Lionhead….weird behaviour..selective eating?

[cheenichai]

Hey everyone!

Looking to hear your thoughts on my situation here…advice is welcome as well!  

I have a little guy named Chai (lionhead), not sure how old he is as he was a rescue but he has been with me for about 3 years now.  

A few days ago I noticed a slight change in behaviour.  During pellet time normally, he would be EXTREMELY excited, running and binkying until I would put the bowl down.  One day I noticed he was not excited.  He hopped over ate about half of his portion and left.  The next day, he rejected them all together however, he was eating lots of hay, drinking normal amounts of water and his stool was perfectly fine. His weight from January was 1.95kg but when weighed recently he was 1.85kg. I took him to the vet and he was given three injections (sorry I don’t have the names with me, the paper is downstairs..will update later).  One was to boost his digestive system, painkiller and antibiotic.  He is on antibiotics for two weeks and the painkiller was just a three day dosage which finished yesterday.  I was also giving him critical care which he took to very easily.  Everything started is much better, his excitement is back and is back to  playing/cuddling with his bunny partner Cheeni.  His follow up appointment was yesterday and he gained some weight which was great!  

When he eats his pellets in the morning he leaves maybe one or two pieces but in the evenings, he stops eating them half way through.  I am wondering if his teeth may be bothering him because the vet did say his molars are slightly over grown.  He has another follow up appointment this Saturday to see how he is doing and if he is remaining stabilized.  Even when giving him a crunchy treat, which he normally LOVES and gobbles up in seconds, he stopped eating part way through.  I am thinking of moving forward with getting xrays done just to make sure all is okay or what is happening in his oral cavity (in case it is something worse). It’s confusing because he continues to eat tons of hay through out the day but him not finishing his pellets is very odd for him.  I am also not sure if age has anything to do with this? (I have no idea how old he is). 

I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced something similar with their rabbit? Any advice would be appreciated regarding what I should also look for/ask at the vets office during his follow up.  I just want to make sure my little guy is okay.

Thank you! 

[jerseygirl]

When he eats his pellets in the morning he leaves maybe one or two pieces but in the evenings, he stops eating them half way through. I am wondering if his teeth may be bothering him because the vet did say his molars are slightly over grown. He has another follow up appointment this Saturday to see how he is doing and if he is remaining stabilized.

That is my first thought too. It’s one of the signs, dropping and leaving food. You would think they’d have trouble with hay if had teeth problems, but maybe they can pull it into different area of the mouth to chew then they can with something small like a pellet? Or it’s a different chewing action. For his evening pellets, try soaking them in a little hot water before giving to him and see if that makes a difference.

What was the antibiotic for?

[cheenichai]

That is what I was thinking, regarding different chewing techniques for hay.  He did better today…he is not eating at normal times. At this point I am just giving it to him so he can at least eat his portion before the day ends.  The antibiotic is Baytril with strawberry suspension.  If there is any bacterial issue the vet said this would take care of it.  Good thing is Chai is taking to it well because of the strawberry flavouring otherwise it would just taste terrible. The pain killer he was taking was Metacalm (sp?) although that ended on Saturday.  He did not eat his full breakfast pellets before I left for work, only ate half so I gave him some critical care just in case…but after that he went straight for hay and water (good sign!).  I did soak a few of the pellets in water and he was eating them but in such a lazy way (if that makes sense lol) sort of like.  He has some left so I will try it with water and see if he eats it.  It could also be that he is gaining his appetite back slowly, similar to how we are when recovering from being sick.  I’m thankful that at least, his hay and water intake never changed!

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