Senior bunny thin

[earthisours]

 Hi there. It’s been a while since I’ve been back here, but I need some advice.

I have a senior bunny (sadly, his brother died a couple of months ago) who is 9 and half years old. He sleeps a lot these days, but he’s getting a little thin for my taste… not sick thin, and you can’t even see it, but if you touch him, he’s thinner than what I would want.

He gets pretty regular vet care because he has pretty severe maloculusion (no front teeth, but he gets his back teeth floated every other month or so these days) and so his teeth should be fine. He still has quite the appetite and will devour a lot of veggies everyday. I’m not sure exactly how much, my sister is in charge of feeding the veggies.

He also gets free choice timothy pellets, with his morning ration mixed with flax oil.

What can I add to his diet to help him gain weight? Unfortunately, all these years I’ve tried and tried getting him to eat hay  (I’ve cut it up, hand fed it, forced it in his mouth, tried all kinds of hay grasses, etc etc) but no go… (since his teeth surgery back when he was 1-2 years old) 

I have a horse and I have a bag of beet pulp. Can I soak that and see if he’ll take it?? (Often used to add extra fiber without the worry of sugary calories in horses) What about oats? How about mixing some alfalfa young rabbit pellets?? Any other ideas??

He’s always been quite the fighter this one (all the medical issues in his life, and he outlived his brother), and I’d hate to see him waste away in his old age… =(

[Sarita]

I think I would ask the vet the next time you take him in for his dental trim and see what they recommend to tell you the truth. I have 3 seniors (10 years old) and 2 with dental problems – one is more problematic than the others and at this age, it’s just a good idea to ask the vet about what to feed to gain weight if the vet even thinks it’s needed. I know he gets weighed each time he gets his treatment so I would imagine if the vet was concerned he would make some recommendations.

[earthisours]

He’s between visits right now, and they can go downhill so fast… Just worried. Some years ago he lost a lot of weight and it took a lot of work and time to get him to a good weight, and at his age, I don’t want him to go through that again…

[jerseygirl]

Has he had blood tests done in recent years?

{{{Vibes}}} for your senior bun. Im sorry to also hear his brother passed away.

[earthisours]

Not recently, maybe I’ll get them to do that next visit.

Poor guy also has what looks to me like arthritis in one foot. =( Not sure how to help relieve that. These days he just sleeps on a bubble wrap bed (with a fleece covering) that my sister made.

Thanks. I miss him a lot. He was my sweet one.

[jerseygirl]

Re arthritis, you can start him on glucosamine right away. You dont need prescription. Cosamin DS has been recommended on the forums before. He’ll likely need some pain meds to if arthritis is diagnosed.

[earthisours]

That’s a good idea; not sure why I didn’t think of that… I’ll find some tomorrow.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My condolences on the loss of your bunny.

I echo Jesrey with the the suggestion of bloodwork.

Have you ever tried alfalfa or oat hay? Bunnies often find them more tempting and they can help put weight on. Talk to your vet before offering alfalfa.

[earthisours]

What hay haven’t I tried, lol. I’ve not tried alfalfa, but I’ve tried every other kind of grass hay under the sun. I did try oat cause my other rabbit Thomas (the one that passed away) loved it, but coarse hays with Dylan were a definte no-no. Closest match I had was a soft local hay I bought for my horse, but still no success alas

I suppose I’ll keep a close eye on him for now. His next vet visit isn’t for another month or so.

[Author]

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