Rabbit not eating pellets – help

[Verena]

Hi!  I hope someone can help me with my problem.  I have a year old Flemish Giant doe who was speyed on Thursday.  She came through the anaesthetic ok and started eating the same day.  Only problem is, she will eat her veggies (broccoli and salad greens including baby spinach)and will nibble on hay and alfalfa hay a bit, but absolutely will not touch her pellets.  She was never a huge eater so is not exactly a fat rabbit.  At the moment she is in her indoor cage until middle of next week on instructions from the vet.  She is active (at the moment tearing up newspaper in her cage) and is drinking.  She is pooping a bit – not a huge amount, but then again she isn’t eating much either.

Any suggestions on how to get her to eat pellets again.  I am sooooo worried that she will lose even more weight.  It’s the wekend and I live in a small town in New Zealand where the vets are not very experienced with rabbits.  They are only open for emergencies over the weekend, and this cannot be considered an emergency.

Any suggestion will be much appreciated.. Thanks.

 

[BinkyBunny]

This may sound goofy, but if she has a favorite fruit, like apple, try and rub the fruit on the pellets (the best you can). Otherwise it might be that  it’s taking some time for her to get her appetite back and the greens with the extra fluid may be easier for her and soon she will be eating pellets. Spaying is harder on females than neutering is on males, and some females take a couple of days to get their appetite fully back. As long as she is eating something healthy that is good. Her nibbling on hay is great.

I don’t know much about Flemishes, so do they need more calcium and calories from hay than other bunnies? Is that why she is gettiing alfalfa hay? I mean is that part of her normal diet or just to encourage her to eat for post surgery?

 

Oh, and WELCOME to BinkyBunny!

[BinkyBunny]

I forgot to add: Keep us updated on her eating though as she should progress steadily.  Did they end up giving any pain meds?  Does she seem uncomfortable at all, or just seems fine just not a huge appetite?

[Verena]

thanks for the quick reply.  Jazzie seems fine other than a lousy appetite.  She doesn’t like much fruit at all and will only eat carrot occasionally if at all.  At the moment she is lying in the sun in her litter tray!!  She won’t eat apple, but will eat twigs and leaves from an apple tree. Won’t eat celery either.  She is quite thin, which I am not happy about.  She lost a lot of condition when she had a phantom pregnancy about 10 days ago.  All she had on her mind  was building a nest and plucking herself.  So on top of being underweight (the vet wasn’t too concerned about it) she is semi naked too!!! (We are in the middle of summer here…..)

Since then she hasn’t really had her appetite back.  So I guess the speying was just the cherry on top.  I decided to spey her quickly when she jumped out of her pen which was outside at the time and disappeared for the day.  Thought we had lost her.  That evening when I came home from picking up my daughter from work, she was sitting under our horse trailer.  It didn’t take long to catch her with the help of hubby’s trout net.  She wasn’t at all worried, just stayed out of reach so we couldn’t grab her.  She rubbed herself against our cats who were hanging around too and then wondered off under a thick stand of conifers we have as a shelter belt, so we could barely get under there.  She was really enjoying her freedom, but I didn’t want any semi wild kits arriving in this world.  We have enough problems with wild rabbits and abandoned rabbits at the animal shelter without adding more!!

I guess I will wait another few days and see if things improve.  In the meantime, I will just keep feeding her as many veggies as she will eat.  Are there any veggies a rabbit is NOT allowed to eat.  Can they eat things like radishes, cucumber, bell peppers etc?  Have never fed cabbage, though a lot of pet shops do – would that be ok?  Will go and cut her some grass as well.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Verena]

Forgot to add – yes they did give her some long acting pain meds and antibiotics.

[jerseygirl]

Great you got some pain meds. Check the Bunny Info tab at the top of the page. It has some diet recommendations regarding veggies.
Welcome to the forum – hope Jazzie improves!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome! I’ll ditto checking the diet tab for some veggie suggestions. I’ve found mine cannot turn down parsley or broccoli-that may be worth trying

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi, I just wanted to pop in and ask what type of hay you are feeding you Flemmie? Alfalfa (lucerne) hay has more calories than regular orchard, brome, timothy or meadow hay.

[Verena]

Any hay that she will eat.  She is only nibbling at the hay.  She has both alflafa and meadow hay in her cage.  She will eat her bunny treats (typical) any veggies I put in, but no pellets and she desperately needs more calories!  Going to let her out today for the first time again since her op, but am going to put some shade cloth over the top of her pen to stop her leaping out again.  Maybe then she may start eating more – bit of sunshine and fresh air and some grass.  Here’s hoping that we don’t get ANOTHER crater in the lawn, lol!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hmm, have you tried to soften and syringe (force) feed them yet?  That might be the only option at this point if you can’t get your bun to supplement calories with favorite treats like fruit, parsely, mint etc. Are you able to get any canned pumpkin (without the spices).  It is a good nutritional source and is usually pretty appetizing to a rabbit, especially if you mash up a banana in it.

[Verena]

She is eating everything except pellets, though only a tiny bit of hay. 

Force feeding would be a nightmare – she is a very large strong rabbit with very large agile back feet and claws.  Will try and avoid that if at all possible!

We do not get canned pumpkin at all here in New Zealand, only fresh.  I guess I could cook her some and mash some banana into it, though she doesn’t seem to like banana – never been able to get her to eat it.  She doesn’t like carrots either – maybe will try baby carrots still with their tops on IF I can get some.  These are not always available.

She was digging in her pellets this morning like she used to sometimes do – maybe that’s a good sign…………

[Scarlet_Rose]

Verena can you get some baby food? Try the carrots, squash, applesauce or banana ones.

[Verena]

GOOD NEWS!!  Jazz started nibbling on her pellets again during the night and although some were spilt most seem to have been eaten,  I actually had to fill up her food bowl this morning.  Her afternoon outside seems to have done the trick.  I put her pen over a big patch of dandelion and she was tucking into those too.  Seems like the old Jazzie is coming back.  She was probably just feeling out of sorts after the op and anaesthetic.  The vet said to give her about a week to come right, but I guess I just panicked as she is underweight.  Found some carrots with their tops on yesterday and she loves them.

So thank you to all of you that passed on advice and help.  I really appreciated it.  It’s quite a relief to have everything returning to normal again.

 

 

 

[Beka27]

i’m glad to hear everything’s alright. i know that pellet eating is usually the last thing to return. WOW, a flemish! how underweight is she, what does she weigh? is your vet concerned? i know some Flemmies look a bit more lean but are still a healthy weight. is she on alfalfa pellets? i know in Aus, all that is available (for the most part) are alfalfa-based products, those should be more fattening. she might gain weight a bit more readily now that she’s spayed too.

do you have any… pics?

[BinkyBunny]

yes, pictures please! Would love to see her. I do love big bunnies! I am so glad to hear she is returning back to her old self! Yeah!

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