Doe has greatly reduced how much she is eating

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Kat872

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I'll start of by saying that my EA doe is still very active, her poops are normal, and she seems quite healthy except for the fact that she is losing weight. I don't have a scale so I'm not sure how much but her spine is feeling bonier.

She used to eat 1/3 c of 18% protein pellets every morning and another 1/3 c at night with 2 Tbsp of either boss or mixed seed added. She has never been a big hay eater unless I give her no choice but to eat it by not giving her anything else (which I was doing once a week until I thought she was pregnant). She gets a couple of little dried fruit treats a day and I occasionally give some herbs or veggies (and pineapple).

Now she is barely touching her morning feed (eats maybe half) and, like I said, is looking thinner and feeling bonier. She has had a pile of hay on the floor of her cage for 2 days and hasn't touched it. She still finishes her night feed.

It hasn't been overly warm here (we're in Calgary, Alberta). She is indoors and we did have a couple of days where it got over 30 degrees C in the house, but she never seemed troubled by the heat. She did have two false pregnancies back to back (not sure if that could affect her appetite).

What should I be looking for? What can I feed her to try and get her weight back up?
 
I don't know if this is your doe's issue, but... This is exactly how my angora rabbits acted when the water bottles were not working properly. I went to crocks instead and they all gained their weight back. Do you have a reliable way to see how much she is drinking?
 
Could she be pregnant now? Some does go off feed during pregnancy. Especially in the heat. You might want to stop other foods for just a few days and see if she eats more pellets. If not I would go ahead and leave the fresh food in but switch her morning ration to plain oatmeal. Not instant or flavored. It's more desirable food and it has a higher fat content than pellets if she actually is getting underweight.
 
No chance of her being pregnant now.

Last night she hardly touched her water in either the crock or the water bottle and only ate about half of her food.

She is still behaving normally and is filling her litter box with normal waste.

I will try feeding the oatmeal in the mornings and see if she'll eat those. She finishes her boss and seeds quickly.
 
You can entice her to drink by putting some Gatorade or Pedialyte in her water, or give it to her straight. You can give her diluted tea, water with a little molasses, diluted or undiluted fruit juices. You can use juice from canned fruit like pineapple that is packed in juice instead of syrup -- I've even given juice from canned peaches, though they can't have the wood from stone fruit trees.

I'm glad she's behaving and eliminating normally... I would try to get her to drink more, and the oatmeal may get her to eat more. If she doesn't drink, she will eventually stop eating.
 
Well the good news is that she drank all her water last night and ate all her food this morning. Hopefully this was just a temporary thing and she can put some weight back on now.
 
I may have spoke too soon. Turns out her water bottle started leaking and that's why it was empty. The puddle had dried overnight so I didn't know, but when I refilled it...water everywhere. So I put in the backup water bottle and another crock of water.

She must be drinking SOMETHING or I'm sure she wouldn't be doing so good by now, but she's still not eating much.

Picking up some Pedialyte on the way home and will syringe feed her some water tonight if necessary.
 
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