HELP PLEASE!!!! - Holland Lop won't eat. What do we do?

We have a holland lop that we got about 2 weeks ago. He seems to feel bony and it just doesn't seem that he wants to eat. We have hay, pellets and water available for him.

On Tuesday (2 days ago) we gave him about 1" of banana and 1 Tbl spoon yogurt which he ate right up. Yesterday we gave him the same and he ate it again, yet he wont' touch his pellets. It also doesn't look like he has went poo in the past couple days either.

We have heard that yogurt will reset their gut if something in there isn't good.

What can we do to help him want to eat like the rest of our rabbits?

Thank you!

UPDATE - SATURDAY 3/26/16 at 7:30AM EST -
He is still alive but we need more help PLEASE!!!
He will eat - Yogurt, banana and water.
He will NOT eat - rabbit pellets, pineapple or pineapple juice

On Thursday he ate a baby carrot and parsley, but he doesn't want that any longer.

Recently I've been adding dry oatmeal and dust from crushed pellets in with the yogurt. I think some of it's getting in him, but probably not much.

I don't have pedialyte, but last night I gave him some orange Gatorade via a syringe and also some baby gas relief. He seemed lifeless and didn't put up any fight as I used the syringe. I expected that he wouldn't be alive this morning. I can also tell that in the past 12 hours he hasn't had any poo, but he has urinated quite a bit.

What other things can we try? Is it possible to figure out if he has bad teeth without getting my finger bit off? HELP PLEASE!!!!

Are the pellets the same brand as the previous owner was feeding him? Some rabbits have more trouble adjusting to new feed than others. If he is not pooping, you need to get some food and water into him asap or he may go into gut stasis. Banana can be constipating, so perhaps not the best choice. Try canned pumpkin (not the ready-made pie filling) and if he won't take it try adding a tiny bit of blackstrap molasses to it. Some fresh greens like dandelion or parsley may also help. A slice of apple or piece of raw carrot. The idea is to get SOMETHING into him to get things moving along.

If you are using a water bottle, check it to make sure it is working well. Try giving him a crock of water--some rabbits will drink better from a crock. If he doesn't drink, he won't eat. You may have to syringe liquids into him if he isn't drinking on his own.

I hope others with more experience of this problem will chime in. It's not something I have much experience with since my naturally-fed rabbits seldom have had GI issues.

sometimes bunnies moving to new homes simply stress about it.

As long as he's eating something it tends to help...I find the best way to kick start them is fresh grass. Parsley can be an aid as well.

That fact that he's not pooping is troubling and doesn't spell good news.

Is he drinking well?

You may also slowly transition him by mixing the pellets either with something he already likes, like the banana and yogurt, or even try adding some oats and gradually put less of the other food in, increasing the pellet amount. I always get really concerned about any animal that doesnt have proper bathroom functions, so hopefully he starts pooping or maybe he has been and you just dont know it? Best of luck and I hope you get through this with him!

Thank you so much everyone. Please keep the suggestions coming!

No, we are positive he hasn't been going poop. I cleaned out the tray under the cage Tuesday, and since then there has only been pee. No poo whatsoever.

We will try some apple tonight when we get home. He does seem to love the yougert and will eat the banana as well, but I know he needs to get back to his normal rabbit pellet food.

Could he have teeth problems? Do they only have 4 teeth? 2 on the top front, and 2 on the bottom front, or are there some back in the mouth as well? - I don't want to stick my fingers in to find out. :lol: :lol: <br /><br /> -- Thu Mar 24, 2016 5:46 pm -- <br /><br /> He ate a little bit of parsley, but that's it. What else should we do?

I can't find pumpkin that's not for pie filling.

if he's a new to you bunny 9 times out of 10 it's a stress related issue.

MY suggestion..

Buy a squash (any kind but spaghetti).. cook it up good. Mash it, put a wee bit of honey with it, and give it to him.
if you must, put in some yogurt with probiotics in it.. not all yogurt does.

Also syringe feed in some fresh pineapple juice as it will help break down any blockages.

MOVE ON THIS NOW! the longer you wait the more likely he is to die.

Oh.. and massage his gut to see if he's full of gas. if so,,, give him baby gas drops every 4 hours or so.

