In the last few weeks, I had three rabbits with eating issues and all for different reasons!
Canyon
It has been a particularly hot summer and it has gone particularly long as well, so I was not too concerned when Canyon seem to just not be that interested in eating pellets nor was she drinking water. After two days of not drinking or eating, I got rather concerned. While I was out in the rabbitry, I noticed that she was licking her resting pad, which is not normal, and I thought it might be a sign that she was thirsty, even though her water bottle was full. I check the nozzle with my finger as I usually do during the winter when it is near freezing and I could not feel the ball. Apparently, it had become stuck in the tube and needed to be cleaned, which was odd because I had just cleaned her water bottle a few days before this started. Rabbits will not eat if they cannot drink water. After I cleaned it, she drank and drank. I felt terrible about the fact she was suffering from dehydration. Thankfully, she recovered well and in a few more days she was back to eating normally. I now check the water bottle nozzles for the drip every time I feed them.
Canyon
It has been a particularly hot summer and it has gone particularly long as well, so I was not too concerned when Canyon seem to just not be that interested in eating pellets nor was she drinking water. After two days of not drinking or eating, I got rather concerned. While I was out in the rabbitry, I noticed that she was licking her resting pad, which is not normal, and I thought it might be a sign that she was thirsty, even though her water bottle was full. I check the nozzle with my finger as I usually do during the winter when it is near freezing and I could not feel the ball. Apparently, it had become stuck in the tube and needed to be cleaned, which was odd because I had just cleaned her water bottle a few days before this started. Rabbits will not eat if they cannot drink water. After I cleaned it, she drank and drank. I felt terrible about the fact she was suffering from dehydration. Thankfully, she recovered well and in a few more days she was back to eating normally. I now check the water bottle nozzles for the drip every time I feed them.
XCY3
As Canyon was showing signs that she would recover, there was my sweet and friendly XCY3 catching my eye. He had started to push pellets out of his feeder and I began to notice a few times that he had fur stuck in his mouth. All the rabbits have been in molt, so I was not too concerned. When he was like that I would grab the end of the hair and it would come out. The last time I could not get it out so easily. I took him out of his cage to have a closer look and was immediately disappointed to find that the fur had wrapped around his tooth because he had an under bite with his lower teeth growing out away from each other. They, of course, were too long also. I usually check my rabbits all over at least once a month, but it had probably been longer. He had been eating, but he would not be able to do so much longer.
I had already made the decision that he would be culled out of my breeding program, because he was too undercut, but I was hoping to show him and then offer him as a meat breeder. I could have clipped his teeth, but it would only buy him a few more days before we would process him anyway, so I decided it would be done that day. This was my first solo butchering. My husband had been doing it since we started almost eight years ago, but he was away for work and I could not see any good reason to hold off even one more day.
Misty Blue Too
As if these two were not upsetting enough, LMB2 started to have a problem as well. This one was the most heartbreaking for me. Since I had decided to keep her, a name just was there: Misty Blue Too. She reminded me so much of her mother, Misty Blue, but she was even sweeter. I had given all my rabbits pine cones a couple of weeks before and she devoured hers overnight. I did not make the connection until I noticed she was not eating or drinking as much and losing weight about a week afterward, yet she acted like she was starving and it just got worse. She is one of my biggest hay eaters and she was not even eating that. She would pick out oat groats and sunflower seeds but would not eat her pellets. Her poop was small and not much, but she felt empty in her digestive tract, so that kind of ruled out megacolon in my mind. That is when I suspected she had a blockage from the pine cone she ate. It might not have been that, but it was my best guess.
I decided to give her more of what she would eat, so I tripled her black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) hoping the extra oil would help moisten the blockage and help her pass it, if that was the cause. I also bought lots of greens and grabbed some kudzu by the road. She would eat down all the greens like she was just so starved. I was hoping the moisture in the greens and the chewing action would also stimulate her digestive tract and push along any blockage in her intestines. She still was not pooping, but I did not expect her to right away as she was empty and starving, so her body was probably using up most of what she was eating at first.
Then she started drinking a little more and eating a little hay. I saw only three poop berries, but they are normal and had more moisture. Then she started eating a little of her pellets that was mixed in with the BOSS. A day later she was up to eating about half of what she normally would while I was still giving her lots of greens. Two days after that she was eating and pooping normally again. She is not feeling empty and does not act starved. I had weighed her and she gained 6 ounces in about six days, so I am now breathing easier.
I had already made the decision that he would be culled out of my breeding program, because he was too undercut, but I was hoping to show him and then offer him as a meat breeder. I could have clipped his teeth, but it would only buy him a few more days before we would process him anyway, so I decided it would be done that day. This was my first solo butchering. My husband had been doing it since we started almost eight years ago, but he was away for work and I could not see any good reason to hold off even one more day.
Misty Blue Too
As if these two were not upsetting enough, LMB2 started to have a problem as well. This one was the most heartbreaking for me. Since I had decided to keep her, a name just was there: Misty Blue Too. She reminded me so much of her mother, Misty Blue, but she was even sweeter. I had given all my rabbits pine cones a couple of weeks before and she devoured hers overnight. I did not make the connection until I noticed she was not eating or drinking as much and losing weight about a week afterward, yet she acted like she was starving and it just got worse. She is one of my biggest hay eaters and she was not even eating that. She would pick out oat groats and sunflower seeds but would not eat her pellets. Her poop was small and not much, but she felt empty in her digestive tract, so that kind of ruled out megacolon in my mind. That is when I suspected she had a blockage from the pine cone she ate. It might not have been that, but it was my best guess.
I decided to give her more of what she would eat, so I tripled her black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) hoping the extra oil would help moisten the blockage and help her pass it, if that was the cause. I also bought lots of greens and grabbed some kudzu by the road. She would eat down all the greens like she was just so starved. I was hoping the moisture in the greens and the chewing action would also stimulate her digestive tract and push along any blockage in her intestines. She still was not pooping, but I did not expect her to right away as she was empty and starving, so her body was probably using up most of what she was eating at first.
Then she started drinking a little more and eating a little hay. I saw only three poop berries, but they are normal and had more moisture. Then she started eating a little of her pellets that was mixed in with the BOSS. A day later she was up to eating about half of what she normally would while I was still giving her lots of greens. Two days after that she was eating and pooping normally again. She is not feeling empty and does not act starved. I had weighed her and she gained 6 ounces in about six days, so I am now breathing easier.
