Not eating or drinking and seems to be sad.

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PurpleHaze

PurpleHaze

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Jul 26, 2010
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Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
My rabbit is adopted so I do not know much about him at all.

Age: About 2 or 3.
Breed: Unknown. It is a large white bunny with pointy ears.
Diet: Unlimited hay and a 5 carrots and 5 pea pods every day.

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So my question:
I have noticed how my rabbit has not touched his water bottle in about two days. This is very alarming for me. I then noticed how he seems to just sit still for the whole day in one spot, the only time he moves is if I come up to the cage to see him. He will only eat his carrots and pea pods and they are moist where as the hay is dry. His poop is not circular either, it is very hard and irregular shaped.

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Please post back with information as I want to take action as soon as I can.
 
try to give him a crock for water some buns dont use bottles well...try some dif veggies that are wet..5 carrots is prob too much everyday...give him romaine lettuce wet..parsley too.
also when i want my bun to drink more water from his water bottle ive put banana on my finger and rubbed a tiny tiny bit on the water bottle tip and he went to town and just kept drinkin and drinkin...another thing a touch of sugarless fruit juice in the water might tempt him.....as for laying around all day..thats what they do when its warm...do u let him out to exercise?..cuz he needs it .


those poops are wayy too tiny and dry....im glad ur noticing this and doin something about it...kudos to u..now get some fluids in that poor little guy..:):):)
 
But why would he stop drinking. He has been using the bottle perfectly fine since I got him (6 months ago). So I don't know why he suddenly stopped.
 
Maybe he's sick... can you get him to a vet? A bunny not eating/drinking is a bad sign. (If you don't know a vet in your area, PM me, I know a really good rabbit vet in the Riverdale/Leslieville area of Toronto.)

Are hay, carrots, and peas all he eats? No pellets? most rabbits need hay, a variety of veggies, especially leafy greens (peas are too high in sugar for bunnies) and some pellets as part of their diet.
 
He never liked pellets.
I originally gave him both pellets and hay but he would not even touch the pellets, he loves his hay.
And yes, he only eats hay, carrots, and pea pods. I will start giving him lettuce also.
 
Ok, I would double check the pea pods though... I know it's one of the foods I was told are too high in sugar for rabbits. My buns love Romaine and leaf lettuces, dandelion, chicory, broccoli stalks, the occasional apple slice, parsley, basil, green peppers.... you can try any of those to try to encourage him to eat. I hope your boy starts feeling better soon.
 
Did you recently change the brand of hay you feed or buy a new bag? My rabbits have gone through phases where they haven't eaten much hay but they always ate their pellets and veggies. Do you take him out? If he's depressed maybe some time out with you will help with that.
 
He has been eating the same Timothy hay forever.
I will take him out and play with him more today, I just gave him a little watermelon chunk to get some fluids in him.
 
Peas and carrots to that extent is too much sugar in his diet. I'd take them away completely. Give a crock of water in addition to the bottle.

Here are some things you should get if you can: infant gas drops (simethicone active ingredient, brand name is typically Ovol in Canada I think), pedialyte/dioralyte (infant diarrhea rehydration drink), fresh pineapple, and canned pumpkin puree or squash baby food. You should also look for a non-milk based probiotic of some sort--if you can get BeneBac or Probios at a pet or farm store, that's the best. I know they're hard to find in Canada sometimes, so you may have to get human acidophilus capsules from the natural foods/herbal supplements section.

I think he may have gas due to the sugars. The probiotics will get the GI bacteria back on track, the pumpkin/squash is a good source of wet fiber, the infant diarrhea drink has a good salt/sugar concentration to get him rehydrated, and the pineapple has similar effects and bunnies really like it. For the gas meds, give 1mL hourly (oral syringe) for 3 hours, and see if that helps. Force him to drink 5mL of the infant rehydration drink per hour if you can (oral syringe). Give him some gentle belly massage, with an electric toothbrush if you have it, and a source of heat like an old sock filled with dry rice and microwaved. You can also give some pain medicine. If you have metacam (vet pain meds) on hand and it's less than 6 mo old, give that. If not, give ibuprofen or aspirin with doses according to this chart.

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html
 
He is still the same but he is happy that I played with for like three hours today.

So soon I will leave to get the Ovol Gas Drops, Pineapple, Squash, and Pedialyte Re-hydration drink. I am wondering how much of the Gas Drops I should give him since they come in different sizes.
 
Well, each dose is 1mL, so the smallest size is probably fine. However, it's good to just have on hand in case.
 
Bene-bac is now available from Montreal Critters (an online store)... it's a reasonable price ($5.49) but they do flat rate shipping (9.99) so it's usually best to order a fair amount at once. Maybe you can buy a small bag of orchard grass or another type of hay to try to get him eating hay again and get his digestive system going again.
 
Ask your pharmacist, they may be able to give you a couple for free. If not you can buy 1cc or .5cc syringes and take out the syringes. They should be less than a buck each.
 
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