Yes, pineapple juice, pineapple if he will eat it (especially fresh -- more enzymes intact) or papaya (even papaya tablets).

Since you can get him to eat yogurt and banana, it would be good to see if you can replace the banana with something else. But he must keep eating, so if it's only banana and yogurt he'll eat, then you may be able to coat oatmeal with banana. And like Ladysown pointed out, make sure the yogurt says it has live cultures.

If you can't find just canned pumpkin, then like Ladysown said, any squash (I don't know why not spaghetti squash, but I'd take her word for it), cooked and mashed.

The lawn weed plantain, blackberry or raspberry or rose canes and leaves, strawberry leaves.

Whatever keeps him eating and drinking right now. Puree and force feed, syringe Pedialyte, whatever. If he makes it, you can add other stuff back in later.

spaghetti squash doesn't mush down into a consistent smoothness, makes it harder to feed it you have have syringe feed.

Thanks, Ladysown! That makes sense. I knew that if you said it, there had to be a good reason.

I tried to syringe feed pellet slurry once. All it did was squeeze the water from the slurry and send that out. What did I do wrong? I ended up putting bits of mush on my finger and pushing it to the back of the mouth.

Our yogurt says "with active cultures". I'll look at another store for pumpkin.

He is eating parsley a bit.

I gave him baby gas-relief last night, but had to guess how much.

At what point will he start eating our pellets and return to normal????

time will tell when he starts feeling better.

Keep feeding him what he will eat. it's better to keep the gut moving. Get some papaya or pineapple in him to break down anything stuck in him. Give him more gas drops this morning. It won't hurt him. usually with mine I break a capsule (actually I get THEM to break the capsule, seems to make the meds go down easier).

Miss M.. I find when you do a slurry you need to cut the needle point off the end of a small syringe. That means the slurry just just pushed out as a unit.

UPDATE - SATURDAY 3/26/16 at 7:30AM EST -
He is still alive but we need more help PLEASE!!!
He will eat - Yogurt, banana and water.
He will NOT eat - rabbit pellets, pineapple or pineapple juice

On Thursday he ate a baby carrot and parsley, but he doesn't want that any longer.

Recently I've been adding dry oatmeal and dust from crushed pellets in with the yogurt. I think some of it's getting in him, but probably not much.

I don't have pedialyte, but last night I gave him some orange Gatorade via a syringe and also some baby gas relief. He seemed lifeless and didn't put up any fight as I used the syringe. I expected that he wouldn't be alive this morning. I can also tell that in the past 12 hours he hasn't had any poo, but he has urinated quite a bit.

What other things can we try? Is it possible to figure out if he has bad teeth without getting my finger bit off? HELP PLEASE!!!!

The first things my doe ate after some problems were rose leafes and willow twigs.

How old is the rabbit, what kind of fur, is he molting - could it be wool block? If yes, additional to the pineapple juice (force it into him) 1ml of oil could help, read that thread, that's where I got that info:
rabbit-doesn-t-eat-sits-placid-there-doing-nothing-t27584.html

If he isn't eating enough on his own you may need to force feed him, with critical care or soaked, mushed pellets. I also added some cooked pumpkin and oatmeal to the mix. Don't wait any longer if he starts eating by himself.
I put a piece of the tip of a silicon cartridge an a syringe with hot glue because the tip of the syringe was much too small for that mixture.


About yoghurt, I wouldn't give too much of that:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_disease ... yogurt.htm
It's only mentioned for recovering from diarrhia, milk isn't something adult rabbits can digest, the bacteria in yoghurt are imho not what rabbits need in their guts.

Anyway, he does have enough and good hay, right? and I would keep offering him kitchen oatmeal.

If there isn't something obviously wrong with his front teeth I would let a vet check the teeth, he has the right instrument and may actually know what to look for.

I have been feeding Timothy hay, pellets, and kitchen oat meal. He won't even touch his hay or pellets, but he loves the oatmeal. What should I do?

let him eat oatmeal.

You could mix in some crushed pellets into his oatmeal. Not a lot just a bit, so he has a bit more "oomph" to his oatmeal. But he'll survive on oatmeal for a bit. You could also cut up some hay and see if that tempts him.

But he's eating so that's a good thing.