Milo losing weight

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 18sd replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 6 months ago by jerseygirl.

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- 09/13/2011 at 3:25 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  So as I mentioned, poor Milo boy has lost a lot of weight recently. When we adopted him back in the middle of March (I can’t believe it’s only been a few months!) he was weighing in a little above 5 lbs…today at the vet he only tipped the scales at 2.95 lbs, poor thing! He had a vet appointment today, and the vet said that there was nothing overtly wrong with him, except for maybe a bit of teeth issue. His incisors were removed when he was at the shelter due to severe malocclusion, but apparently a fragment of one of the lower incisors is still present, but it didn’t look like it was bothering him. Also, there was a bit of a bony protrusion on his upper jaw near the molars that seemed a little sensitive at the vet, but less so at home later.
  
  However, I feel like if he were losing weight because his teeth were bothering him, then he would have an obviously diminished intake of food, or at least decrease in eating speed. But nope…he’s still a little pig as usual. Through these past few months, his level of activity has been constant as well…he is still running all over and trying (often unsuccessfully, though hilariously) to jump on top of whatever he can.
  
  The vet suggested a blood and fecal sample, to see if parasites could be to blame or to detect any other possible diseases. However, I’m guessing that if Milo has parasites there would have been some sort of contagion with Peppy too, but she’s entirely healthy. We haven’t gone for the blood test yet…going to take him to another vet farther away that has a special on first checkup + blood test, since it’s kind of pricey and we’re poor students. Also, we’re planning to call the shelter to ask for his full medical records, and maybe for any advice that they might have – I can only imagine the variety of bunny illnesses and conditions that they’ve seen, so hopefully they might have some insight too.
  
  Any ideas or suggestions? Has anybody been through something similar with their buns?
- 09/13/2011 at 3:46 PM
  longhairmike
  Participant
  1069 posts
  if that is a recent picture, he doesn’t look malnourished. and you say hes still eating, pooping, and its not affecting his activity level.
  maybe he was just a fat little bugger beforehand.
- 09/13/2011 at 3:57 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Haha nah, that’s an older picture of him. I’m quite sure he wasn’t overweight before…he was very normal-sized (as opposed to my perhaps slightly chubby Peppy girl). Now, he looks alarmingly skinny…when he only weighed 5 lbs, a loss of 2 lbs is pretty substantial.
  
  Forgot to mention, this mainly happened over the summer – he seemed more or less normal when I saw him in early July, but had lost a lot of weigh by the beginning of August. My boyfriend said he didn’t notice as much since he saw Milo every day, but since I only saw a before-and-after it was really drastic to me.
- 09/13/2011 at 4:19 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  So you have been away from him? Perhaps he lost weight from missing you?
  Mimzy still eats during tooth issues, but just doesn’t seem to absorb as much nutrients and so loses weight. You might want to revisit that idea. Maybe if he’s not chewing right his stomach isn’t able to further break down the nourishment.
  I’m grabbing at straws, I usually see reduced appetite at least, and that just seems like quite a bit of weight loss to me. What’s his diet like?
- 09/13/2011 at 4:48 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  I don’t think he would necessarily pass any parasites onto the other rabbits, so don’t rule this out.
  
  I think the best thing to do is the diagnostics your vet suggests and see what they suggest and then go in again to those teeth – just because he is still eating it does not mean that his teeth aren’t a problem.
- 09/13/2011 at 7:17 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Mimzmum – haha, if only it were that simple! But then does that mean Peppy girl doesn’t love me? Yea, I’m not living with them anymore since I moved away for school, but I do see them whenever my boyfriend visits. Milo normally gets a very standard HRS-recommended diet for his weight, except that recently he’s on unlimited pellets because of his weight loss.
  
  Sarita – Thanks for the input. We’re definitely going through with the diagnostics, and already did a fecal sample. I know sudden drastic weight loss can be a sign of some pretty serious conditions, so I’m really hoping for the best here.
- 09/13/2011 at 8:40 PM
  bunnyfriend
  Participant
  2368 posts
  Is there a significant muscle loss? Has your vet checked? I had a rabbit that over a course of a week went from being 7 1/2 pounds to 5 1/2 pounds. The weight loss was mostly due to loss of muscle. Although it might not be relevant to your bunny since mine was definitely not related to dental problems.
- 09/13/2011 at 10:53 PM
  Kokaneeandkahlua
  Participant
  12067 posts
  I ditto-he may have something, just because the others don’t isn’t an indication. The best is to have the tests done, but also get those teeth fixed. Did the vet have a plan if he thought they were bothering him?
  
  Now this is not going to fix the cause-the vet stuff hopefully will. But more so for weight issues
  I’d order some critical care and start supplementing with that-you could try what worked for us, and that was just mixing it up and putting it on a plate-Noot ate the apple banana one just like that. You could also add alfalfa hay to his diet.
  
