Not eating hay

[CiaraPatricia]

Thanks for the great advice Pipp. This has put my mind at ease a little.

I will definitely look out for the other signs, and try to get him eating hay. I'm sure he will eventually and he's out in a run on the grass everyday so surely sometime he will notice that it's edible and yummy! Especially since he can watch the guinea pigs in the next run who love grass. And I'm growing a few different lettuces for them so hopefully he'll eat them too (he won't even eat dandelion leaves!)

I was watching him eat (some carrot) earlier and he seemed to be eating totally normally. I compared it to the girl rabbit and they seemed to be eating the same.

And yeah both his eyes get watery. It's been like that since I got him and I asked the person I got him from who said it's been like that since they got him as a baby. So hopefully is not an infection, but I will ask my vet about that when I see her next week for my kitten to be spayed. She doesn't really know about rabbits but she could give me some ointment if she thinks it is an infection. There isn't any pus though, or the eyes aren't swollen, so hopefully it's ok. And he doesn't seem to have a runny nose or anything. I'll be having him in college some day soon and my teacher is a vet nurse so she can check his eyes, she knows quite alot about rabbits.

I'll let everyone know how he does anyway. Hopefully he'll get used to eating hay normally

 

[tonyshuman]

Unlike Pipp, I haven't run across a bunny that won't eat hay. I only have 4 of course, but even all the bunnies at the shelter love hay and get really excited after I change their litterboxes and fill them up with new hay.

I do hope it's just a preference thing, but the combination with the runny eyes that have been around for a long time makes me worried, plus the fact that he's a dwarf breed with a smooshed face. It's eventually all up to you and your vet to decide. Can you feel his face for bumps or asymetry? Sometimes a tooth root infection will feel like there's bumps on one side or the other.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

That's a good idea, I'll feel for bumps.

I'm going to keep an eye on him and try to get him eating hay and other things. If he doesn't start then I'll find a vet who knows about rabbits to take a look at him. I've only had him a little time so I'll just keep trying to get him used to more foods for now.

 

[Pipp]

Actually at the household peak, which was I think 20 rabbits at one time, I couldn't get about half to eat hay, including Pipp and most of a homeless guy's lot I had here for a couple of winters. The latter crew had been brought up on pellets (and milk!) only, and it was really hard getting them to eat hay, most never would. But they were also still getting a lot of pellets.

One just died of dental disease, btw, at the age of four, but he had a lot of symptoms for a long long time -- probably a year -- before he succumbed. (Couldn't convince the caregiver to go to a rabbit vet and the regular vets he saw at a street clinic missed the diagnosis).

And a lot of my guys have watery eyes, we've never been able to figure out a cause. The ones with mates aren't even noticeable unless the mate hasn't been grooming, so I've stopped panicking about that one. Nobody's getting any worse.

Good advice re: watching for lumps.


sas :clover:

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Last night I gave Evie alot of dry food since she has babies and is eating loads, and she had some left over, and she had left the same two bits that Leon usually leaves! So I guess that those bits just don't taste good.

He always leaves these kinda grain things, which I thought were the hardest part to chew maybe, but there are other bits that are just are hard and he eats those. So I'm thinking it is just him being fussy now. I'll get him pelleted food tomorrow so he's not missing out on nutrients and I'll get him nice hay, and hopefully that'll solve it!

He has been nibbling at the hay a little, so hopefully he'll get used to the new stuff. It did take him a few weeks to get used to drinking from a water bottle, so I think he's just a bit slow to try new things