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Forum DIET & CARE Wet food suggestions

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    • Isabelle
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        Since Dutchess has had two episodes of tummy impaction, the vet suggested to give her some wet stuff a few times a week to help prevent these episodes from recurrings. Sooooo I need some ideas of different wet foods/drinks to try. She absolutely hates pineapple juice, and I’ve tried baby food in carrots and banana which she hates even more than the PJ (she loves regular carrots and banana, btw). I’d much prefer to just put some in a dish and have her eat it happily then have to syringe feed her several times a week and get more nips and fights. I already have to have a “feeding shirt” since she spits some of it out on me as it is and gnaws on it to say “I don’t like this!”. I do have some apple baby food I will try with her tomorrow. I did try to put a little of the baby food on a treat she already likes and see if she would acquire a taste that way. Well, little miss just bit off the pieces without the baby food and left the pieces with baby food on the plate! So that won’t work. She’s quite a picky eater.  Makes me want to stand on my head sometimes.


      • Michelle&Lolli
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          If it’s just a matter of getting more fluid in her, you can wet down her lettuce. Like rinsing it off, then giving it to her that way. Others have also recommended adding a tiny amount of apple juice to the water to encourage them to drink more. I don’t know if this is what you are looking for in terms of advice though. lol Would critical care work? You’d still have to syringe feed her that though. Also, plain canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) works really well as a fiber source too. But you can’t feed too much or it can cause poopy butt.

          I bought baby food when Eddie got so sick and he refused to eat it too.


        • Sarita
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            It’s really a matter of eating more hay and drinking more water – I’ve never heard a vet suggest wet food before…you could wet down her greens though if she’s not a big water drinker.

            It’s really a matter of more fiber. Many rabbit savvy vets would suggest taking a rabbit of pellets who has this continuous problem.


          • Beka27
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              Syringe feeding is very stressful and can result in more digestive issues in bunnies, especially if done unnecessarily. I agree with the others, keep her veggies very wet, consider decreasing pellets, and try different hays if she’s not eating her current hay. If she does not have a water bowl, get a one for her. Rabbits tend to drink more out of bowls than bottles. Activity can help keep things moving too, so make sure she always has access to a larger space like an xpen, even when you’re not home.


            • Isabelle
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                The vet didn’t say ‘wet food’ precisely, that’s just the way I phrased it (probably badly, sorry). She said getting her fluid intake higher and suggested the pineapple juice, gatorade (which I haven’t given and hestitate on since one type of it can kill rabbits) and also the baby food. I wet down all of her greens pretty well before giving them to her twice a day, but I could maybe soak them a bit longer. She does drink water pretty well, I refill her 16 oz. water bottle about every three days. I did provide a bowl of water for her, but she just got bedding in it and never seemed to drink out of it, so I took it away. I did recently cut down on her pellets a bit, she gets a little less than 1/4 cup per day, and she lost weight and is down to 4.1 pounds, which I think is almost too thin for her, so I didn’t want to cut her down any more right now. She does eat her hay pretty well, I refill that about every other day and I have started adding an little extra tuft every day to encourage the fresh smell to get her to keep munching on the leftovers. She has access to hay everywhere she is allowed in the house. Her habitat has a bottom and then a ramp and a platform, so she can run up and jump down as much as she wants, and she’s out 5-8 hours per day weekdays and 16-20 hours each weekend day. Our house isn’t set up well enough for her to have an adjoining x-pen because of her love of digging up the carpet.

                I’ll try the pumpkin, but I hesitate on putting any juice into her water because I’m afraid she wouldn’t like the taste, and then she wouldn’t drink at all, and enter a whole new problem of dehydration and refusal of a water bottle. (Believe me, with the little diva, it’s certinaly a possibility, she’s quite stubborn.) I’ll keep thinking of other things to try, and ask the vet tech when she has her next nail appointment in a few weeks. Any other suggestions you have please let me know.

                Also, my mom thinks that cardboard is bad to give her. I said it is fine to give her. I have taken away the cardboard for the moment because of her tummy issues, but I thought cardboard was fine/good to give because of teeth and extra fiber?


              • Michelle&Lolli
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                  I always thought that any paper based products (except magazines) were ok for rabbits to ingest because paper naturally breaks down in fluid. Maybe cardboard is a bit different? ???? Hopefully someone else can answer that one for us. lol Regardless, I imagine it depends on how much cardboard is being ingested too but I wouldn’t think that would be the cause of the impaction.

                  It was one of the leaders who suggested the plain pumpkin. I bought some for Lolli but haven’t given her any yet. I’m a little afraid to because of her poopy butt issues. It’s fine now that I’ve cut out most of the fruit. But after dealing with poopy butt, I don’t want to deal with it ever again. lol I remember reading on another post that pumpkin can cause poopy butt/diarhea if given too much.

                  Will she eat different kinds of hay? If she does and it’s not too expensive for you, you could try switching up her hay or having both available for her to munch so she’s eating primarily hay. Just a thought.

                  Or you could do what I did with Lolli. Switch pellet brands on her. Lolli quit eating pellets for a few weeks when I switched her from Kaytee to Oxbow. She ate A LOT of hay during that time. lol She is now eating them though and is gaining some of her weight back.


                • KatnipCrzy
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                    Cardboard that is not waxed or colored or held anything that could have a residue that would not be good for the bunnies is OK for the bunnies to chew- and if they eat a tiny amount in their chewing that is fine- but ingesting cardboard is bad as it is not edible and exands when wet. So if there is any doubt that she is eating cardboard and that is causing the issue- I would withhold it for now and find something else she might chew- like willow branches, apple branches, etc.

                    I would recommend giving Pedialyte rather than Gatorade- especially Gatorade with dark coloring as it is very unnatural for a bunnys GI system to deal with food coloring (unlike dogs or cats- where cheap kibble and treats are often loaded with food coloring to make it appealing to the humans so they buy it).


                  • Isabelle
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                      Michelle: Dutchess has never had poopy butt, so I think I will try some pumpkin with her. I’m not holding out hope though, she’s such a picky eater x.x So far I’ve had her on Timothy hay, I haven’t tried other kinds with her, but I could see what the store has where I go to buy her stuff. I hesitate to switch her pellets right now because she just had a tummy upset, but it’s something I’ll think about.

                      Kat: I have seen quite a lot on the board that bunnies can chew and eat cardboard to their heart’s content without any problems. Dutchess wouldn’t touch a wood block so I gave her cardboard to chew, and she does eat it, but hasn’t had any problems. I wouldn’t say she eats very much of it, she likes to dig and rip it up rather than eat it, too. She finally started chewing on a wood block, so I’ve seen her chewing on cardboard less. Do you think I should remove it completely? I don’t think it’s the direct cause of her tummy problem, she had been eating more wood and less cardboard when the tummy stuff happened again. That’s a good idea to try pedialyte, maybe she’ll like the flavor of that better. I haven’t given her any gatorade, I think sports drinks have too much extra sugar and sweetners and like you said, colorings, so I stuck with natural pineapple juice instead.


                    • Beka27
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                        If you give her some type of juice, don’t put it in the water bottle, use a little dish to distinguish it as different. She may get used to the flavoring and then stop using the bottle once it’s plain H2O…


                      • BinkyBunny
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                          Also note — if you do use juice make sure to change it within 12 hours. The sugar makes mold grow very quickly.

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                      Forum DIET & CARE Wet food suggestions