Hi – sorry to only post when I have a problem.
Basically on Sunday (5th june) i noticed fifi was drinking far less water than normal (she normally drinks almost a full, small bowl a day), and whilst she was eating her hay, pellets and herbal forage (dried leaves etc from pets at home), she seemed to be eating at one side of her mouth and had a watery eye. I put some very diluted cranberry juice down for her and she drank most of that.
I took her to the vets the next day correctly assuming she had a tooth spur. This was treated under anaesthetic along with a tear duct and nasal flush. Before taking her to vets I got some more fluid in her by tempting her with the diluted cranberry, but when drinking she was getting all her cheek wet from trying to favour one side of her mouth, which seemed to be irritating her as she would spend ages trying to lick it all off.
That night, obviously she was fed up from the anaesthetic and vet visit, but she ate her pellets in the in the night and continued to pick at hay and forage that I put down – but still didn’t drink any discernible amount of water and stopped showing any interest in the diluted cranberry.
Tuesday morning she ate her pellets, and I left her plenty of water and the diluted juice again. When I came back from work, she’d again eaten the pellets and forage and was picking at bay, but no water seemed to have been drunk. Obviously by this point I was really concerned about dehydration especially as it’s been so warm in the UK (she is a house bunny) and all she was consuming was dry.
In the morning i tried mashing up her pellets with water and offering mint leaves but she refused them all. I took her to the vets Wednesday am, and saw a different vet who checked her stomach, teeth, eyes etc and couldn’t find anything wrong. She said she wasn’t really dehydrated as her mouth membranes were moist and she gave her a painkiller injection as she thought it must be pain from Monday.
That night I got her all her her favourite veggies and some things to try and get moisture into her (kale, celery, carrot, pineapple, watermelon, vegetable juice) and made up a little salad of this and watered down juice again. Early evening she refused everything, then later on about 10pm she picked at some kale, which seemed to perk her up a bit and she had a hop round, a very small, very smelly wee and picked at her pellets overnight and finished them in morning. Still not drinking water.
Thursday am I gave her her pellets, some washed still wet kale, small amount of celery and tiny bit of pineapple. She ate the kale and the dried forage but didn’t show interest in the pellets. When petting her I noticed she flinched when I went near her left side of head (where the op was). This morning she seemed a bit more fed up, not hunching but lying down and just looking a bit sorry for herself. She’d also made a bit of a mess of herself this morning with excess cetotrophes, which I assume is from the increase in veg – she’s quite sensitive.
I went to work and made a 6pm vet appointment. Got home and she’d finished the pellets and kale and celery but still no water! Took her to vets again, saw a 3rd vet who again couldn’t find much wrong other than possible pain from monday. She felt all her stomach and said she could feel poo pellets forming there which was good, no bloating or blockages and she could feel her bladder was very small but again no obvious dehydration. She checked all her teeth again and eyes, and gave her a painkiller and a shot of fluids.
That night (last night) fifi obviously was very disgruntled with me and hid under a chair all night. She refused her salad, pellets, everything and just sulked. This morning I’ve woken up and she’s awake and sat up; she’s again eaten her kale but not touched her pellets at all and still hasn’t drank anything.
I’m really worrying about her as I know she could potentially get very seriously ill quickly, but I am worried that I am simply stressing her out more by taking her to the vets so often and it’s actually making her appetite worse. I’ve provisionally booked another 6pm appointment tonight, but I don’t know what to do for the best.
Obviously today is Friday, so I’ll struggle to get her into a non emergency vets over the weekend.
Any advice at all would be appreciated.
As a side note- she’s difficult to handle, and I’m reluctant to force feed at this point at risk of simply stressing her out more, plus I wouldn’t want to do it wrongly and hurt her more. She allowed me to pet her this morning and has picked at a bit of the dried forage after I did so.
Also the vets she goes to are rabbit welfare society approved (can’t remember name).
Thanks in advance.