Need some help

[Offspring2099]

Hello good people of RabbitsOnline.net,

It's been good 3 years since Penny had any troubles at all, but she is in trouble now.

- Penny has had a long history of teeth issues. I'll try to summarize it.
- In '06 Penny had an abscess in her jaw, which was aggressive (lost 3 teeth).
- Penny's' incisors don't sharpen themselves, we have to trim them every 2 months.
- She has been off timothy hay for 5 years, and eats timothy hay pellets instead, along with other veggies.

In the last 2 months Penny started to eat less and less. Up to the point where she stopped eating.
We suspected a tooth issue and we were right, the vet removed another tooth around the old abscess area and said there was an infection.
It's been 2 and half weeks since the surgery and Penny will not eat her pellets. We are force feeding her 3-4 times a day, watered down pellets mush with critical care.
She is eating her veggies though. We used to put banana into wet pellets, but now she is not eating that. She is losing weight.

For the last week she is on two antibiotics now, because vet thinks she is in pain from infection (PenG, Baytril), Cisapride to help move her gi track, Metacam for pain.

It seems like we tried everything to trick her to eat pellets but she is still not eating. Tried watering it down and mixing it with canned pumpkin, bananas, apples, oats but no dice.
I think she has associated the pain to the pellets smell. Does anyone have any ideas of what to give her, to gain some weight?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Maureen Las]

Would you be able to take her back to the vet and have her mouth examined again. ? I had a rabbit for many years who had similar issues and could not eat hay or veggies OR pellets as he had peridontal disease , continual teeth infections and many teeth removed by an animal dentist

he lived on a diet of Oxbow BBT mixed with apple banana critical care ..sometimesI also gave him some pumpkin. He was on bicillin injections permanently due to continuous infection.
My Beau ate his mushy wet diet off a stack of newspapers daily as he had difficulty even eating out of a bowl and/ or chewing anything ; he had to take his front paws and scrape the mushy food under him in order to get it into his mouth and eat it.
The difference here is that he really liked it and lived many years in this condition.

I do believe that your bunny is in pain and the stronger pain meds sometimes do cause gut lowdown but may be needed

Be sure that you mix the critical care with a lot more water than the directions state because it really sucks up a huge amount and if the rabbit eats it drier it will dehydrate her.
Also I believe that most rabbits prefer the apple banana flavor to the anise flavor.
Good Luck as I have
"Been there and done that" and it very difficult to have a rabbit with major ongoing teeth issues.

 

[Maureen Las]

How is Penny :??

 

[Offspring2099]

angieluv, Thank you for your help.

Penny is the same right now. We are force feeding her, going on two weeks now. She eats parsley, carrot and grass from our backyard on her own some days. But as soon as we stop force feeding, she stops passing anything.

 

[Pipp]

Sorry I haven't replied. I still think of Molly very often. I'm not sure how to help Penny, I haven't had rabbits with their teeth removed.

Maybe the hole from the surgery is collecting bits of pellet and it's uncomfortable?

I'd just keep experimenting with every kind of herb, veggie and grass you can find. And watch for SBS -- Spoiled Bunny Syndrome -- when they're just holding out for treats. They will play you.

If/when you get her eating pellets again, see if you can find an extruded brand. Pipp has kept her molars ground down with an extruded pellet and a wide variety of veggies, in particular kale, which seems to help the spurs get worn down or break off.

If she's on antibiotics, a pro-biotic like Florentero paste, it might make her tummy feel better.

Is she any better with pain meds? On or off antibiotics? Is she worse or better after trying a few bites?


sas :clover:

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Offspring2099]

Angieluv,
I totally missed your first question. We have been to the vet twice since the surgery. First time vet added 2nd anti-biotic(Baytrl), changed pain meds to Metacam from Buprenorphine (we thought maybe Buprenorphine was upsetting her stomach).
And last time we went, vet said that the she is healing, because she was less skittish when he opened her mouth. But she is still losing weight and not eating pellets. Barely ate any veggies today.

Sas,
Thank you for thinking of Molly, she was really something holy in this world.
***
Penny is on two anti-biotics PenG(every 2 days), Baytril(every day). How much Florentero paste can she have? She is down to 5lbs from 6lbs in January.
Also I don't see any eating pattern changes before or after the pain meds. It seems like she only likes sunflower seeds, celery, mint leaves and little bit of parsley.