Picky bunny obsessed with alfafa! Help!

[hophophop]

My bunny Kotton is 1 and has recently went through a hell of a stasis. After she recovered she started eating only oats. Then she had two more episodes of slow-down and rebound with meds and alfafa. Now she has been on pretty much only alfafa for the last 2 weeks. It is not good for her and I tried switching her by taking her alfafa away and that’s how she got into her second gut slow-down. She would go into stasis instead of eating other hay and I’m worried that her gut is too weak to go hard on her right now.

She used to eat Binkybunny oats and it ran out and was out of stock. The new box is on the way but at this point I doubt she’ll go back to it. And we offer her oxbow timothy (loved it last year but no more), oxbow orchard (hates it), oxbow botanical (hates it – but she loves herbs, so we sprinkled all over the hay and mixed some chamomile in, and she digs out everything and let the hay untouched), oxbow oats (she ate for a bit but not anymore) and Binkybunny rye (which she liked for a bit and not anymore).

How long can a young adult bunny be on alfafa because it is bad for them?

Anyone has advice on how to switch a really picky stubborn bunny from alfafa back to other hay?

P.S. Vet says her teeth is fine now and no cracks. She eats hard oat grains ok earlier, hay cube, cookies are all good. I’m at loss what’s going on! We feed her 1/8 cup of pellets and greens.

[DanaNM]

I’m assuming you mean oat hay? Not just straight oats?

Are you in an area where there are feed shops? If so, I would try to get a bale of fresh timothy (or other grass hay) there (they may also sell portions of bales). My buns tend to snub Oxbow hay, and they aren’t usually picky!

I think the key will be to transition really gradually. When you refill her hay, mix in the grass hay with the alfalfa so she has to pick through the grass to get to the alfalfa. I would start with 50/50, and only put a small amount of hay in her rack at time, but refresh it often, if that makes sense? So just a few handfuls at a time. I think this will encourage her to eat more of the grass hay, but she will get new hay often enough that she wont go into stasis. Once you notice she’s eating some of the grass hay, go to 75% grass/25 % alfalfa, still giving only a little at a time and refreshing it often. Once you see she’s finishing the grass hay you can take away the alfalfa completely.

She won’t immediately have issues, but alfalfa has too much protein and calcium to be a staple hay.

. . . 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.  

[hophophop]

Thanks Dana. Yes I meant oat hay and will definitely try giving smaller amount of hay mixed in.

We used to put down lots for her to go through during the day but during these stasis and slow-down period she snubs hay that’s out there for a day (even alfafa) so we are going through a lot. Just have to keep going back to her every hour or so and put down new hay and change out all the leftover hay bits on the floor (she has graduated to only eating from the floor! omg she is very spoiled!) once or twice a day.

I have all these twigs and bits of alfafa that she rejects and the non-alfafa hay that she did not touch! If only we have a second bunny it will probably gladly gobble them all up. sigh…when is this going to be over 🙁

[DanaNM]

Ugh so stressful!

Don’t panic though, she won’t start having the negative effects of alfalfa immediately. Important thing is she’s 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.  

[hophophop]

Dana, she is not even eating alfafa now.

I just got more meds for her so we have been keeping her on meloxicam, reglan and simenthicone for the weekend. She started rejecting critical care Friday, and has been surviving on fresh greens, minimal pellets (1/8 total, broken into two feedings), and very little alfafa (a handful altogether in a day). Accidentally she’ll eat a stalk of rye or oat hay and that’s it. She had quite a bit of poop yesterday, all dark and some in small shapes and some mushy. Today she has no poop at all despite all the greens.

I’m quite helpless. I don’t know why she doesn’t really bounce all the way back from her last stasis – it was her teeth and the switch of oat hay – and has been yoyo-ing with slow-down and mini-stasis. She just got worse and worse. First she only wanted oat hay, then she only wanted alfafa, and now she only wants fresh greens. I really think there is still some problem with her teeth though the vet checked twice.

