Not sure if Hoppy has a problem?

[Ozzie]

Hey folks. Our oldest, Hoppy, has been acting a bit strange since Thursday. He has some symptoms that could be GI stasis, we talked with a vet about that. The main thing there is our vet told us a while back to stop feeding him lettuce and give him kale instead. Well lately he suddenly isn't very interested in kale but he will eat lettuce if I give him some. Don't know if that means he's just tired of kale?

Anyway, here's the main problem: something just seems off with Hop. He seems to be favoring his right front leg a little. It's not broken, nothing looks wrong with the leg or the paw, but it just seems like when he sits he's leaning over on that side more, as if it's hurting him. But he can stand on it, put weight on it, he can even walk on it. He doesn't object to us touching that leg, or anything else on him for that matter. (Hop generally doesn't like to be held anyway, so him being "stand-offish" or resisting being picked up isn't unusual.) His head isn't tilting or anything, but he just doesn't seem right. Any suggestions?

 

[JBun]

Have you checked his paw and nails for a sore on the paw, or long nails, or an injured nail? If it's none of these, then he may have just strained something so that he can still use it, but it hurts a little bit. I would thoroughly inspect the leg for any bumps, sores, or anything abnormal.

With the stasis problems, if he's still have symptoms of it, you could try eliminating all veggies and see if that is the problem. I would think that kale would cause more digestive problems than lettuce though. If removing veggies doesn't seem to clear up the signs of stasis, then if you feed pellets, they could be the problem. I've had to take one of my rabbits completely off of rabbit pellets, as he kept getting stasis from eating them.

 

[LakeCondo]

I don't know why the vet would have recommended kale. It's on the 'occasional' list. I would stop any veggie & maybe give simethicone as well.

The leg problem could be osteoarthritis. Ie the cartilage is wearing out & the bones are rubbing together. I'm not sure why it'd be just one leg, though.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I'll give a second to the info above. What kind of lettuce? Iceberg is a no-no, but ours love Romaine and it's good the good list. Our vet always gives chrondroitin for joint/arthritis problems.

 

[Trixie]

Strange that they would say Kale. :confused2: Romaine is a great veggie to give.

 

[Ozzie]

I should explain how the kale thing started. We used to feed all our boys the same stuff - mainly hay and/or timothy hay, plus lettuce, some carrot, corn on cobs, and a mix of pellets and all that other junk. (I know that mixed stuff is "junk food," but the Mrs. picked out their food when all this started, and a good husband knows better than to disagree with his boss. Er, wife.)

Anyway, Hop started having problems with liquid you-know-what, which is bad enough on its own but worse it was sticking to his fur something awful. So we took away basically everything but the hay one item at a time. Each time the problem would go away for a little bit and then come back. So finally we took him to the vet. She said there was no bacteria or anything, and suggested we only feed him timothy hay, a little bit of pellets, and kale. We were worried he wouldn't like it, but he devoured it! So did our other buns, so we started giving them all some. But anyway, Hop just has never gotten over this problem completely. Some times are better than others, but he always seems to have a little bit.

So now he doesn't seem interested in kale, but he will gobble up any lettuce I give him. (It's red leaf lettuce, BTW.) So I don't know what to think. He doesn't seem to be in pain; he loves having his belly rubbed like always. I would think if his stomach was full of gas he wouldn't let us touch it, right?

As for the leg, he seems to be "favoring" that one less tonight, so maybe whatever it is, it's wearing off on its own.

 

[JBun]

Did the vet check for parasites too? Sometimes if they have parasites, it will cause digestive issues. He could still have some gas or tummy issues even though he doesn't react when you rub his belly. My rabbit that had stasis and gas, didn't react at all to me rubbing his stomach, but I knew it was bothering him cause he wouldn't eat. You may want to try just a hay diet, maybe for a few days or a week to see if it clears up his stomach problems. If he doesn't have a parasite or bacteria, and he's still getting the 'junk food' pellets, my guess is that the pellets are causing the problem. Those kind of pellets have way too many carbs in them for rabbits, especially ones with sensitive stomachs. I have a rabbit that I have to feed very limited pellets in addition to her hay. If I try to feed her more pellets, she will always get soft poops. And these are just the plain pellets. My other rabbit with stasis problems, gets no pellets or he starts to get gassy and will get GI stasis. Try no pellets, hay only, then maybe after a week, if it works, then you know it's the pellets and you can start adding veggies back in one at a time, and in small amounts, so you can be sure he doesn't have any problems with the veggies too. If he is having a problem with the pellets, and he keeps getting them, at some point he may develop stasis, and that wouldn't be a good thing for your rabbit, as they don't always survive it. I lost one rabbit to it earlier this year, because I didn't realize how sensitive she was to sugars and carbs in her diet, before it was too late. If this works, after several weeks of his poops being ok, you may be able to get a plain pellet(with no treat pieces in it) and very slowly introduce it into his diet, and see how he does. You want to start with very small amounts for a while, and then very gradually increase, so that you give his digestion time to adjust to the new food, and just pay attention for any signs it may be upsetting his stomach. With my rabbit that had stasis and is on a no pellet diet, I did try to reintroduce pellets back into his diet, very slowly, and the only sign I got that it was making him feel sick, was him sitting a little funny in his cage several times. So you'll want to pay attention to those little signs, then you can catch it before it becomes a full on digestive problem. You'll want to avoid all sugars, carbs, and starches with your rabbit, so no fruit, grains like corn, and starches like carrots. Once you figure out if the pellets are the problem and start giving veggies again, you'll want to stick with leafy greens, and keep away from gassy veggies.

Good luck with your bun. I hope he starts feeling better soon.

 

[Ozzie]

JB, thanks for all the advice. I'll talk with my wife about it. Just to clarify, we took him to the vet about this stuff about a year ago. We collected samples of his mess for her to check; I don't recall if she was looking for parasites, but she did say there was nothing abnormal in them. Also when we started having this problem we switched him to just pellets, instead of pellets mixed with all that other stuff.

Another part of the problem is that in spring, summer, and fall, we let our buns have plenty of outside time. Thing is, Hoppy particularly loves eating grass, and the vet thought that was contributing to his issues as well, so when he was outside we would put him in a pen where he was off the ground and couldn't get to the grass. I know that if you switch a bunny's food you're supposed to do it gradually, but when he's on the lawn there's really no way to "limit" how much grass he gets.