Hello all! I’m having some concerns with my bun right now. He’s a four and a half month old lionhead, and I’m noticing some potentially worrying signs. I keep a very close eye on how much he eats, poops, drinks every day. I change his food, water, and litter twice a day and play with him for a couple hours during that time. The rest of the time, whenever I’m awake and at home, he gets an entire room to himself which I’ve rabbit proofed.
However, over the last few days, I’ve noticed his poops have been smaller during certain parts of the day, with the occasional bout of misshapen or compacted doubles/triples. Yesterday, his pills were a little soft in the morning. For reference, his diet is currently 1/8th cup of pellets twice a day, unlimited alfalfa hay(which I’ve been mixing in bits of orchard grass, meadow, and timothy hay to give him variety and to prepare to wean him off alfalfa), and obviously unlimited water. While I know for his age unlimited pellet is the norm, my vet recommended portioning his pellets because if he has unlimited pellets, he never eats his hay. He also hasn’t been introduced to fresh veggies yet as his vet suggested to wait until 6 months. Though I’m considering starting veggie introduction as soon as he stabilizes.
The big concern is was yesterday when I noticed he wasn’t eating or drinking quite as much. It wasn’t a huge difference, so I waited to see how it would play out. In the mean time, I took him to see the vet. She did a quick physical on him and said he seemed healthy other than what I was mentioning and a tiny bit of gas. So she prescribed him Reglan and Metacam to ward off any potential stasis. When I got home, he seemed very stressed but was starting to eat and drink normally, so I opted to wait until the morning to start his medication. I was also hesitant because she diagnosed him only by using her hands and not doing an xray. She assured me there was no obstruction, but I’ve been nervous since I’ve heard Reglan and a bowel obstruction can be a bad combination.
Unfortunately this morning, I noticed the trend continuing. He is eating and drinking a good bit less than he normally does, probably a little over half of his normal intake. He is still playful and doing binkies, as well as still pooping relatively normal amounts. The poops do vary from healthy looking, to dark and moist, to small, to some even a little misshapen and compacted. But for the most part they are either normal, or on the small size. It hasn’t been consistent in any case. I think I’m going to start the medication, but I was curious if anyone had any recommendations. The vet is currently closed until Monday, and there are no rabbit savvy emergency vets around here, so I want to consider my options right now.