Hi, all! I had two rabbits and I recently lost one. The beautiful mini lop that is in my profile picture is unfortunately, no longer with us. It broke my heart. He literally was my best friend and he had seen me through many life tragedies. I don’t know how he died. I noticed that he was gradually losing weight. I didn’t worry too much about it because every time I went to give more hay or refill the food bowl, all the food/hay was gone. (Which was probably the other rabbit eating it, now that I think about it.) From what I understand, if a rabbit appears fine they may only need to go to the vet once a year. I took him for his yearly many months ago, and he was not due for his other yearly till many many months. However, as previously stated, I did notice he was losing weight so I made a vet appointment for him this Tuesday, but it was too late….he passed away this week. The weight loss makes me think cancer or diabetes but I will never know. He only just turned three. He was well cared for, and the other rabbit appears to be healthy.
Now that he’s passed away, I’m quite paranoid about anything happening to the other rabbit. This rabbit is doing fine and is healthy but I really want to take all precautions. She is a lionhead, who is about four years old. She lives in a huge hutch that is indoors during the wintertime and the nighttime. During the days, in the summertime she lives in an outdoor hutch as she quite likes the fresh air. (Then before nighttime everyday, we just simply move her from the outdoor hutch into the indoor hutch *I find most indoor rabbit cages to be too small so we just took a huge hutch and moved it inside.* As previously stated, she also has an outdoor hutch for summer days, not nights or wintertime.) She gets fed Oxbow Adult Rabbit plain pellets, and Small Pet Select 2nd cutting timothy hay. Occasionally, she gets treats or some leafy vegetables like dandelion or parsley. Because I’m so paranoid about anything happening to her now that the other one has passed away, I try to give her rabbit multivitamins I think they’re called Daily Best. She doesn’t eat the vitamins out of my hand, but I place them in her food bowl and *hope* that she gets one a day. I will be taking her for a vet checkup soon that she probably doesn’t need (it’s nowhere near time for her yearly), because I want to make sure she’s in good health.
Some questions I have:
–Can the vet tell if she is diabetic?
–If I wanted bloodwork done on her, what would that be able to show me?
–Would bloodwork even be worth it because she’s such a tiny breed? I wouldn’t want to risk her having bloodwork done if it’s too stressful for her or if there’s a chance that she wouldn’t pull through it.
–What are the signs of cancer in rabbits?
–Is the timothy hay that I’m feeding her (which appears to be of excellent quality, much better than that stiff pet store hay) really best, or should she also be having a mixture of oat, orchard, or grass hay to ensure the best health?
–Getting a second rabbit is really an option that is not available to me right now, maybe not for another whole year–provided that she gets proper care, love, and lots of attention will she be okay as a single rabbit for a year or so? (She actually seems perfectly content and a little bit happy–like she doesn’t even notice that he’s gone or something–but opinions are always welcomed.)
–Is there anything else that I can do to ensure that she has the best health? (Toy/food/treat/hay recommendations. Any recommendations at all are really welcomed.)