Stasis or moody?

[Mikey]

Blue is refusing to eat his hay and is only nibbling on pellets. Hes devouring his greens, though. When I massage his tummy, it feels a bit swollen, but I dont hear or feel any bubbles/gas. His exercise is normal (rather lazy with bursts of energy here and there) and hes pooped twice in the last few hours; all poops are very dark, but normal sized. His teeth look fine. Hes drinking normally. Could his diet defiance be cause by moodiness from moulting, or is this the start of stasis? Should we feed him as many veggies and greens as he wants until he starts to eat more hay and pellets?

Earlier he fell about a foot. He was on the couch and slipped off. He landed on his back feet, but he stretched out keeping his front paws on the couch when his back legs hit the floor. I would assume if he were in pain from the fall, he wouldnt eat anything, right?

[Hopzandbig]

Usually when they have GI status they will not eat anything or drink. Be careful not to give him too many greens and pellets as these could upset his stomach (if its not already). I would keep trying to push the hay on him.

[Mikey]

Gotcha, thanks

[Hopzandbig]

Also, maybe you have already tried but when my rabbits stop eating hay I try to mix it up and make it interesting for them. I put hay into toilet paper rolls, into a jingly ball I bought at petsmart, or even in a random spot in their cage where hay normally wouldn’t go. They love it and are so interested by it.

[Mikey]

Stuff like that works with my other two (who also go on weird food strikes while moutling) but Blue is very OCD If something is out of order in his cage, he will push it around and thump until someone fixes it lol.

I am currently tempting him with crunchy pieces of hay as those are usually his favorite. Hes munching a bit on each one I hand him, but keeps spitting them out after munching about half. His tummy feels a lot less swollen now, though. Im wondering if he swallowed some hair when he was grooming earlier so it caused some discomfort.

[Hopzandbig]

That happened to my female last week. I was not brushing her enough and hair was building up to the point where she wasn’t eating. I have this trick where I force feed them canned pumpkin (in the baking aisle) when they are showing signs of statis and it always does the trick! If things get worse I would suggest that. I passed it along to a friend whose rabbit wasn’t getting better from critical care and it did the trick.

[Q8bunny]

Usually with stasis onset all food is refused. I’m wondering if he’s feeling extra thirsty and is avoiding dry foods??

[Mikey]

Thank you both I will keep pumpkin in mind.

I was questioning if hes getting enough water too, so my partner and I are getting apple juice this afternoon to mix with their water. Blue goes crazy for apple juice and will chug an entire bowl of water with some apple juice in it We use a very small bowl to make sure the bunnies dont over drink.

Hes eating hay today, but still refusing pellets. Its so bizarre because pellets are usually his favorite thing to eat. Should I question if something is wrong with the pellets if the other two are still eating the pellets fine?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Did you recently open a new bag of pellets?

[Mikey]

I have, but its the same brand we always use. Is it possible something is wrong with the new bag of pellets, but the other two arnt picking up on it?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Not necessarily that something is wrong with the pellets but I’ve opened new bags, when I had 3 buns, and only Bindi would refuse the pellets. A few times this made me worry that they were moldy or bad so I would throw away the bag. But he was doing it frequently enough. I e-mailed the company and what they said makes sense, new batches of pellets are made with different batches of hay. Some hay has a bit of a different smell or texture and some fussy buns pick up on that.

[Mikey]

Oh, ok! That makes a lot of sense. My three are pretty picky with their hay, but Blue is definitely the pickiest. It makes sense they use different hay batches for new batches of pellets.

[Luna]

Maybe the start of a dental issue like a small point developing? If he is OCD, has anything changed or been moved? New food bowl?

[Mikey]

I wouldnt think dental issues since he is still munching on his favorite hay bits (the hard crunchy pieces). Nothings changed in or around his cage, we avoid that so he doesnt get upset Im thinking the pellets were made with a different timothy hay cut so he is protesting them. He nibbles them, but doesnt vacuum them up like he would before

[Author]

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