Senior Bun Questions

[BrittsBunny]

I have an approx. 8-9 year old neutered dwarf rabbit which for the past year acts like he is starving. He has figured out that food comes out of the fridge and he'll actually follow me to the kitchen and he'll hangout there whenever I let him have free roam of the apt. Always waiting for food. He is given fresh timothy hay daily and minimal oxbow timothy pellets. I have pretty much cut sugar completely out of his diet minus a pinch of banana or even carrot every once in awhile. For treats he is given mostly kale. He loves it. I try to mix up the greens every once in awhile but kale outlasts all of them.

Also, as if he isn't eating enough he has an obsession of pooping all over the place and chewing on his fecal balls...now I know this is normal to some extent, but he's chewing on them as if he's missing something from his diet. Or maybe it's behavioral? He's also started to be lazy about not urinating in his box. I really don't understand what is going on here. He acts completely normal otherwise and he appears to be maintaining his weight. He runs around and is as bossy as ever. Ideas/suggestions anyone?

 

[whiskylollipop]

Do you weigh him regularly? Old rabbits do need more nutrition because they tend to have trouble keeping weight on and it is hard to tell visually if a fluffly-ish bunny is skinny or not. You could probably increase his pellet rations and/or mix some alfalfa hay into his timothy hay to give him more to munch on. I'm not sure why he would eat his poop and start urinating outside his box, one possibility is senility, or maybe a urinary tract infection and lack of fibre. I'd take him to a rabbit vet for a wellness check if you haven't recently.