How to get my bunny to gain weight NEED HELP

[Ali A]

Hello Everyone,

My bunny Hershey over the last month had an abscess removed and had an infection. He is recovering good and things are looking good, but he is losing a lot of weight, he goes to the vet every 3 days for his infection site to be cleaned, and is weight each time. He is losing about .10 KG every few days. Each visit he was about .10 liter. His current diet is adult pellets, kale, mint, limited amounts of apple or banana, he doesn’t eat hay because his front tooth was removed and he never eats it. I’m playing on giving him alfalfa pellets and hay per my vet as it has more calories and what not.

He can eat on his own most of the time but I syringe feed him critical care also.

Any ideas on how I can get him to gain weight and how to get him to eat pellets.

He currently weights 2.13 KG / 4.6 lbs.

He is healing from his abcrsss but are worried about his weight and are worried.

Any help is appreciated.

Hershey is a Minilop as far we were told / know, and is about 4 years old.

[Wick & Fable]

If he enjoys critical care, you can feed him critical care, once or twice a day, for as many syringes as he wants. Wick went through this for a week, one morning and one evening feeding, in addition to the usual. He gained his healthy weight and has maintained it since. He’d willingly eat 5-8 syringes each feeding and hop away with a swaying, full belly once he was full.

And regardless of front teeth, getting your rabbit to eat hay is still very important.

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.

[Deleted User]

How is he doing now?

I would increase the frequency of the critical care, but I wouldn’t switch him to alfalfa. It does have more calories, but the extra calcium can cause more problems.

Is he on pain meds? Sometimes rabbits don’t want to eat when they are in pain, and abscess surgery can be very painful!

My rabbit lost about .3 kg total in the first week after her abscess surgery, even with me giving her as much critical care as I could, but once she started eating pellets and hay on her own, she gained it all back within a few weeks.

[Ali A]

He’s currently on gabepentin every 24 hours he usually gets it at night time around 8pm. He’s at almost 2.0 kg and is losing weight I’m doing 30 cc of cricitcal care every 12 hours. 30 in the morning and 30 at night. He eats pellets and some hay not much. Will he gain weight if I add another 30 cc of critical care in the afternoon? Maybe 30 cc every 6 hours?

[Ali A]

Posted By Halcyon on 4/07/2018 11:57 AM
How is he doing now?

I would increase the frequency of the critical care, but I wouldn’t switch him to alfalfa. It does have more calories, but the extra calcium can cause more problems.

Is he on pain meds? Sometimes rabbits don’t want to eat when they are in pain, and abscess surgery can be very painful!

My rabbit lost about .3 kg total in the first week after her abscess surgery, even with me giving her as much critical care as I could, but once she started eating pellets and hay on her own, she gained it all back within a few weeks.

He’s currently on gabepentin every 24 hours he usually gets it at night time around 8pm. He’s at almost 2.0 kg and is losing weight I’m doing 30 cc of cricitcal care every 12 hours. 30 in the morning and 30 at night. He eats pellets and some hay not much. Will he gain weight if I add another 30 cc of critical care in the afternoon? Maybe 30 cc every 6 hours?

[Ali A]

Bump I really need help my bun is 1.96 kg now he is losing weight fast and getting vet hasn’t suggested anything just critical care! He’s fighting an abscess infection

[Wick & Fable]

Did you try bumping up the critical care amount? Rather than limiting to a certain amount, like 30cc, I know with Wick, I just did it twice a day, as much as he’d eat. This would be anywhere from 5-8 full syringes (the large ones, not 1cc ones) each sitting.

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.

[Bam]

I’m very sorry your are going through this. Give him more Critical Care. feed him often, like 5 times per day. If he will eat rolled oats, you can give that to him too, but only a little bit, or his tummy might react. Any new type of food needs to be gradually introduced.

[Ali A]

He’s getting probably between 30-45 cc every 4 hours or so, he’s on enrofloxacin oral and chloramphenicol oral. He had an abscess infection in the left side of his face/cheek and is still fighting that infection which is almost healed.

