Need some advice on Rabbit Weight Loss.

[MomoMochi123]

Hi, im new here and was just looking for forums that may help me regarding this worrisome issue.
I have a 1 year old mixed Lionhead Dwarf rabbit by the name of MoMo. Around 2 weeks ago, i gradually noticed that he has lost quite a bit of weight. Being worried, i brought him to a vet and spent around 200 dollars doing X-ray and a test (cant rmb what exactly but was recommended by the vet). At the end, the vet was unable to point out the cause and only guessed that it could be intestinal worms and gave me medication for it. After feeding it antibiotics, skin infection medicine and intenstinal worm medicine, he only put on very little weight in the past week.

Relevant information
1) His diet includes unlimited timothy hay, water, occasionally some fruits and vegs, some apple banana treats and a handful of pellets everyday. Since then, i switched to young rabbit pellets as the vet said it helps to put on weight.
2) His cage is a playpen-style cage that is as spacious as space permits (around 2x1m) and is around 1.5m away from my other rabbit,mochi, cage. Initially i had thought of stress as a factor but i had put them in close proximity several times in the past and this is the first time he has lost weight, albeit marking territory which is common.
3) He eats,drinks, poops and pees a lot. And the poop has always been consistent size and so is the amount.
4) After work, i will always let him out for at least an hour everyday.
5) His diet is the exactly the same as my other rabbit , and sometimes more, but yet only she seems to be putting on weight.
6) Recently he had an issue where his skin gets red due to pee burns. After placing pee pads in his cage, it seemed to have solved the issue of his butt being constantly wet.

Thank you for reading and i hope i didnt missed out any crucial information. Would like to know any tips or information that can help him as i understand weight loss in rabbits can be dangerous. Thank you.

[Bam]

Unexplaned weight loss shoud always be investigated, both in animals and humans. The underlying cause can vary, but in your case it’s seems likely that there’s kidney and/or bladder involvement. There is a condition called e cuniculi that can affect the kidneys and do damage to them. There are tests for this, but they are notoriously unreliable so many vets will treat on suspicion only. The condition is caused by a microscopic parasite, now considered a fungus, and the treatment is 28 days of a dewormer, Panacur plus additional meds to treat the manifest symptoms.

You can do blood test for kidney function, liverfunction, etc. Blood tests can be very useful, but the vet should be rabbit savvy so they know what to look for and precisely what tests would be most relevant.

Diabetes is very rare in rabbits, but it can occur. Symptoms are weight loss and excessive thirst and peeing. Does he drink copiously? Did the vet consider a UTI? You can put barrier cream on the red irritated skin to protect it from wetness. Vaseline will work, apply a thin layer.

[FlemishDad]

The gold standard test for kidney failure is blood creatinine. Check with your vet to see if that was tested.

Another major cause of weight loss is dental issues. This generally results in picky eating but this is not always noticeable. A rabbit savvy vet can rule this out quickly with a dental exam and maybe he did – ask about that too.

Most rabbit vets would have investigated both of these and if they were both negative a trial of deworming meds is reasonable but it is a bit like throwing something against the wall and hoping it sticks.

[Author]

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