Getting elderly bunny to eat again after injury/meds

[Cakie]

Hi everyone, 

I’ve got a 10 year old rabbit who I cannot get back on a regular eating routine after an injury. He won’t take critical care in any form at this point, he’s never been a fan of hay, he’ll eat 3 or 4 pellets and call it good, and basically won’t eat anything but his veggies, which are obviously not caloric-ally helpful. 

Basically, my rabbit had a fall, I took him to “THE” rabbit vet in our area, who gave him a medication that he didn’t need that made him very ill. I found a better vet who has been treating him for both his back injury (almost recovered!) and the damage done to his stomach by the first vet/unneeded meds. She says not to try to force the critical care on him, but he’s still losing weight and not eating much. 

Now he’s at a point where he does not need to be syringe fed anymore, and he will not take the critical care in any form. I have tried hiding treats in it, smashing banana in with it, and now I’m mashing a little banana in with his pellets to get him to eat them better. He’s lost about .5 kilos at this point, which is a lot when you only weighed 2.42 to begin with.

What tricks have you all had success with in getting them to eat their regular food when coming back from injury and medication?

[Wick & Fable]

Novelty may help. Curiosity of a new scent, combination, texture, etc.. Even swapping the usual food dish and presentation setting can be enough to differ a mindset and stimulate appetite. I know many BB users talk about sprinkling certain dried herbs (?) on food to make it more enticing.

Try switching up the setting and general space of food and see if this helps stimulate him. Cutting food in different shapes make be enticing as well. Wick gets celery cut a variety of ways to get him a bit more entertainment.

Best of luck and keep us updated!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Cakie]

Just got him a brand new bowl, but I’ll try some herbs and maybe feeding him in a different room. Thanks for the ideas!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Is your Critical Care the Apple/Banana? Most bunnies like that but hate the Anise flavour.

[Cakie]

I actually have both. I got the banana/apple from the vet (usually he will murder old ladies in the streets for anything banana, but not this time) and decided to try the anise just in case, but he snubs both now that he’s well enough to not need syringe feeding.
I got him, over the course of about 20 hours, to eat a pretty much normal sized helping of pellets by mashing banana into the pellets, but I hate to give him banana every single day :/

[Author]

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