Bunny loosing weight

[Sasha]

Hello! I have 3 years old male french lop bunny that’s been struggling with weight loss recently. He’s been struggling with health ever since we got him, had severe coccidiosis, problems with teeth and many other things. For the past year he’s been doing pretty well, tho his immunity has been always lacking but overall was feeling fine.

About a month ago he began to be very picky about his hay. He always used to eat a ton, but for some reason he suddenly became super picky. I took him to a vet, at first we thought it’s dental problen again, he god his mollars trimmed but there wasn’t even much to trim. He got that done 2 months before that.

The vet also did a blood test, the WBC was lower. GGT, AST, ALT higher, but that’s chronic for him as the result of coccidiosis he had. He got an X-Ray and USG as well, they came out just fine. And as for the fecal examination, it was also alright.

He now is eating much better, I would say he is eating 3/4 of what he used to before which is quite a lot compared to what other bunnies a know eat, but he’s been losing weight and lost over 1kg already. I’m really worried about him, the vet said he doesnt really know what could be the cause.

Does anyone maybe has a similar experience and know what it could be and what could i do to help him?

 

Thank you!

[Bam]

I’m glad he’s doing better again!

The unwillingness to eat hay does sound teeth-related, as hay is tough and needs to be chewed with a sideways motion of the jaws. If the bun can’t chew the hay it properly it’s more difficult for the body to extract the nutrients from it or ferment the really small bits into usefull nutrients (fatty acids, vitamins). If the bun’s teeth can’t grind the hay into tiny enough bits, there eont be enough food for the fermentation process in the cecum, and rabbits do depend on their cecum to a great extent for their nutritional needs.

Coccidia can cause some permanent damage to the intestinal mucosa, which would also make it more difficult for the bun to take up enough nutrients from it’s food. Maybe you could try supplementing your bun with recovery formula, like Emeraid sustain or Oxbow Critical Care? That type of food is made for easy uptake of all the nutrients that are vital for a rabbit.

Extruded pellets (science selective and some other brands) are supposedly easier to digest than compressed pellets (Oxbow and other brands). (I don’t know what brand you are using now of course.)

 

 

[Sasha]

Thank you for your reply!

I’m also thinking this is going to be teeth related, it’s just confusing that his teeth were alright this time. But from the past X-Ray he had, his upper molars roots seemed to be alightly overgrown (his right eye is more teary because of that), but since the only solution was to extract the teeths, the vet decided not to do anything for now cuz it wasn’t that severe (they also don’t do the procedure anywhere nearby).

I do have RodiCare liquid feed and Science Selective feed as well at home, so I will definitely ask the vet about using them for now.

I wouldn’t even say that he is eating too little right now, 2,5kg bag of hay disappears within 5-7 days amd he poops just normally too, it’s just that he hasn’t gain any weight back, he actually lost more

[Bam]

It’s great that he is eating. There could be some sort of malabsorption that stops him from gaining, in which case support formula would be a good idea. These formulas are made for easy uptake, so the body doesnt have to work so hard to get to the good stuff.

Your bun is a big breed bun, my great rabbit vet says big breed buns can’t sustain themselves on hay only or near-hay only. There simply aren’t enough hours in a day for a big bun to eat all the hay needed to meet the caloric requirements. Dental disease is also very common in the big breeds, making it even harder for them.

Complete cheek teeth extraction is not an option where I am either. There is an ethical aspect. Pulling a rotten tooth or two or even removing the incisors in cases of really bad malocclusion is done here, but not extraction of all the teeth.

In March this year I listened to a vet webbinar on rabbit teeth, it was an event arranged by our national rabbit wellfare society. The vet said it’s extremely important to catch dental disease early (just like you have done), but even so, many buns can’t be “cured”, just managed. Owners have to tweak the bun’s diet and keep on top of things i e maintain a regimen of oral check-ups to catch spurs early and any signs of infection, teeth coming loose etc, and if we do that the bun can live a great quality life.

