I would push lots of hay and fluids, and yes Benebac is a good idea-or at least, it won't hurt.

Mycotoxin poisoning is incredibly scary (I thought I was facing in about a year ago, although thankfully I wasn't). It seems to show that the longer you feed them the bad feed (i.e. without realising), the more it builds up in their system and the worse the consequences, so on that side they didn't eat much of their tea and you realised straight away and removed it. Which is all anyone can do.

Here is our library link. It's a bit minimal though. http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11895&forum_id=10

It might be worth calling your vet and explaining and see what they suggest you do.

 

[tonyshuman]

Agreed with above. Definitely remove the pellets and just feed hay. I would go with your gut instinct that they don't seem normal--it's good that you have a sensitive enough nose to figure that out!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks for the advice, guys! We returned the bad food to Petco and got new food, which they're eating fine. So far there's no sign of anyone being sick. Each bunny can't have eaten more than a tablespoon or so of the other pellets. How long do I need to be extra concerned about if they'll get sick from the pellets?

 

[Maureen Las]

I wasn't sure whenI read this last night but nowI can safely say that your buns will most likely be fine. i have never dealt with mycotoxins , however, I think that usually the bun is eating bad food over a period of time ...
Itis great that you paid attention to their responses to the food.

Hope all is well tonight...

 

[SnowyShiloh]

So far everyone seems okay, and it's been a little over 2 days! Hopefully that means nothing bad will come of it all. I feel guilty for buying a bag of food that I couldn't read the date on, like I said it was the only bag left in the store, no other stores in town sell their food. I thought it would be better to just buy that bag than buy a completely different brand that they wouldn't have the chance to get acclimated to. Thankfully when we went back on Sunday, they had more bags that don't expire for over a year.

So like I said everyone is doing fine as far as food goes, but Rory bit Ned on the face so I'm going to make a post about that after I load the photos