Rabbit not eating

[ladysown]

Have a new rabbit (been here almost 10 days). Stopped eating two full days ago. Possibly an extra half day.

NOW normally I'd cull. Rabbit stops eating they normally show signs that something is off...sitting quiet in corner, showing signs of pain, gushy poops etc. I just cull 'em rather than fight with 'em because if they do it once they'll do it again.

This girlie shows NO signs of pain. Continues to be active, does not have gushy poops, no hard belly (or noisy belly).

Took her out of the pen she was in and put her into another one she ate some strawberry leaves and some grass. (this girlie was raised in a former chicken tractor on grass).

won't eat pellets.
Tonight went out thinking okay.. she's had some food so if there's something off in her gut I'll for sure see signs of it.
she's given me some small hard poops (yeah! her gut is working at least).
BUT she won't eat... oh sorry.. she ate 2 pieces of strawberry leaf... but that's it.

what does one do? I'd done EVERYTHING I can think of. moved her, offered a whack of different feed, but she simply won't eat. She's drinking.. not much but she is drinking (gave a bowl which she drinks from, she had been drinking from a bottle). NO signs of pain or discomfort, just not eating.

I'm stumped. i don't much want to cull her thought I'm inclined to do so at this point. She's lost 1/4 pound thus far.

hints thoughts?

I am well aware if this was ANYONE else's rabbit, I'd say cull (as in pet home if recovers) and DO NOT use for breeding so I"m not sure what my hesitation is here...other than she's a sweet doe and a real pretty broken red 7/8's new zealand..... Just shy of big enough to breed. I don't want to breed this finickiness into my herd, but this girlie has my stumped... she is not looking or acting ill, just won't eat. My rabbity mom-in-law has no clue either.....

Thoughts?

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I would keep trying also.

Cereal ? Like dry oatmeal ? My rabbits love cereal as treats.

Bread ? Mine like anything but white bread.

Fresh veggies ? Like a piece of carrot ?

Apple ?

Hay ?

Have you checked her teeth ?

Have you checked from the past owner, what kind of pellets, etc ?

Maybe she is just pouting because she is in a new home. It may take
awhile for her to readjust.

 

[Homer]

... (this girlie was raised in a former chicken tractor on grass).

won't eat pellets.
...

I Think I'd try giving her a grain mix like Trinity Oaks uses. And be sure to give her a trace mineral block too.

6 parts oats
1 part barley
1 part wheat
1 part BOSS (cold weather only)

 

[MR_ND]

I had this happen to me once. I rescued a over sized Mini Lop (Best guess of breed) doe. She was always a finicky eater and she had a habit of wanting to attack my hand, but one smack stopped that. I wasn't to worried because she would eat greens and I dried some for winter and they would get a little bit every so often as a treat. After I had had her four months, everything went downhill.
She wouldn't eat anything except dried clover (which I was running short on), she didn't have any runny eyes, soft poo or runny nose.
So I waited it out, it was cold so at night I would put her in the building in a carrier with some of the special rabbit food I'd gotten at Walmart, she would nibble on it but not much, in the day she would go back out to her hutch. She drank water, just not a whole lot.
That went on a while and finally it came to a head, she started getting really wobbly and she was nothing but skin and bones and her poo started to get a little mushy, she died about a year and a half after she had first refused to eat.
I have no ideal what it was, some research showed it could have been cancer, but it could've been something else. I had no ideal about her history or age, so it could have been something from her past.
I can't offer any suggestions on what to do, but I think I would wait it out for now, if she seems to be suffering I would cull her immediately.

 

[Zass]

If she was on grass before, maybe she needs more grass for now? It's possible it's just her GI tract not really being able to handle the switch from grass to pellets.
You can force feed too.

I don't think you can wait out a rabbit that won't eat, their gut motility will just get slower and slower until it stops.

 

[dangerbunny]

Have you tried Plantain? I've used it successfully with minor loss of appetite.

 

[ladysown]

I culled her this morning... I went out and she was corner sitting and not moving.

things I had tried.

grass..ate a small handful once day two
grain mix - nada
pellets - nade
hay - sniff sniff act like wanted to eat, but would hop over and around it but eat...NADA.
various greens... clovers, leaves, dandelions, parsley etc...NADA
Strawberry leaves...one night...THREE! next day.. one. then NADA.

Wouldn't even eat prickly lettuce...but boy oh boy she sure acted like she wanted to.

I simply couldn't get her eating but the first five days she ate like a small horse... she was happy and bouncy all they way up til this morning.
6.5 pounds of almost mature rabbit.... man..it bites. <br /><br /> -- Wed Nov 05, 2014 11:10 pm -- <br /><br /> should mention, quick autopsy showed nothing..no gas, no gut issues, nothing..just a mostly empty gut and intestinal tract... I didn't look at heart/lungs.. lad was coming out and he's not into opened up dead rabbits. Lot like his dad that way. so it was just a quick look and then that's it.

 

[Marinea]

Sorry Ladysown.

I wonder if perhaps it might have been a teeth/mouth issue. I worry about that happening to my buns, as I am not sure I could do anything like trim teeth.