Anyone had an underweight rabbit?

[vanessa]

Has anyone had an underweight rabbit and successfully helped the bunny gain weight? Lancelot has lost sooo much weight. He is all skin/bones at the moment. Not enough muscle mass to support healthy joints. I need to help him gain weight, and I’m feeding him 6 Tbsp Oxbow Critical Care/Sherwood SARx mix, with 18 Tbsp water, every day. I give him 2 Tbsp per feeding, three times a day. Over weekends, I can feed him 5-6 times a day, so he gets more food over weekends. I’m using Oxbow Critical Care, Sherwood SARx, and Sherwood SARx Plus Weight Gain.

Anyone with similar experiences? 

[Wick & Fable]

Wick was underweight for a bit, so the vet gave us Critical care as well. The feeding instructions were pretty much “keep giving him syringes until he rejects them”. I did this twice a day, and Wick would usually gobble down 4-5 syringes before bouncing away with a really, big belly. He literally transformed into a fur ball each time; it was hilarious. I kept pushing for a more structured “only do 4 syringes a day” or something like that, but my vet expressed something along the lines of, your bunny will let you know when to stop, so just keep feeding him.

This lasted for about two weeks and Wick regained normal weight after getting so spoiled from the large feedings. I was concerned that he’d lose all the weight when we stopped— he hasn’t been weighed again yet, but he has lot a small amount of the gained weight. He is however clearly more healthy in weight, so I’m happy.

My suggestion (uneducated, but based on personal experience) would be if Lancelot can eat more than the 6 Tbsp you’re giving him, give him more. I had to struggle with this because I thought to myself , I could literally approach Wick every hour and he’d probably still want to gobble up 3 more syringes each time. I realized that if I literally kept feeding him until he was satisfied, he would be fine and full for a good amount of time. You will go through a lot of Critical Care though…

Do you know why he has lost a lot of weight? For Wick, unfortunately it was my negligence in not giving him enough food and pellets as he was growing (currently around 4-5mo), but now he’s less skin and bones , with a larger serving of pellets and veggies every day.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[vanessa]

Good to know. I do feel that Lancelot could eat more syringes in a feeding. 2 Tbsp per feeding with 6Tbsp water = 3 large syringes. I’ll start seeing just how much he’ll accept at a time. He loses weight (and his appetite) when he has an active EC infection/middle ear infection. He just stops eating and drinking. I flaor his water with V8 veggie juice to entice him to drink more, but he has stopped eating pellets, hay cubes, hay cookies, and barely eats his veggies. He is on Fenbendazole and Baytril, and I have an appointment for him tomorrow at a different vet, but the weight loss isn’t good for his joints. I’v always suspected arthritis, but losing muscle mass itself can cause degenerative joints. I need him to pick up weight so he can move around, get off his pee, and position himself correctly while he pees so he doesn’t pee on his legs! At the moment, he falls over and can’t get up, and he pees all over himself. Apart from being on his meds, I think weight gain would go along way toward helping him. Underneath all his fluffy fur, he really is very underweight.
I did notice in your pictures that Wick looks a bit thin.
Thanks for the tip.

[Wick & Fable]

Yes, I feel very bad about not noticing it before my vet told me. I suspected because I thought he wasn’t getting enough to eat, but was overly concerned about constant cloudy urine whenever I’d feed him more, especially since his health was worse back then. He’s a happy camper with his meals now though, so I think he’s forgiven me.

Flavoring water with V8 juice is very interesting! I’d never heard of that. Hopefully Lancelot will gain some weight and feel better so he can slurp it all up

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[vanessa]

I used to use apple juice, but then I tried the V8 because I saw it on a list of bunny emergency supplies. It dawned on me that the V8 veggie juice has less sugar than apple juice. The brand I use, has 3 times less sugar. I also feel bad about Lancelot’s weight loss like you do. I have been so focused on his EC/ear infections, and my local vet has always told me that he thinks Lancelot is a healthy weight, preferring skinny to overweight. So I overlooked the importance of his weight loss. Recently I have been reading about how bad it is to lose more than 10% of their normal weight, when combined with muscle atrophy. It’s called Cachexia. I adopted him at 5.5lbs. Today he is just under 4lbs. That makes me feel very bad. When he was 5.5lbs, he was considered a healthy slim bunny. at 4lbs,the vet said better skinny than overweight. But too skinny is bad for joints. That’s why 1 of 5 on the weight scale includes “the ability to move may be compromised”. http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-weight.asp For all my efforts, I feel like a bad bunny momma. Not fishing for compliments here, I just wish I had included a plan for weight gain sooner. Sometimes people who are close to me tell me that I can only expect him to get so much better. I hate hearing that. It’s discouraging. I always feel hopeful when I think of something else I can try, to help him. I don’t like focusing on or hearing negative things like that. It’ shard enough knowing that one day I might have to decide to euthanize him. Like my first EC bunny Merlin.

[Wick & Fable]

Agreed, in terms of getting more emphasis about weight gain/loss during treatments from the beginning. While there’s no confirmation on what Wick has, I do really fear what his health will be like in the coming months since he’s been medicated for such a long time. I’ve read about rabbits who develop poorly since they were medicated during the prime growth periods. If he gets an incomplete dose of Baytril (not noticing it did not all go in his mouth) or he gets it too late, his sneezing returns, which really worries me in terms of long-time Baytril use in conjunction with antibiotic resistance.

I would be devastated if Wick took a sudden turn for the worst, but the future is so unknown. It sounds bad, but Wick could easily get injured by me not paying attention and accidentally kicking him, quicker than his sickness getting worse, so who knows what the future brings. Vets and other rabbit owners can only foresee so much. At the end of the day, if you’re doing everything to make Lancelot as happy as possible in the present, you shouldn’t feel guilty or discouraged in the present. I consistently strive for that so I don’t ruminate on future prognoses.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Gina.Jenny]

When I adopted Gina and Jenny, both were underweight. I used 3 barley rings a day each, which worked well. Barley rings are designed to put weight on horses, and can easily be made into a ‘mash’, if eating crunchy rings is an issue, so might be worth trying?

[Mikey]

My Badger was kind of underweight when we got him, but its due to medical issues he has. He cant gain weight and muscle mass very fast and loses it faster than he gains. He has to be exercised often and is on an almost unlimited everything diet to help keep his weight up enough.

Pain can cause a bunny to want to stop eating. Along with his antibiotics, can they put him on a pain killer?

[Melon]

I fed Lemon some oat flakes and alfalfa pellets when I adopted her.

[vanessa]

Thanks for all the tips.

[vanessa]

Too many cecotropes… I feed him a minimum of 6 Tbsp critical care/sherwood forest SARx a day. Over the last few days I add 3 Tbsp of crushed pellets. So he gets 9Tbsp food mixed with 18 Tbsp water. He has started eating his veggies again, and even his hay cookies. But he produces sooooooo many cecotropes. His diaper is full – and I mean full of cecoropes when I get home from work. Like maybe half a cup. From what I read – too much protein, too many pellets, can cause too many cecotropes. Does anyone know anything about this? The vet said he needs more calories. I coudl look up a list of veggies based on their calorie content?

[vanessa]

I went back to 2 Tbsp a day with more veggies, normal amount of cecotropes.

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