I also have been mixing in 1/4 of a teaspoon of rolled oats into the 1 batch of critical care a day. Usually gets it in the night time dose of critical care. Honestly he will take more then 45 cc of critical care, I was just worried over 45 is bad, can I give him more? I gave him just now around 1 am est 20 syringes, the syringes are 3 cc. So about 60 cc of food and he’s still eating his pellets and hay after that. I wouldn’t mind giving him a 100 cc but would this be bad?

Thank you for any help!

[Ali A]

Posted By bam on 4/12/2018 2:23 AM
I’m very sorry your are going through this. Give him more Critical Care. feed him often, like 5 times per day. If he will eat rolled oats, you can give that to him too, but only a little bit, or his tummy might react. Any new type of food needs to be gradually introduced.

How much critical care is too much? Also I have been putting around 1/4 to 1/2 into one critical batch everyday for him to gradually get his body use to it. Can I maybe just give him now the oats alone. Any other foods to fatten him up , he’s doing so good fighting the abscess infection that now the only issue we have is his weight.

[Ali A]

Posted By bam on 4/12/2018 2:23 AM
I’m very sorry your are going through this. Give him more Critical Care. feed him often, like 5 times per day. If he will eat rolled oats, you can give that to him too, but only a little bit, or his tummy might react. Any new type of food needs to be gradually introduced.

How much critical care is too much? Also I have been putting around 1/4 to 1/2 into one critical batch everyday for him to gradually get his body use to it. Can I maybe just give him now the oats alone. Any other foods to fatten him up , he’s doing so good fighting the abscess infection that now the only issue we have is his weight.

[Bam]

Here’s a chart of portion-sizes and daily amounts of Oxbow Critical Care for small herbivores: http://www.oxbowaustralia.com/critical-care%E2%84%A2-information-for-pet-owners/

In your case I think it’d be difficult to give him more CC than he needs. Portion size depend on the size of the bun’s stomach. If he’s 2 kg, I think 20 ml 5 times per day would be great. If he’s now used to getting oats, I think you can give them alone to him. It’d be great if he ate them of his on accord.

We had one member who had a very sensitive megacolon bun that had big difficulties keeping weight on, she got pumpkin seeds on the vet’s order. Pumpkin seeds are very fat, so only give a few for starters.

[Wick & Fable]

For critical care, I too was weary about how much is too much, but my vet assured me, and wick did show, exactly when he was full. It’s different if your rabbit doesn’t like cc, but in Wick’s case, he loves it so if he turned his nose o the syringe, he was definitely gorged out.

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.

[Ali A]

He takes a good amount he won’t stop till way after 40 ml/cc of critical care, I’m not feeding him about 15-20 (3ml) syringes every few hours

[Bam]

That is great! Then he is like Wick says, he signals when he’s full.. Some buns can be such a hassle to get to take the CC, and with those types of rabbits, smaller portion sizes can be the only way, it still takes like 40 minutes and most of the CC ends up on the human. I’m glad you’re not having that problem!

[Ali A]

Problem is he still isn’t gaining weight, I’m legit pumping over 125 cc of critical care a day

[Wick & Fable]

Oh my I just realized you mentioned using a 3ml syringe! Try and get a bigger one, like 9ml or more. It will make the feedings go by much quicker, and I suspect your CC mixture may be more watery than typical because you’ve been making it to dispense through a small 3ml syringe. Perhaps it’s a large volume total, but the ratio isn’t as dense as it could be. I go for thick pancake batter with critical care.

If you get a bigger syringe, feedings will go much quicker and he may eat more because it’s being presented faster.

How is his non-cc eating?

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.

[Ali A]

Posted By Wick on 4/13/2018 8:30 AM
Oh my I just realized you mentioned using a 3ml syringe! Try and get a bigger one, like 9ml or more. It will make the feedings go by much quicker, and I suspect your CC mixture may be more watery than typical because you’ve been making it to dispense through a small 3ml syringe. Perhaps it’s a large volume total, but the ratio isn’t as dense as it could be. I go for thick pancake batter with critical care.