  Keep us posted on the test results!
- 09/13/2011 at 11:25 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Ohh, critical care – had completely forgotten about that stuff. I’ll see what I can do about getting my hands on some of it. As far as alfalfa hay goes, how would I go about feeding it to only Milo and not Peppy? For pellets, we’ve just been keeping them separate at mealtime and keeping him in the cage for a while with a big bowl of food. We can’t actually give him unlimited access, or else Peppy would probably stuff her face too – and she’s definitely not the one that needs to gain weight!
  
  As far as muscle loss…I really have no idea either. Wow, 2 lbs is a LOT for a week! Do you remember how the vet checked for muscle loss…and do you remember the cause? I feel like Milo should be in the clear for those kinds of things…he’s only about 2 years old right now.
- 09/14/2011 at 4:39 AM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  ((((((((((Weight-Gain Vibes))))))))
- 09/14/2011 at 8:27 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  For pellets, we’ve just been keeping them separate at mealtime and keeping him in the cage for a while with a big bowl of food.
  
  Oh I’m glad to read you’re doing this. Give you more idea of his actual intake. Was your bf doing this while you were away also? Good idea to keep track of his water intake also. You’ve probably already thought of this. Watch out for increased drinking and peeing. {{{Milo!}}} I hope you get some answers soon.
- 09/14/2011 at 5:08 PM
  bunnyfriend
  Participant
  2368 posts
  I’m not sure how the vet actually checked for the muscle loss sorry! I think he just could tell by looking and feeling. Plus my bunny was having trouble moving. The cause was cancer, which is why I didn’t mention it before since it’s unlikely and I would hate to bring it up even. ):
- 09/14/2011 at 5:53 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  LPT – Thanks!
  
  jerseygirl – we only started feeding him extra pellets recently, but good idea about watching water intake. We’ve always noticed that he drinks a lot of water on a regular basis, and that his urine is very dilute a lot of the time. Thanks for the vibes!
  
  bunnnyfriend – ahh yea, the suspicion of cancer has actually been in the back of my mind this whole time…I feel like it wouldn’t be all that unlikely. Plus, at school yesterday my medical biochemistry lecturer spent a good 20 minutes outlining the cellular mechanisms by which cancer causes people (though I’m sure it’s the same for other animals) to lose substantial amounts of weight via both fat and muscle loss. That didn’t help at all and just made me freak out even more…I kept thinking about poor scrawny Milo boy. He hasn’t had any problem getting around, so hopefully it’s just me being paranoid and cynical as usual. I’m so sorry that you had to deal with it though .
- 09/23/2011 at 6:34 AM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Milo is going to the (other) vet today! He’s going in for another checkup + a blood test. I know nothing conclusive will be decided today, but I’m still nervous .
  
  From the fecal tests, the first vet ruled out a parasite…I feel like that’s already a strike one on easy fixes. Sigh.
- 09/23/2011 at 7:17 AM
  Molzy
  Participant
  161 posts
  Poor Milo! I totally understand being the poor student – have you looked into that “Care Credit” thing (I think that is what it is called?).
  
  I know with birds that some parasites are only found in the feces when they are shedding it, and so sometimes they test clear even when they aren’t – don’t know if this is the same for rabbits, but might be something to ask in case they recommend a second fecal.
  
  Good luck!
  
  Molly
- 09/23/2011 at 11:00 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Continued {{{Vibes}}} for Milo!
  
  I keep scrolling back up to that picture. He’s a gorgeous little rabbt. Feels like he’s looking right at you. : )
- 09/23/2011 at 4:14 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Thanks, guys.
  
  So in the past week and a half, with unlimited feeding (we just started that about 2-3 weeks ago) Milo has gone up in weight to 3.4 lbs, yay! The vet said there was nothing obviously wrong with him other than slight molar spurs that need to be taken care of sometime, though not necessarily immediately. The blood tests came out normal too. So it looks like Milo (and Peppy too) is in good shape as far as the physical exam and blood tests go, and Milo is gaining weight back again by eating a huge amount of pellets, but I can’t help by wonder why he dropped so much weight to begin with. Kind of weird…we’re just going to keep an eye on him and see how he does in the next few weeks.
  
  I guess I have no answers, but I’m not complaining as long as things get better!
- 09/23/2011 at 6:29 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  YAYYYYYYYYY!!!! Good Milo boy!!!!!!!!! I bet he looks like his normal self!
- 09/24/2011 at 12:36 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  I’m currently bun-sitting an underweight rabbit and the vet told the owner that though it looked like the rabbit was eating, she probably wasn’t. Was likely picking up food in the mouth and dropping it out again. Perhaps those little spurs or tooth fragment are part of the trouble after all. Maybe Peppy was finishing of Milos share during the time you were away. What’s her weight like?
  
  Drinking lots of water can indicate some kidney probs but also, dental buns tend to do it to soothe their mouths.
  So wonderful to hear he is putting on the weight again!!!
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