Recovering bunny not eating pellets

[wenonafern]

Hiya,

So my baby bun (who isn’t a baby) is recovering from some really deep wounds on the side of her face and ear. She is having penicillin injections every 48 hours, regular cleaning twice a day with hibi and then putting Manuka honey over the wounds and is wearing a cone ☹️ Poor lass. She’s healing amazingly considering everything and I am just in awe of how she is handling everything. Very proud of her, but I do have 2 pleads for advice.

The first being she is not eating her pellets. I appreciate the bucket makes it awkward for her to eat them and have tried putting them on a plate, different bowls, propping the bowls up so they’re slanted, highering the bowls, hand feeding, mixing in different pellets (obviously being careful cos I know not to just change their food over), and keeping a close eye on her with the collar off.. And she is just not interested! She gets excited for her veg so she obviously has an appetite. I’m syringe feeding her twice a day which it stresses her out, but needs must at the mo. She’s been going to the vets every day to have her wounds cleaned so we’re able to weigh her and he weight has gone down quite a bit from her original weight, she seems to be maintaining a weight of a round 3.20kg which isn’t underweight but could do with putting some more back on, she’s pretty boney. I dont know if the food is too hard and with her wounds hard food is difficult? I wonder this as she LOVES carrots but currently will only eat the leaves and can’t eat the actual carrot…

Does anyone have any tips? Food or veg that buns find really appetising? Little gadget bowls people have made that she can eat from? At this point I am desperate for anything, as she has come so far to lose her to her not eating.

My second was that with her wearing her bucket we are having to put Vaseline round her neck to help it be more comfortable for her, and putting Manuka honey on her wounds (that stuff is A-mazing!!) but it’s all in her fur and she looks a state. Once she’s better I’m considering trimming her worst bits, but at this point with weeks more of treatment I don’t want to trim her as the hair underneath will just get sticky and be in the same situation.. I don’t want to bath her either obviously, as I know that can be dangerous for buns, and cause unnessecary stress for her. Tried brushing with a flea comb and that pulls the hair out, a soft brush does nothing. I just want her to be more comfortable. Does anyone have any ideas that I could wipe her down/wash her with??

Thank you so much for any advise you can offer, I would put a photo up but it looks pretty grim!

[MrBun&Daisy]

poor bun!! you said she is eating her veggies, is she eating hay as well? if she is then I wouldn’t worry too much about the pellets for now. you could be right about it being uncomfortable to have to really chew something hard. Pellets aren’t the most important part of their diet-I’ve even heard of some buns being on an all hay diet. I’m not an expert on the best/most nutritious veggies so maybe some research on the best veggies would help. and I know we have some experts here so hopefully they’ll have some input! I wouldn’t expect her to put on any weight until she really feels better and is eating like she was prior to the incident. maybe a small bowl that would fit under the cone would help.

as for her fur- I would try baby wipes just to clean her up a bit. they even make rabbit cleaning wipes (or at least where I live they do.) that may help some but with everything being reapplied every day you might be fighting a losing battle there. I’ve used a spray bottle before to dampen the fur but with her being in the cone she probably wont be able to dry herself enough and we don’t want to add a cold on top of everything else.

As long as she is eating SOMETHING and a fair amount of it that’s good. the pet stores where I live also sell vitamin drops that go in their water although I’ve never looked to see what they’re for. you could possibly ask your vet if they think that’s necessary.

good luck and speedy recovery to your bun!

[Bam]

It does sound like she might have trouble chewing hard food. You could perhaps make pellet mash with fruit or veg baby purée and offer it to her on a spoon? Many buns like canned plain unsweetened pumpkin, but that’s an article I think is mostly found in the USA and I don’t know where you are (of course).
Rolled oats could perhaps be something?
That she’s eating greens is great, of course. Is she eating any hay at all?

[cinnybun2015]

I think bam is right- making a pellet slurry might be the best way to go before she’s completely recovered. It’s great that she’s eating something at least. Like MrBun&Daisy said, the best thing might be to ask for vet for advice.

[wenonafern]

Hi guys,

Yeah she is eating her hay, thankfully. I think that making a pellet mush is a good idea, so will try that, she may be able to eat it better. I’ve got bananas at home that I can mash up and also I desperately bought a jar of mashed carrot baby food. I will look in tesco for canned pumpkin, if it’s not stocked it may well be something that ill find in the world foods aisle.
A bowl smaller than her come is definitely a good idea! Stupidly I’ve been thinking shallow bowls, but she just knocks them over.
I’ve had a chat with the vet and she says continue syringe feeding and that atleast she’s eating something at this point. I may be being slightly impatient, I just want Alice better, or healthy atleast.

[Bam]

Banana and carrot purée will work, none of my buns ever wanted pumpkins but a lot of American buns do. It must be plain, unsweetened pumpkin though, not pie-filling.
For dirty fur you can rub in some corn- or potato starch, then brush. I know there’s some semantic ambiguity regarding corn starch/corn flour depending on where you are in the world, but the stuff I mean is starch, a fine snow-white powder.

I hope you’ll find sth she likes. That she’s eating hay is just great. Hay is very important, much more important than pellets.

[wenonafern]

I found another collar in my pet box (I have accident prone cats too) which is shorter than the one she was wearing originally.. Put pellets in a smaller bowl.. And she actually seemed excited about her food, which she hasn’t done since this begun. She’s eaten some mouthfuls and I am tearing up! What a sap I am!

[Author]

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