What should I do? What can I request to see? Should I look for another vet? OMG this is so stressful 🙁

 

[DanaNM]

Ahhh I’m sorry!

It’s possible there’s still something going on with the teeth, or that she’s just having a rough stasis recovery. Be sure to syringe feed her whenever her hay consumption drops. Try using 1 mL syringes for syringe feeding, it can help a lot. (I use a bigger syringe to load up a few of the smaller ones from the back, and having a helper load them as you feed helps too). Keeping the food moving through her is really important.

What does her vet think? Do they seem to be stumped? If so, then a second opinion might be good. Stasis recovery can be full of ups and downs, but its possible there is something else going on.

. . . 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.  

[BZOO]

If she eats the pellets well, can you feed more?  Sherwood has a pellet that is just Timothy (with vit/min).

It’s made for buns who aren’t big hay eaters.

[DanaNM]

BZOO also reminded me that you can also get pure timothy pellets that are made for horses. They can be helpful for buns that are having issues with hay but will eat pellets. Of course they don’t help with the teeth but they can at least help with digestion.

. . . 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.  

[hophophop]

BZOO and Dana, thank you I’ll look into it! She is eating pellets though slowly so that will definitely be an option for us!

She does not have visible dental problems. We had her checked three times during this couple months. Her liver number is a little elevated but I overfed her a little on Meloxicam one day and we are hoping that it will come back down by next week. She is now not in pain for sure. But constantly very sleepy during the day (we took her off meloxicam completely now) but does binkies at night time. I do think she looks a little lethargic generally speaking.

I’m really tired to be honest. We are going back and forth to the vet to make sure she is well hydrated and stuff as much critical care into her as possible when she is there because at home she takes very little and I suck at giving it to her properly. I literally have to sit next to her and constantly remind her and move hay to her to get he to nibble. And this is with reglan’s help already. I don’t understand how bunnies are made like this – how could they shut down and not eat/drink when eating/drinking is the only way they will get better. Sigh.

[DanaNM]

Having a sick bun is truly exhausting. 🙁  When I was caring for a chronically ill foster, it helped me to have a schedule, so I wasn’t just constantly fussing over him. It was still a lot, but generally making sure you get some food into them every 6 hours (during the day) is enough, and then it is important to sleep at night, so I would just do a feeding before bed and one first thing in the morning. Buns need to rest as well, so this gives them a chance to sleep and eat a bit on their own.

I wonder if you could have your vet show you some of their techniques for getting fluids and food into her more effectively? Trips back and forth to the vet are tiring for you and can sometimes delay recovery due to the stress of it all. You might also ask your vet if a different motility med such as cisapride might be useful, sometimes even a combination of medications are given.

I think bun’s sensitivity with things like this comes from the fact that they were unfortunately not bred or evolved to live long lives. Wild rabbits live fast and die young, and domestic rabbits were also bred to reproduce and grow quickly. Even now the pet breeds we have are typically selected for looks and not health, because they can produce offspring before any health problems may show up. There’s also the added layer that even though we do the best we can, a pet rabbit’s diet is not the same as a wild rabbit’s, who would be eating a wide variety of grasses and plants. Horses strangely enough are very similar. They too cannot throw up, so gastric issues that would be mild in a dog are enough to kill a horse pretty quickly.

I also just noticed your bun may have a version of the “charlie” markings? There is actually a genetic condition linked to that coloration pattern that is rare, but can cause issues with chronic stasis and GI issues. It’s called megacolon or cow pile syndrome. When your bun is pooping normally, are the poops pretty uniform in size and shape? Or do you notice some very large or irregular ones? Here’s some brief background on megacolon: https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Megacolon

IF that is something that seems like it could be a possibility, you should discuss with your vet. Megacolon buns often have trouble keeping weight on and so they sometimes do best when free-fed pellets.

 

. . . 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.  

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