Mini rex not eating

[hacoochie]

Hi all. I'm very concerned that my 3 year old mini rex is sick, and hoping for any advice. The last 4 days, she will not touch her pellets. She drinks and eats some of her hay, but not as much as usual. She is acting normal, but has lost weight and I'm very worried. I know that many rabbits will not eat stale food, so I did try to dump out her pellets and replace them with fresh ones, but she still didn't want to eat them. I also checked her teeth to make sure they aren't too long. No signs of GI stasis either. I will try crit care when it arrives. Is there anything at all I can do to help her appetite, any idea what this could be, or is it time to bring her to a vet??

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hi all. I'm very concerned that my 3 year old mini rex is sick, and hoping for any advice. The last 4 days, she will not touch her pellets. She drinks and eats some of her hay, but not as much as usual. She is acting normal, but has lost weight and I'm very worried. I know that many rabbits will not eat stale food, so I did try to dump out her pellets and replace them with fresh ones, but she still didn't want to eat them. I also checked her teeth to make sure they aren't too long. No signs of GI stasis either. I will try crit care when it arrives. Is there anything at all I can do to help her appetite, any idea what this could be, or is it time to bring her to a vet??

You're right to be concerned when a rabbit changes its eating habits, but as long as she is still drinking and eating something, you don't need to panic.

You've done all the things I would try first. Next step I would take would be to give her some Benebac (probiotic gel/paste) 1-2x/day, and offer her some parlsey which can act as an appetite stimulant. I would also keep track of her weight, which can give you early warning of a downswing or upswing in her health.

Could something have contaminated her pellets or feeder? You might try completely cleaning/disinfecting the feeder and buying a new bag of feed, to see if that is the problem.

Critical Care is good for malnourished herbivores, and sometimes rabbits will eat it when they're otherwise off feed, but I wouldn't worry too much at 4 days as long as she doesn't completely stop eating. She won't gain weight on hay, but she won't starve either. You could offer her a few different types of hay, including alfalfa which she would normally be getting in her pellets.

Mini Rex tend to have particularly finicky GI systems courtesy of the dwarf gene. We've had them go through periods like this, recovering spontaneously after a week or two (though we did monitor them closely and do the other things outlined above), without ever being able to figure out what happened exactly.

 

[hacoochie]

Sorry for the late response. It turns out that the seal in her water bottle had been misplaced and so it all leaked out. When refilling bottles I typically look for the water line, and if it's near half then I refill. They're big 32oz bottles, so they never drink a whole bottle in only a day... I didn't see a water line, and the bottle looked full to me, so I neglected to check it at first. She was dehydrated. I feel absolutely awful.

I mixed up a cup of bunny gatorade for her, and she's eating again. However, she now has very bad poop and pee. Every time I go out there to check on her, her bottom is caked with poop and pee. I offered crit care and syringe fed some, but she refused to swallow most of it, so I left a small crock of it in her cage in hopes that she would eat some on her own. She didn't touch it. I've only had rabbits for a few years, and only several of them, and I've never had to deal with any illnesses until now. We're planning to call the vet tomorrow, but is there anything else I can do for her right now? Is the bad poop/pee related to her being dehydrated??

 

[Alaska Satin]

Sorry for the late response. It turns out that the seal in her water bottle had been misplaced and so it all leaked out. When refilling bottles I typically look for the water line, and if it's near half then I refill. They're big 32oz bottles, so they never drink a whole bottle in only a day... I didn't see a water line, and the bottle looked full to me, so I neglected to check it at first. She was dehydrated. I feel absolutely awful.

I mixed up a cup of bunny gatorade for her, and she's eating again. However, she now has very bad poop and pee. Every time I go out there to check on her, her bottom is caked with poop and pee. I offered crit care and syringe fed some, but she refused to swallow most of it, so I left a small crock of it in her cage in hopes that she would eat some on her own. She didn't touch it. I've only had rabbits for a few years, and only several of them, and I've never had to deal with any illnesses until now. We're planning to call the vet tomorrow, but is there anything else I can do for her right now? Is the bad poop/pee related to her being dehydrated??

Don't feel too bad; we've had rabbits for decades and had this very thing happen a few years ago (water bottle leaking). Live and learn...sometimes the hard way. It's good that you figured it out before it was too late, and that it's not some awful/contagious disease.

The mess on her back end is probably related to the dehydration and resulting malnutrition; if rabbits don't drink, they can't eat, and as you probably know that's a very bad situation for a rabbit. Her electrolytes are probably pretty messed up right now, as is the flora/fauna in her gut, and it might take a while for it to settle down.

I'm not sure what bunny gatorade is, but if it got her eating again you might keep that up. Certainly provide lots of clean water and fresh hay, which will help get her back in balance. Offer pellets too, and various greens that might tempt her (avoid anything sugary, of course). Unless there's something else going on, she'll probably eat what she needs in the right balance, and come around pretty quickly.

Benebac (probiotic gel) is frequently helpful for bunnies with a gut ache. In the past, I've also given our mini rex plain yogurt in a pinch - some liked and ate it, some didn't. Similarly, some rabbits like Critical Care, others don't; if she's eating again on her own, she'll probably come around without it.

Do keep her hind end cleaned up, so she doesn't end up with urine scald on top everything else.

 

[hacoochie]

Thank you so much.
The bunny gatorade is just a mixture of one cup water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/8 tsp salt. I've heard of it being used for dehydrated rabbits, and it was the first thing that came to mind to give her. It's also one of the few things she'll eagerly eat/drink right now, so I've stuck with it the last couple days. Would it be wiser to stop giving it due to the sugar?

Her appetite is not very good today. She ate a little bit of pellets from my hand, and a bit of hay, but not much. Refused crit care, but I did manage to syringe feed a little bit of it. I've been trying to get ahold of some Benebac, we ran around to a few different stores in search of it, but none came up, so we'll most likely have to order it online. What is the dosage of it for rabbits? Also, do you have an idea of how long it should be until I see some improvement with her?

 

[RabbitDad]

We live about dead center of nowhere & there have been times when I took some extreme measures getting our animals to the vet. They are more important than we are.
For other stuff, I've tried online vets and great success.
It's pretty amazing they can diagnose & treat problems without physically examining the patient. Maybe that's why they make the big bucks.
A recent example was one of our dogs ripped his tonail completely out. Severely bleeding that I couldn't stop. I wouldn't have had time to get him to civilization.
The online vet suggested I submerge his paw in corn starch of all things.
I did & the bleeding stopped immediately.
Once under control, I headed to our vet.
After checking out our dog she told us it would heal on it's own but suggested coating it with a miracle product I've used for decades. He healed up 100% really fast.
The miracle cure is called "Corona" it's like a bag balm and used for moderate wounds too.
It's a lanolin based cream with a very distinct smell.
It's intended for animals only but I've often used it on myself. If it's ok for my animals, it's ok for me too.
It seems like if you lose an arm or leg, smear this stuff on and by the next morning you have grown a new limb! OK, maybe not that extreme but it promotes really fast healing.
It's available at feed stores and even Amazon has it. Please... keep some on hand.
Hope your bunny is OK!