Hi,
I apologise in advance for this getting super long, but I figure best to give as much info as possible before I start begging you all for advice!
We own Monty, a 2-year old lop x lionhead, who we adopted from his previous owner last April. So, we’ve had him less than a year and in that time we’ve had him at the vets 3 times with bouts of something that, as far as I can tell, at least closely resembles stasis. He’s my first rabbit since childhood, and my partner’s first, so we’re all learning together! Monty seems to suffer from gassy spells, where he will struggle for comfort, press his stomach to the floor, crunch his teeth and hide himself away from everyone and everything. During those spells, we have started to attempt to administer simethicone, but he finds both the smell and the idea of being touched at that time utterly abhorrent. Forcing anything into his mouth is about as complicated as diffusing a bomb! He is a very affectionate rabbit, but was fully mature when adopted and had been rarely handled, so loves his strokes and fuss, but not anything that might count as useful handling (his claws, for example, need cutting, and I am currently working on a rate of one claw a day = success…)!
The gassy spells, as yet, remain unexplained, but I am trying very hard to work out a healthy and ‘acceptable!’ diet for him. When we adopted him, he ate mostly dry food from the local supermarket – not pellets, but the cornflakey, colourful stuff that has about as much goodness as a McDonald’s. He was given plenty of hay, but filled his belly up on the food instead. He was given sweets and, when they weren’t available, a few chunks of carrot. It’s taken a while but now he has pellets, two different types of hay (the original, and some Timothy. A limited amount because it’s very hard to come by where we live!), and fresh stuff at bedtime. The freshies are usually kale and kiwi, because they are his favourites, and everything else he will nibble for a few days and then dismiss entirely. He also gets cabbage, apple and celery, when his highness will accept it! Anyway, his pellet supply has been limited to a handful in the evening, to encourage more hay munching. And that’s working! Unfortunately, he ate a few too many pellets t’other day and had an awful gassy episode that afternoon (we came home to find him squashed in his litter tray. It’s heartbreaking to see them like that!) so is now on a hay/fresh veg only diet.
I guess, what I’m asking for here is a) confirmation that it’s ok to limit his diet to just hay sometimes, to make sure he’s actually eating the stuff! and b) any advice at all on what we can do to alter his diet and make it both more enjoyable for him, and more healthy. As I say, he’s my first bun since childhood, and despite (or, perhaps, because of!) the ten billion things I’ve read since he arrived, I’m at a loss. He was looked after in his previous home, but as he was rehomed due to owner ‘not having enough time’ and when we collected him she welcomed us armed with a pedigree kitten, it’s likely he was a little less spoilt than he is now. He is very fussy with food, doesn’t like to try new fresh stuff too often, and gets very sulky when without a bowl of something dry. So… anything that can help us balance healthy Monty with happy Monty! Thank you!
tl;dr – Diet advice required to help with a fussy-toothed bunny who suffers from nasty bouts of gas!