If you get a bigger syringe, feedings will go much quicker and he may eat more because it’s being presented faster.

How is his non-cc eating?

That is correct I was making it like a thin applesauce consistency, but I’ve started making it thicker. 1 tbsp of critical care and 2 tbsp of warm water. Any idea where I can get a bigger syringe? I bought one at Walgreens but it broke it was a 10 ml.
His non cc eating is pellets, mint, kale, fruits (limited) and hay. He eats probably 1/4 of a cup of pellets in 24 hours, he gets about a cup of mint eats most of it. And doesn’t eat much hay very minimal. He doesn’t eat much on his own since he gets CC.

[Wick & Fable]

You can buy them on Amazon, if that is an option to you. You could also just try the Walgreens one again. I’m unsure how it broke, but across the board it seems all of them of made of generally the same material and design. You can also buy multiple, load them all up, and do the feeding that way so you don’t have pause time in between emptying and filling the syringes.

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.

[Ali A]

I’ll check amazon, really didn’t want to wait for them. The vet had given me about 15 3ml syringes from all the visits but most have woren out. These smaller ones are easier to get in his mouth as the side of his face cheek area is still healing from the abscess surgery. He’s getting around 30-45 ml of cc every 3-4 hours he gets a minimum of 30 but if he can keep going I’ve gotten up to 45. I’ve mixed in a little rolled oats into each feeding 1/4 teaspoon. Not sure it this critical care is helping me gain weight.

[Wick & Fable]

The most important thing is critical care provides him with the necessary nutrients to keep his strength up; that’s why it’s recommended for recovering rabbits. So whether it’s helping him gain weight or not, it’s at least helping him get stronger with all the nutrition packed into it. I think the thicker consistency and bigger syringe will make a difference for both him and you, hopefully positively.

I crunched the numbers, and I think Wick got ~80-100cc of Critical Care every day for a week to gain weight, but to give more perspective, Wick weighs only 2lbs, and at the time when he was underweight, he was probably only 600g. He’d hop away from each feeding with his stomach literally dragging on the floor in happiness and groggy-overeatingness—So cute. Considering your baby weighs over 4lbs and should be heavier, doing as much Critical Care as possible, as well as supplementing whatever non-CC items he can eat is a good course of action. Again, if he can accept more than 125cc per day, give it to him. It may sound exhausting, but with a bigger syringe, it will definitely be so much easier, and you may find it ends up being a lot quicker than it has been.

I have heard of people giving alfalfa pellets to help gain weight, but you need to monitor there’s not regularly white/chalky urine from the uptake in calcium.

You could also experiment with your critical care timing. In humans, some people tend to eat more total when they have a large breakfast and dinner, as opposed to 3 smaller meals combined. Maybe see if doing only 3 feedings in a day makes him eat more in general. Constantly being satiated will make each feeding portion small, but having time to get hungry in between may amp up and lead to some over-eating, which is kinda what he needs to do to gain weight.

How are his poops by the way? Focusing on weight gain a lot, but does he seem to be doing all right?

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.

[Ali A]

Posted By Wick on 4/13/2018 2:16 PM
The most important thing is critical care provides him with the necessary nutrients to keep his strength up; that’s why it’s recommended for recovering rabbits. So whether it’s helping him gain weight or not, it’s at least helping him get stronger with all the nutrition packed into it. I think the thicker consistency and bigger syringe will make a difference for both him and you, hopefully positively.

I crunched the numbers, and I think Wick got ~80-100cc of Critical Care every day for a week to gain weight, but to give more perspective, Wick weighs only 2lbs, and at the time when he was underweight, he was probably only 600g. He’d hop away from each feeding with his stomach literally dragging on the floor in happiness and groggy-overeatingness—So cute. Considering your baby weighs over 4lbs and should be heavier, doing as much Critical Care as possible, as well as supplementing whatever non-CC items he can eat is a good course of action. Again, if he can accept more than 125cc per day, give it to him. It may sound exhausting, but with a bigger syringe, it will definitely be so much easier, and you may find it ends up being a lot quicker than it has been.

