Rabbit lost a LOT of weight

[CochinBrahmaLover]

So for the past few days, Charlie, my favorite doe who is also a purebred and good quality so I REALLY want to keep her, has been pretty seclusive. Hiding under the dog house and not going out. Everyone has been grooming her, too (colony setting). Which at first I thought "haha, so guess being the eldest you get all 'de lickz" but now I'm worried maybe their consoling her because she's dying/sick or bullying her? She's lost a LOT of weight. I pet her and I could feel her spine VERY clearly. She's always been 'bony' but never this bony. I free feed them pellets, no hay, woodchips for bedding, pellets are 18% protein, and I try to always keep the croc full,but sometimes I cannot. Seeing as she lost a lot of weight, I picked her up - she feels so thiiinnn - and put in front of the croc and told her EAT. She did. She spent a lot of time chewing which is weird, the other rabbits just downed it chewing a normal amount but for every 2 bites they took she was still chewing her last one. Maybe she's weird - I never bothered to watch her eat.

Anyways, she's eating, and I don't THINK she's being bullied away from the croc, but she might be, and she's being groomed a LOT (I constantly see grooming marks on her, and I know it's the other buns because one day I came in to see all 3 buns around her grooming her). And the weight loss. Any ideas on what happened, and how to fix it? I don't think it's GI stasis. Should I start offering oats again? I did for a while, but seeing as they weren't pregnant / reasorbing the babies, I stopped.

Also, Rosa - my other doe who's bonded to Charlie - is much fatter than before. Not a whole lot, but she's got some meat on the bone. Do you think she's bullying Charlie? I saw all 4 eating at the same time, and Rosa, Cali (last doe), & Silver (buck) could all fit their heads in at the same time, while Charlie chewed, and Charlie could grab a bit when they chewed (but Charlie chewed more than them).

Really don't want to lose any rabbits. Please help. It's been warm out, but its January so I expect some cold weeks /:

 

[Miss M]

Any chance Charlie has maloccluded teeth? Bottom teeth would come up in front of the top ones.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Her top teeth over lap the bottom teeth. Compared to Rosa & Silver that's not normal.

She's also very 'chill'. She used to fight me on everything, but now, doesn't really care.


I will happily inform that she still rips dried bananas away from me. I'm feeding her various treats right now - she's spending the day inside!

 

[mystang89]

Most of the times I've found with animals that when it comes time to die they will go off by themselves and other animals know to leave them alone. Don't know how they know this but they do so if she still has other rabbits coming to her I would take that as a bit of encouragement.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well the other rabbits weren't doing her so much good. Looks like some of her fur was pulled out. There's a patch where it's verrrry thin, and you can see her skin.

You are right about that, so I guess I should see it as encouragement.

She's currently munching on oats. Much more than she was on bananas.

 

[mystang89]

Must be something going around. My buck is extremely thin as well and one of my other rabbits is having her hair "thinned" by her brothers and sisters. Not pulled, just thinned. As for the loss of weight for my buck since I've noticed him still eating I just let him be and give him more than normal. (I also don't have a colony so there is a difference.) For the doe losing hair....still at a loss for that one. Let me know what you come up with lol.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well, could be parasites, which is what I'm fearing. I think we could get some ivermectin, but can't say for certain. Hoping she had GI stasis without me knowing, or something like that, and I just need to nurse her back to a good weight. Everyone else is healthy, but if it is parasites, I'm thinking it might spread awfully quick

Maybe she just had a bad immune system?