Stains by nose of baby bun

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gwhoosh

gwhoosh

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, Florida, USA
Hi guys :)

Last week I got a tiny baby half lop half lion head. He was given to me by my boyfriend's boss's wife who was breeding them for her sister's pet store. Horrible, I know. It gets worse. They were visiting the sister on Easter so they wanted to bring the babies to sell that day. I was also visiting the city they live in on Easter, so I was told he'd be ready to pick up that day.

I was surprised when I picked him up to be told that he was only 5-6 weeks old (please be 6!) and he was weaned, yet had also nursed that morning. They didn't have his food to give me either as they left everything with the sister and only had my baby and one other they were keeping with them (they insisted on meeting in the parking lot of my bf's work)

OK! That's his background. I've been feeding him Oxbow young rabbit pellets which he loves, Timothy hay, and alfalfa hay. He eats a lot, constantly. Mostly pellets but hay too (trying to encourage more hay), and drinks a lot. Sleeps between eating sessions but still has TONS of energy to dash about when put in a pen.

However, yesterday I noticed something green by his nose. The alfalfa hay is pretty crumbly, so I think it was some of that, but it could have come from his nose. There was a slight stain by each nostril (not green). They green comes and goes as he grooms himself and eats.

I've made a vet appointment due to his young weaning age and nose thing, but the first available appointment they had was Monday at noon. Is there anything I should do for him in the mean time?

Thanks and sorry for the novel!!

PS I do have one other rabbit already. There is no contact between them directly but they're in the same room. I haven't noticed anything on her but she has black fur (baby's is white and light brown).
 
The only thing I can think of is maybe feeding some kitten formula. Others have mentioned using it when a rabbit is so young. Maybe called KRF?

And to be safe I think you should move one into another room for awhile, at least until you know for sure there's no chance of contagion.
 
The easiest thing to do would be switch from alfalfa to just timothy hay and see if the stain goes away with time. Is there any sign of a cold or sneezing ? Usually snotty buns will have matting on the insides of their front legs due to grooming. If snot is clear then i would guess the stains are due to the alfalfa.
 
I haven't noticed anything between his front legs, but today I noticed it's a bit messy between his back legs... I've seen him making lots of normal poops, haven't seen any messy poops in his cage. He drinks a lot, should I add pedialyte to his water?
 
Pedialyte is used for Dehydration and electrolytes. You can if it will make you feel at ease but i dont see any use for it at this point unless the baby isnt acting active and alert or becomes dehydrated.

When you say between his back legs is it matted or sticky? And is it his inner leg and groin area?

I would watch him but nothing concerns me a whole lot. Definitely keep your monday apointment and just watch him. Try stopping the alfalfa and seeing if the stains go away. Should notice within a day or two.
 
Oh and just to clarify the kitten formula i believe is call KMR standing for kitten milk replacer.
 
Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

We saw the vet yesterday and the poop trapped in the fur by his butt was gone, he must have cleaned it. She noticed his nose stain but said they wouldn't do anything unless it got worse or lasted longer than a few weeks.

Some back teeth were a little pointed because he prefers pellets over hay. She told me to stop feeding alfalfa hay in 2 weeks, even though I read it is OK up to 6 months. Anyone have input on this? She also told me to faze out the young rabbit food in a few months even though the bag says 1 year.

Other than that she said he looked healthy and is a boy! He weighed 0.5kg and just last week he was 12oz! That's close to double I think.

So now we need to think of a boy name because we expected a girl!
 
I dont feed alfalfa to my buns partly because a bale is too expensive for us and also because ours eat timothy and a feed with a higher protein content so the alfalfa isn't needed.

As far as young rabbit food most small breed rabbits stop growing around 6-8 months but some can take up to a year. It depends on the breed. All of our rabbits get the same mixture of food babies, adults, and older buns and we never have a problem.
 
Glad to hear everything went well with the Vet visit.

I don't see anything wrong with what your Vet suggested. Alfalfa can be given to bunnies until 6 months, but it's not "set in stone". When I had Kreacher and Dobby on alfalfa, even my Rabbit Vet said, "Not too much". Start switching to Timothy. (Both were 4 months at the time). Also when my first two came home they were on timothy pellets. The breeder, like Sarah, fed her bunnies (at all stages of life) the same type of pellet. She had no problems and I have two that show it. The reason I went alfalfa hay was mainly for Kreacher who was sick (stress from the move) and needed to gain weight. Dr. Joe understood but said just get back to Timothy.

Neville and Luna started life on Manna Pro so I had to find something similar which I did in Oxbow for Young Rabbits. I think I'll start the transition to what the older boys are eating probably at 7 months. Agree with what Sarah said, it does depend on the breed. Smaller rabbits do get to their adult size by 7-8 months.

Congratulations on the Boy! Can't wait to hear the new name!

K:)

 
Thanks guys! We decided to name him Moose Milton Montgomery hehehe.

Yeah I never bought alfalfa hay for my other bun Rilee, but because Moose was SO small I did get him some. Now I only give a few stalks as he'll only eat leaves otherwise and it doesn't properly wear down his teeth then. He has definitely gained weight but he seems healthier as before he was skin and bones.

I never fed Rilee an age specific feed until I got the Oxbow last year I didn't even realize it was not for young buns till my BF pointed out the chart. The vet said to switch when it seems like he's stopped growing, or at least not growing rapidly anymore. So that sounds like it'll be less than a year. I'll just go by what I see and start sprinkling in the adult food because I can tell he won't be happy to give up those baby pellets, he loooooves them!
 
gwhoosh wrote:
Thanks guys! We decided to name him Moose Milton Montgomery hehehe.

Yeah I never bought alfalfa hay for my other bun Rilee, but because Moose was SO small I did get him some. Now I only give a few stalks as he'll only eat leaves otherwise and it doesn't properly wear down his teeth then. He has definitely gained weight but he seems healthier as before he was skin and bones.

I never fed Rilee an age specific feed until I got the Oxbow last year I didn't even realize it was not for young buns till my BF pointed out the chart. The vet said to switch when it seems like he's stopped growing, or at least not growing rapidly anymore. So that sounds like it'll be less than a year. I'll just go by what I see and start sprinkling in the adult food because I can tell he won't be happy to give up those baby pellets, he loooooves them!
Click to expand...
Love the name!

Definitely he's going to miss those baby pellets. I'm not looking forward to when I switch Neville. lol But I have a few months more to go. He turns 4 months in 4 days (Apr. 24). I'm thinking around 7 months is when I'll start. But I'll be having a Well Visit for Neville with Dr. Joe so that's one of my questions on my list.

Sometimes "not knowing everything" works in your favor, and Moose sounds like he is thriving. I was naive too and doing all the research. I took a shot and what I did to help Kreacher to tranfer from Alfalfa (he liked just the leaves too) to Timothy, was to mix Alfalfa and Timothy together. He started (grudgingly) eating the Timothy and eventually weeded the Alfalfa out. He loves his hay now and has really thrived. Kreacher has been my smallest rabbit to date. But I learned a lot from raising Kreacher and having a Vet who worked with me to learn, that it's helped me raise my babies and keep my boys healthy.

It's all a learning experience. Keep your mind open and your bunnies, your Vet, and others, will help you learn. That's all I'm doing.

Enjoying the experience of a Bunny! It's truly AWESOME!

K:)


 
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