please help!

[DallasDelight]

I am really worried about Dallas, he’s not acting right.
Yesterday when I offered him his veggies, he didn’t seem that interested. Sometimes he does that, but then once he finds them he goes crazy over them. I offered him one in my hand and he tucked his head into his chest, he didn’t want it. When I offered a different piece of the same thing, he ate it. I dumped the rest in his food bowl and left him to find them, figuring he just didn’t want me to hand them to him.
Then he was super quiet all yesterday, sleeping more than anything and not making much noise. It dawned on me yesterday evening that I hadn’t heard the “glug glug glug” of his waterer when he drinks and bubbles release in the main part to release more water. I looked in on him and he still hadn’t touched a single veggie, his hay looked like he had eaten some but he hadn’t eaten any rabbit pellets. I looked closer and he hadn’t pooped much, and there was only one pee spot from an entire day. I knew that wasn’t normal for him, especially the not eating much thing, so I went into active mode and vacuumed every poop I could find to make sure he was still pooping and cleaned up the pee spot. I also threw out the veggies. I took out his waterer(it’s the kind you can get for cats, that automatically refills when it gets low so he never runs out) and put water in a bowl to see just how much he was drinking. I stayed up until I saw him poop, eat and drink.
This morning I checked on him and he has definitely been drinking water, he ate a LOT of his hay but not much of his pellets. He peed once during the night. He pooped during the night too but most of them seem to be smaller than usual, and they’re all very hard/dry. It’s also not as much as usual. He does seems better today, a little more active, but still lethargic and just not “himself” completely. To other people he would probably look fine, but I know how he usually acts and this isn’t it.
Could it be that he’s just depressed?
I’ve been litterbox training him so he has been in his cage with his litterbox for the majority of his time(the cage is a great size, he has enough room to move around and all) but before that, he had free romp of my room(my room is..different, it’s the whole upstairs so it runs the length of the house and it’s more like 3 normal sized rooms put together) all day, then at night I put him in his cage and let him out again in the morning. He was very, very happy with that set up, but I was getting tired of trying to follow behind him cleaning his poo, so he has been litterbox training for probably about 3 weeks. I let him out in a good sized pen every day but it’s definitely not the same as my room. So, maybe he just misses having free run of my room?

If that’s not it, what could this be??

[Sarita]

Is he shedding? Sometimes this causes a change in behavior.

[DallasDelight]

Yeah he is shedding a little bit, not much, just by the back of his head.

I just had a connect-the-dots moment! Okay, I feed Dallas the hay we feed our horses. We live in Texas and the only hay around now besides alfalfa is Coastal. For the past few months they have been getting Timothy hay, and just recently our supplier ran out so we have had to get Coastal. The coastal we got was okay, but not the nicest hay ever, kind of dirty looking. The horses were doing fine, but the day before yesterday one of our horses had a stomach ache(nope, it wasn’t colic) and the only thing we could guess at being the culprit was the hay. We got more hay yesterday, also coastal but MUCH nicer than the other stuff. I took Dallas’ old hay out immediately and put the new stuff in, he’s been going crazy for it ever since. Maybe he has a stomach ache from the old hay?

[Sarita]

I would say keep watching him and if he gets worse then you will need to take him to the vet.

It is possible the hay was not up to standards too like you said.

[jerseygirl]

I’m not familiar with Coastal hay – is it a grass hay? Does sound like grass. Certainly any change in diet can cause a digestive upset. You said you gave him the fresh hay yesterday? Maybe it’s that he has eaten alot of this new hay that he’s not used too.

Your experience sound very similar to what happened to my bunny Jersey on Thursday. She didn’t eat or drink all day, slept laid out most the day under a chair. She wasn’t hunched up and enjoyed petting so she wasn’t in pain, just lethargic as you said also. She also didn’t poop – or one or two smallish ones. By late evening she got her appetite back, ate all her pellets and greens. She started to use the litter but that hasn’t returned to normal until now, a full day later. She is shedding at the moment. I attributed this all to her shedding and having a slow Gastro tract. (?)

I’m not saying this is what has happened to Dallas. You’ll have to keep observing him to see if there is any other things out of place of course. Important thing now is Dallas is eating and using his box, so keep the diet as regular as usual. Maybe try source some more tim hay if you’ve never had issues with it before.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Although he’s acting a little different, since he’s still pooping peeing and eating, I’d say a close eye is the best thing to do

[DallasDelight]

jerseygirl; Yeah Coastal is a type of grass. He has received Coastal before with no problems, but it was always very fresh looking like the new kind we got yesterday.

Thank you all for your replies.. he seems like he is getting a bit better as the day goes on, so I’m praying this passes without any trouble! I will be keeping a very close eye on him

[BinkyBunny]

Keep us updated. Some bunnies also get a bit stressed out by changes andI know Rucy will sulk more during re-training litterbox habits. She hates being bossed around.

Obviously though when a bunny does stop eating and poop gets less or nil, then that’s a serious cause for concern. Sounds like things are getting back on tract, but it’s good that you’ll be keeping a close eye on him.

Keep us updated.

[DallasDelight]

He’s back!
Yesterday afternoon he started being much more active, and this morning he is back with a vengeance haha. I have never seen him eat so much hay in just a few hours, or have such a raging appetite. I’m so happy he’s alright! Guess I’ll never really know what it was. Thanks for your replies everyone

[BinkyBunny]

Yeah!!

[hophophop]

bunnies are like that; fickle to say the least. they can get into a “funk” for a day or even a few days, then bam, they snap right out of it and are back to normal. best to make sure their eating and drinking habits aren’t affected; if they don’t eat at all, take them to the vet asap. but if they’re eating ok, just make sure they don’t get too sluggish. my boys always give me a scare at least once or twice a year each with their unpredictable funks. crazy critters.

[MooBunnay]

It is definitely hard to find the Timothy hay here in TX – I found a place (called Master’s Feed) that has horse quality Timothy hay by the bale, and that is what we use and the buns LOVE it. I definitely think it could have been the hay that did it though, we got a not-so-good bale of timothy from our old hay supplier, and it gave one of my bunny’s stasis – so we are very particular about what hay we get now.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh that’s good to hear!!

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