I had a bun that was found to have horrible teeth. He was 6 when I adopted him. Long story so I’ll spare you, but he never got any infections in his gums or around his tooth roots, the teeth had stopped growing so they never grew into his eye sockets or down through his lower jawbone. There was some hope that the body would just slowly resorb the teeth (this can happen). Anyway, he was put on antiinflammatory meds (meloxicam) for life and I gave him a big meal of Critical Care every evening of every day.  He never ate it from a plate but he willingly took it from the syringe. When he heard me getting his CC ready in the kitchen, he came hopping and sat himself down and waited for it, which was the sweetest thing. I weighed him every couple of days to make sure he kept around his target weight (he was a tiny bun, 1500 grams).

I hope you’ll be able to manage your buns health challenges, with the help of your vet. It is so very important to have a good vet that knows your bun.

 

 

[Love my bun]

I’m sorry to hear of your bun’s weight loss. I, too, am experiencing this with my 12 yo bun. I think he was close to 4 lbs when I adopted him at the age of 7 and now he is 3 lbs 10 oz. He just went to a new vet and had the most thorough work up he’s had in his whole life. Still waiting on the bloodwork results (fingers crossed) but his fecal gram stain came back great. He does have a molar she said needs to be filed but he was too stressed from all the other tests to have that done at the time. He eats like a champ (1st, 2nd, 3rd cutting timothy, orchard mix, alfalfa hay as a treat 1-2x/week, Oxbow senior pellets, Oxbow treats @1/day, plus his fresh food). He did have some yeast in his ears so he is on meds for that now in addition to his Metacam. She also put him on Benebac since I’ve been dealing with a messy bum for a while now. Not sure if this is from him producing too may cecotropes or that he just cant get back there to eat them before he steps on them 🙁 I had recently started feeding him Emeraid Sustain which he LOVED but the vet said I should be using Oxbow critical care. So I’ve been attempting to feed him that for the past 3 days and he HATES it. I even mixed it with Emeraid and now he wont touch any of it. I almost wish I had never tried the CC since he was eating the Emeraid just fine.

SO, with my very limited knowledge, my advice to you would be to try the EMERAID. My bun liked it as treats (less water) so as long as yours drinks enough water you could try that. Much easier than syringe feeding! But my vet did say that Bun was dehydrated so now I attempt to give it to him as a liquid which is not going well. She also told me he could not have ANY fruit which surprised me. I thought they could have apples in small amounts of 1tsp or so but she said no, none. Despite this, I’m wondering if it would be ok to mix the CC in a small amount of sugar-free or low sugar apple juice as I have read on other posts. If it gets them to eat the CC, it may be worth a shot. Just have to watch for GI issues…

[Bam]

@Love my bun, did yiur vet give any reason as to why they wanted you to give Critical Care instead of Emeraid? My only recovery food option here is CC, andthat’s unfortunate bc buns don’t seem to like it. It is a good product, but I’ve always had to syringe it, and it’s of course a huge advantage if the bun eats it from a plate or spoon.

We are not vets here so I cant say if it’s ok to try a little bit of unsweetened apple juice. I have done it myself but that’s 100% anecdotal. Simple sugars do mess with the microorganisms in the cecum and can cause overgrowth of unfavorable bacteria. This pertains not just to added sugars but to the simple sugars in grass in early spring, which is why spring grass should be given with great caution.

Some people get their bun to like CC by mixing it with plain unsweetened pumpkin (not pie filling, pie filling has spices and other additives). I’ve never had any success with pumpkin.

I hope your bun can re-learn to like Emeraid. A food can be perfect and healthy in every way, but it still wont do any good unless the bun eats it, and few buns (there are exceptions) appreciate being syringe fed.

