doe not eating enough?? Need help

[maluma]

Hi, this is my first post and I would really appreciate some input form some more experienced rabbit breeders. I recently got my first pair or New Zealands to start raising a few meat rabbits for my personal use. The doe was already pregnant when I bought her. When I brought her home, she hardly ever seemed to eat or drink. She did nibble a bit on her hay, but never touched her pellets (the same pellets her breeder had fed her, and the buck ate them happily).

Anyway, she somehow stayed alive and did have 5 kits, and what I had feared came true: within one week she must have eaten 2 babies since they were just gone, and the other 3 had died. She does seem to have just a bit more appetite since the day she gave birth. She likes fresh green grass, nibbles on carrots, and at least seemed to try some of the pellets on occasion, but still nothing like the buck or like what I've read and heared they "should" be eating to be able to nurse a litter.

My question is if anyone has experience with a rabbit that just doesn't seem to eat enough, but otherwise seems fine. At first I thought it was just stress, but her appetite just doesn't seem to improve much. I'm debating whether or not to keep her and try breeding her again and give her another chance now that she's settled in her new home. If she doesn't start eating more then I'm just afraid I'll lose her next litter as well. The alternative is that I'll make her into my first rabbit stew...

 

[ottersatin]

Hello maluma,
Are you certain the Doe does not have a hairball?
A tightness in the belly would be an indicator.
Try some fresh Pineapple or Adolph's meat tenderizer.
The enzyme will break down the proteins holding the hairball together.
This will allow the hair to pass through the digestive tract.
You will/should see "Cling-ons/String of pearls"
Sweep these from the cage floor within twenty-four hours,
this will prevent the possible spread or infection of Coccidiosis.
A pregnant Doe which is close to kindle will often not eat for a day or two before delivery.
What protein level are you feeding? Many times when a Doe cannibalizes their litter
it is do to a lack of protein in the diet. I DO NOT believe in feeding my rabbits
any type of MEAT. If they require more protein I would increase the protein level
of the pelleted rabbit feed. I have a suggestion: STOP all treats!
Feed your rabbit only a good quality pelleted rabbit feed,
[Is the feed you are using older than three months?]
If it is then it has lost it's nutritional value and most likely
is not tasting very well. Try a new bag of feed, check the date
be sure that your purchase is not older than three months.
Rather than being the feed, it's usually the quality of that particular
portion of feed. I hope this helps somewhat.
Dennis, C.V.R.

 

[arachyd]

Check her teeth. She may have misaligned teeth, a bad tooth or overgrown teeth.

 

[MaggieJ]

Rabbits wont eat properly if they don't drink enough. Sometimes new rabbits have trouble adjusting to a different watering system. If they were used to a crock and you give them a bottle or if the new bottle has a different kind of nozzle, the rabbit may not be getting enough to drink. I'd add a crock of water until you are certain this is not contributing to the problem.

Checking the teeth is also a good idea.

It also could be that the stress of moving upset her GI tract and it is taking awhile to straighten things out. Is she noticeably skinny? Are her poops normal? Too dry and hard? Too soft? Poopy butt?

If possible, you might want to talk to the person you bought her from. Sometimes rabbits have idiosyncrasies that affect their behaviour, but which don't get mentioned at the time of the sale.

 

[maluma]

Thank you! There is some really good advice and suggestions already, more than I had hoped actually!
A few clarifications: the doe is 9 months old now. She also doesn't drink much, and I've been offering her a bottle and a crock this entire time. She seems to use only the crock, but just not much at all. I wonder if there are any tricks like somehow adding flavors to entice her to drink more?
Her poop seems normal (maybe slightly on the hard side), just not as much as the other rabbits produce. Urine is quite dark/concentrated, which is all to be expected if she doesn't eat and drink much. I don't think she's actually excessively skinny, which is part of what surprises me. I was also thinking of protein deficiency when she ate some of the kits. I didn't really give her treats, except a carrot twice just to try and get calories or "something" in her when she was supposed to nurse the babies. I really wanted her to eat the pellets for protein content (I'm honestly not sure about the protein level, will have to check tonight), but she has not been touching them at all. I actually tried a bit of an experiment today and took out all food over night and throughout the morning. Then I offered her a portion of pellets, no hay or grass. And to my surprise she did start nibbling on the pellets for probably the first time ever in the month I had her now, but very very slowly - nothing like the other rabbits.
I think I'll just offer her nothing but pellets for a few days and then start adding hay again, and see what happens. I will also go ahead and check her teeth and check for a hair ball tonight.
Thanks again!

 

[MaggieJ]

There are things that you can add to the water that may encourage her to drink. It could be that the water tastes different than at her old home and that is why she is drinking so little. It happens, from all I've read.

Apple cider vinegar (2 tablespoons per gallon) is probably the healthiest choice. Most rabbits seem to like it and it has trace minerals etc. and it is thought to increase the doe's interest in mating.

If that doesn't work, a few drops of cheap imitation vanilla extract might do the trick. This is also supposed to make the urine less smelly. (Same with the vinegar.)

Weak black tea or chamomile tea is supposed to be popular with rabbits too.

The only problem with adding things to the water is that you may have trouble discontinuing it. You may have to phase it out slowly.

The more I think about it, though, the more I suspect she just doesn't like the taste of your water. They can be really picky about that. So flavouring it is worth a try.

 

[maluma]

Thanks, Maggie. I already added some apple cider vinegar, so hopefully that helps. Actually my town's drinking water is known for not being the best tasting water in the world. I really would like to give her a second chance of raising a litter, so until then I'll experiment a bit to try and get her to eat and drink. I also checked for a hair ball, and can't feel anything, but I might try a bit of pineapple anyway just in case. I looked at her teeth, but they seem okay (though I'm no expert in assessing rabbit teeth).

 

[MaggieJ]

Ah, if the water is known for its unpleasant flavour, I'll betcha that's the problem. If you don't want to give flavoured water, perhaps running her water through a filter such as a Brita would help. Pain in the neck, but it might work.

 

[akane]

You can also buy powdered flavored electrolyte mixes for livestock. Horse ones are easy to find and don't have anything else added. The flavored electrolyte mix or apple cider vinegar always worked on our guinea pigs or for horses taken to shows rather than hauling home water along like some people do. A $10 container of that stuff lasts an entire show season for horses so practically forever when dealing with smaller animals. I know I still have some apple flavored on hand somewhere. I used it occasionally for poultry to get them to drink more in the heat. You can mix it in a larger container like a 1 gallon jug or even 3-5gallon refillable water container and pour it in bottles/crocks as needed. Actually saves me time that way since we don't have water out to the buildings. I just keep a funnel and 2, 3gallon containers in the buildings so I only have to haul water from the house or outdoor well pump once or twice a week.