I have heard of people giving alfalfa pellets to help gain weight, but you need to monitor there’s not regularly white/chalky urine from the uptake in calcium.

You could also experiment with your critical care timing. In humans, some people tend to eat more total when they have a large breakfast and dinner, as opposed to 3 smaller meals combined. Maybe see if doing only 3 feedings in a day makes him eat more in general. Constantly being satiated will make each feeding portion small, but having time to get hungry in between may amp up and lead to some over-eating, which is kinda what he needs to do to gain weight.

How are his poops by the way? Focusing on weight gain a lot, but does he seem to be doing all right?

Overall he’s doing good on the recovering/ healing from the abscess removal surgery, during this surgery 1 molar and incissor were removed. His abscess site which is on his left side of his face middle of cheek and chin area are all healing great and there are not much signs of infection still. New skin, muscle, tissue and nerves are all growing in good in that area. He’s active, he still shows love and affection, he enjoys eating and loves to stare out the window like he use to do before all of this.

He is weaker then he use to be but this is because he obviously lost so much weight. Like when he walks his body kinda falls a little forward or when I put him down from the feeding he might lose a little balance. But last week he was really bad and really weak that’s when I upped the mls on the cc. I put him down and he would fall over and couldn’t get up. He’s stronger now he was, the vet said that’s good since his body is giving the nutrients from the food where it’s needed and usually this means we should start seeing some weight gain. She said this on Wednesday, he goes in tomorrow for a surgery recheck and cleaning of the abscess site. He is a mini lop usually his normal weight is about 6-7 lbs. he is taking a lot of meds, chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, baytril ear drops, each every 12 hours and fab spent in every 24.

His pop is normal come out in the normal ball shape, he has more ceceteopes but that’s because he can’t eat them like he usually does because he wears a cone and he gets the cecetropes at night, so I always see them at night. He does sometimes produce the cecetopes during the day too, the vet said the increased soft pop is due to the critical care. He doesnt have dirrahea or any of that, and it’s normal in color.

Ive started to grind up alfalfa pellets about 1/2 tablespoon and mixed it with the critical care as the vet said it can help to gain weight. Now when you mixed your critical care how are you doing it? I’m doing 1 part cc and 2 parts water. It’s now coming out thicker I used to make it kinda like applesauce. I will try to do the 3 credits a day and see if I can get more into him. He usually eats the most in the morning since I usually feed him at 1 am and done by 2 am, and he won’t get another feeding until 7am. He usually takes the entire 45 ml or more in the AM. So maybe I’ll spread out the feedings and try to give him like 60ish ml every feeding. I also mix in rolled oats slowly I add more to help his stomach adjust. Was going to try angels mush but vet didn’t recommend it. Any other recommendations are appreciated. And thank you to wick and bam for replying here helping me. It’s tough seeing him so weak when i no in his heart he is a little fatty who loves to eat!

[Wick & Fable]

I never actually measured, I just eye balled it, adding more powder if it was too watery and adding more water if it was too thick to get through the syringe.

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.

[Ali A]

So finally we are starting to see some weight gain. Took him to the Vet this morning for a surgery recheck appointment and abscess site cleaning and Hershey went from 1.96 to 2.04 so we have some weight gain and hopefully it’ll keep going up.

Thank you to everyone who helped me on the forum, you are all amazing!

[BunnyBears10]

You can mix treats with 3rd cut hay, I think that might help, Even though Im not that skilled with rabbits.

[Deleted User]

That’s good to hear! Fingers crossed for little man to keep improving!

The cut of hay doesn’t have a ton of bearing on weight gain, while third cut does have a higher levels of protein and fats, you’d really have to monitor the GI tract for changes due to it’s richness. Giving too many treats can cause a bunny’s GI tract to become upset potentially leading to gas and stasis.

[Author]

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