Not urgent - requesting your advise on various health problems with my rabbit

Question
Hello

First of all I want to thank you for being available to help us with our pets.

My dwarf rabbit is 2 years old. He is free in the house and is never caged.  He lives with 3 cats and is outgoing and friendly.

Unfortunately I mistakenly started him on Fiesta Max Food which I now realize is terrible and I cannot get him to switch to rabbit pellets.

Until recently he managed well despite his diet because he ate large amounts of hay and orchard grass.  All of this has changed because he has molar spurs and can no longer eat his hay.  A further complicating matter is the fact that he has developed diarrhea due to too many antibiotics a poor diet and not enough hay.

The antibiotics were given over and over again for sneezing which may in fact be due to his teeth or allergies.  We are waiting for the diarrhea to immprove to investigate this as well.

This is all so overwhelming.  The Vet. is treating the diarrhea with Metronidazole and a probiotic paste and I am feeding Critical Care 4 times daily.  I was told that he cannot eat any Fiesta Max and unfortunately he will not eat any rabbit pellets.  I have tried different brands of pellets, I have crushed them, and I have tried adding water.  I know he is looking to eat something on his own because when I gave the Fiesta Max back to him he ate everything. He would also eat unlimited amounts of field greens if allowed but the Vet. says no to this as well. He is also trying to eat cat food both wet and dry (be assured I am doing everything possible to prevent him from eating any cat food).

Despite everything he is active and bright and the diarrhea seems to be improving to the point where things are starting to take form but he still has bouts of runny poop everyday.  It looks like it is going to be a long road to recovery and I am very worried that he may not be nourished properly while he waits until he is able to have his teeth trimmed.

Any ideas about feeding or any comments that you could make in general on how I could improve upon what I am doing would be most appreciated.

Thank you

Jeanette

Answer
Dear Jeanette,

Unless you are sure that your current vet is very experienced with rabbits, I would strongly recommend that you get your bunny to a truly rabbit-savvy vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

The runny poop you are seeing is not true diarrhea.  It is a sign of cecal dysbiosis, which is fully explained here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

While the meds may help a little, they will not solve the chronic problem, which is very likely being triggered by bunny's molar spurs.  The pain of spurs is one of the most common triggers of GI slowdown, and this can cause the mushy/runny cecotropes your bunny is producing.

The vet is completely right that your bunny must not ever get the Fiesta mix again.  But until he's eating more normally, you might have to give him Critical Care (Oxbow Hay Company) via syringe so he gets proper nutrition.  The problem is his picky eating habits:  They are *also* likely due to his molar spurs!  So it's a vicious circle that won't be stopped until those molar spurs are fixed.

Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

You can get Critical Care here:

http://tinyurl.com/4zecye5

I hope this helps.

Dana