I haven’t dealt with an older bun yet so I won’t make any speculation on whether the change in her toy habits is normal or not. I will say however that 6 is not very old for most breeds. My bunnies aren’t that interested in toys to begin anyway.

I still thought I would hop on here and recommend having blood work with diagnostics done if they haven’t already. My buck stopped eating pellets very well at a little over a year old (I know that’s not comparable) and his exam showed nothing, however blood tests showed he had elevated liver enzymes. This was treated successfully. I did happen to end up switching pellets as well. As far as them being stale that is always possible but if you have been storing them the same way and they are stored well this shouldn’t be the cause. Of course if it’s a new bag that was recently opened it could be an off batch as well.

My buck also had blocked tear ducts and this was successfully treated without anesthesia. My vet did say it could come back but it’s been a while and so far it hasn’t returned. He did say that their teeth can cause the duct to be blocked. What did your vet do to verify she had no teeth issues?

Hi there,

I agree that 6 isn’t that old! I would say it’s like a 45 or 50 year old human

I suspect dental issues are at play with the chewing and pellet change… especially since there’s been a recent change. My Bertha (who’s at least 9, maybe 10) eats her pellets more slowly than she used to, but still runs for them with gusto when I first put them out. My buns are both old (Bun Jovi is 10), and they still chew up a storm on fresh willow and apple sticks.

Often with dental issues there is just one symptom when they start. Buns have 28 molars, all crammed into that tiny mouth, and it’s very hard to see the back ones in a normal exam. Small points can cause enough discomfort for the bun to have a slight change in preferences.

I think blood work would be a good idea as well. You could do the blood work first, which can also help determine if anethesia is safe for the bun. Most vets have their spay/neuter cut off at 6, so I think you should be good to go.

The good news is that when a dental issue comes up in a mature/older bun, they often just need 1 molar trim and they are good to go for a long time. Bone density changes as the bun ages, so the teeth alignment can change a bit and require a molar grinding, but not recurring ones like buns do when they have misaligned teeth from a young age.

There are really multiple reasons for elevated liver enzymes. Some bunnies just have slightly elevated enzymes and that is their normal. That’s another reason why blood work is so good to have done. Even if nothing is found (which fingers crossed is the case) you will have a nice baseline on what their normal might look like.

As far as the pellets, he used to finish his pellets within an hour. I noticed it was taking around 4 hours. My vet agreed that he should have a thorough exam because they agreed that any changes like this warrant a look when rabbits are involved. Like I said the exam showed nothing, actually my vet said it was a boring exam to be exact. He said that since I am seeing clinical signs it doesn’t hurt to get blood work done. When he called with the results we agreed to try some Lactolose with Milk Thistle for 4-6 weeks and have the blood checked again. During that time I was getting low on his pellets and decided I wanted to switch so I took that month to slowly switch him over. Shortly after this vet visit he had some of his evening pellets left in the morning two days in a row. This had me alarmed but he slowly started getting back to normal. I can’t 100% say whether the pellet switch helped as well but at 5 weeks his blood work showed levels that were completely normal. He also started to eat more hay than he ever had since I got him. It’s possible that the pellets may have helped with this as well.

As far as the eye issue, on the first vet visit about that my vet actually used something (not sure of the technical term but it sounded like a thin tube) to try and clear out the ducts. One cleared and the other didn’t. I was give two different eye drops that he had to get twice a day. After two weeks we went back for a visit and it was much better at that time. My vet tried to clear them again and although the one he couldn’t get the first time was difficult he managed to get it mainly cleared. I had to give drops for another week. It’s been about 8 months and luckily I have yet to have it happen again. My vet said it’s very common in some buns because of the way their teeth grow. Basically the way the tear duct is positioned in relation to the teeth roots, it’s just an invite for this to happen. The roots can sometimes grow in a way that can pinch the duct. This can cause it to be a chronic issue. The tear duct can be a blocked for other reasons. Another common reason for blockage is scar tissue.