[Love my bun]

Hi Bam-

Appreciate the speedy reply. The vet seemed to think that CC is a better product than Emeraid, not sure why. Maybe because she sells it? I hate to think that but…?  IMO, I’m going to feed him whichever product I can get him to eat. Happily, he ate the huge serving of Emeraid I left out for him overnight! So thankful he’s not rejecting that one at least. He was not happy with the CC I had to syringe him yesterday, even with 1tsp apple juice and a tiny piece of mashed banana in it. And he LOVES banana. Seeing as how he already has some cecotrope messiness, as you mention about the sugars, I am hesitant to keep trying the CC with juice/fruit. I assume pumpkin is ok for them… I’ve never tried that but will buy some today! I truly appreciate all the info on this forum; it has really helped me in the past few weeks with Bun’s issues.

 

Sasha- how is your bun doing?

[LBJ10]

Mystery weight loss is something that we see around here a lot. The problem with bunnies is that the cause can be any number of things. Sometimes you just have to supplement with a recovery food until you can get the problem addressed. When one of my bunnies was elderly, I found he would eat Critical Care off of a plate, rather than taking it from a syringe. Emeraid isn’t as readily available around here, but I hear many bunnies seem to like it better than Critical Care. Anyway, if he is fighting the syringe, you may try just putting it on a plate to see what he does.

[Love my bun]

Very true! Bun was even refusing the Emeraid via syringe but ate a pretty good sized portion of it overnight in his dish. I did try that the night before with the Critical Care to no avail. Just picked up some Sherwood recovery food from the vet to see if he takes to that one. I have ordered the Sherwood emergency kit (appetite restore and recovery food) from Amazon which arrives Tuesday. Lastly, I know no ones speaks of it or recommends it on this forum but years ago I bought Small Pet Select Nutri-Rescue (because that’s where I order my hay from) when i noticed Bun possibly having some GI issues. He lapped it up and boom! no more laying stretched out/not eating as much. Granted, he was a younger bun then but I just ordered more of that to mix a bit in with these recovery foods to see if it helps make them more palatable/effective. I am having a very hard time forcing my little guy to eat stuff he doesn’t want to…

[Love my bun]

Update: I have tried feeding Bun the Sherwood recovery food, Oxbow CC, and Emeraid all at diff times today. The only thing he will readily eat is the Emeriad Sustain in treat from (so I syringe him extra water afterwards). So Emeraid it is! He did try to eat a little hay but wasn’t into it. I think I’m going to order new hay in case this was a bad batch from SPS or it went bad from being stored in a hot garage…

[Em]

You say he had x-rays previously which showed elongated tooth roots and a weepy eye – how long ago was this, and has he had any repeat scanning since?

One of my previous rabbits had this and it eventually developed into a very nasty tooth tooth abscess. So if he hasn’t had any repeat scanning since initially showing symptoms of a dental problem, I would personally encourage a revisit especially with the 1kg weight loss. Even on a frenchie, that’s very significant and very concerning. Ensure your vet is rabbit savvy, I’d honestly push a skull CT if possible – but at the very least I would want to repeat head x ray to check on those teeth.

My past frenchie had issues with weight loss, but his were entirely EC related and his appetite never wavered. My lion lop though had decreased appetite and minor weight loss (barely even registered, but we caught his problem very fast – unfortunately still were not quick enough) and his issue was a tooth tooth abscess caused by elongated tooth roots. One of his earliest symptoms was even though he had a great appetite, he had a weepy eye and was misdiagnosed. A vet also looked inside his mouth and said his teeth looked “perfect” – but honestly a physical exam of their teeth only shows surface problems…. You need an X-ray or skull CT to really unearth any deeper problems that are manifesting. His x ray showed a huge abscess that had developed on his tooth root, which ultimately killed him before he could be treated.

id say keep digging for answers as you are doing, because something clearly isn’t right with the poor guy

[Love my bun]

Great information for everyone to have in their back pocket, Em. Thanks! And btw, cutest bun pic ever! I may have to copy 😉

[Author]

Messages