Rabbit not eating

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SableSteel

SableSteel

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I don't come here asking for advice often but I've been having trouble with a rabbit of mine not eating
I got her 10 days ago, she hasn't eaten on her own since. I've made sure to keep her on the exact same food as her old owner +unlimited timothy hay while she transitions into the new environment (as I normally do), and given her both a bottle and 2 different water dishes to choose from (along with 5 different food dishes). I've been feeding her critical care but she doesn't like it, and she's losing weight. She is pooping but only as much as I give her in crit care.
She is still active. She still prefers trying to play with food dishes and things instead of trying to eat out of them. She has proper teeth, healthy lungs, we can still hear digestive movements. She is vaccinated. She's not bloated. I don't have an exact age, but she is less than two years old and not molting.
She looks for all purposes like a healthy rabbit except with no appetite.
Her sister was also refusing to eat but I discovered after some time that the sister just didn't like the shape of the food bowl; the sister is now eating but only out of one specific bowl. The other twelve rabbits I got at the same time are all eating without issue.
I have tried everything. Pineapple juice. Sugar water/electrolytes. Sub q fluids. Metoclopramide. Probiotics. Massaging her stomach.
My vet and I just can't figure out what's up with her.
Any ideas for how to get her appetitive back up?
 
Is she eating any of the hay, any pellets at all, or is she drinking at all from the dish or bottle? Have you tried your type of pellets with her, or a different hay, or a small amount of a leafy green, or tried bottled water? If you know of or can find out if the previous owner fed any veggies, I would try ones she had in her previous home.

Can you find out what kind of set up the previous owner had her in? Like the exact type of feeder or food dish, type of water bottle or type of water dish, etc. There's also the possibility that she is having issues with her placement in your rabbitry. Maybe doesn't like her neighbor if she has any rabbits next to her. So maybe trying her in a different area. If she's lower down, move her up, or vice versa. Or try her by a different rabbit.
 
Is the lack of eating coinciding with any anxiety-like language? When I first got Fable (and till this day, though less now), any changes to environment, food (including feeding location and vessel), etc. will make her wary and cause her to not eat food presented.
 
She (Cleveland is her name) has the same neighbor she had at her old place (her sister). The old owner had a metal J feeder (which she refused to use) and a long plastic water dish which I have not been able to find anywhere. I know the old owner custom made her own equipment. She doesn't seem too stressed to eat; she will still pop her head out and look around when I open her cage, and will play with any toys I put in there


As today's update - I had a bale of nasty old bermuda hay that had been sitting in front of my house for about a year. At this point it is dusty and sun bleached and I just use it for bedding for my gamebirds. I gave her a handful of that because at this point I'm willing to try anything and she seems to be nibbling on it. Not much nutrition left in this hay but hopefully if she does eat it, it will boost her appetite so I can get her back on pellets.
 
I had something similar the other night with my boy Lucas. He seems prone to GI issues, so we pulled through it no problems, but much the same, he was active and responsive, just wouldn't eat... At first I though he was just protesting because I cleaned his house, but I got worried when it dragged on late into the night, log after he normally demands his dinner. I would place all sorts of things in front of him, including his favorites (banana), and he would shove them away. A couple of doses of simethicone and he was back eating, but that was around midnight... He's not normally the one to hold a grudge for that long. And neither of them have ever gone on a "hunger strike", that's normally how we make up...

Anyway, I guess I'm saying that I'm interested to see what everyone's advice is.

Good luck with Cleveland! I hope you get her eating as normal soon!
 
Weird. If all of her other behavior is normal, all I can think is there could still be a dental issue going on. Sometimes a non sedated visual exam can miss problems at the very back of the molars, and it takes sedating the rabbit to get a really good look. Or also possibly an infected tooth causing pain when biting down, and that would take xrays to determine.

If her behavior isn't normal and she's subdued, then it could be some other internal health issue causing pain and discomfort, that is also causing the lack of appetite.

Let us know if you get it figured out. I'd be really interested to know what the cause ends up being.
 
Very odd -- if she is playing normally, would she somehow be more motivated to eat if it were "play" format? Such as a pellet ball or maybe hard stick-treats? Agreed that perhaps she's really good at behaving as-is and is actually having some dental issues going on, or potentially something else internal.
 
Update: Cleveland has continued to eat well and has since had a beautiful litter of six babies (they are currently 4 weeks old); she decided six was too many so 4 of the babies are being raised by fosters but she is being a good mother to her two

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