Bunny not eating much

Question
Mr. Meyer-
I have been the owner of a wonderful mini rex for two years, and we have luckily had no health issues with him. Recently we decided to adopt two rabbits from a shelter, and as they were of opposite sex the shelter told us they had to 'fix' them before we could take them. Hermione, the female seems to be doing well, besides being a bit spunky for someone who just had surgery. Jack, the male, however has me worried. We just brought them home yesterday, and the shelter told us they had both eaten after the surgery, but since he's been home I noticed he has not eaten much, and there have been no feces, although he has been drinking his water. He is already a bit underweight, and if he does not eat soon I will be taking him to the vet, but I'm wondering if it might just be the stress of the surgery plus the two hour drive home (the shelters around us do not keep rabbits--in a community of mostly farmers they are largely considered food/pests). Anything to put this bunny mommy's mind at ease would be helpful, especially since I don't want to stress him out with another long drive so soon (the vet is almost an hour away- living in the middle of nowhere is no fun for an anxious pet parent) We had planned a check up for next week, after they adjusted.
Thank you!

Answer
Hi,

yes the stress of everything is taking an impact on him.

two things.  He may be feeling a little nauseous from what he's went through.  I would get some Bonine (for seasickness) from Walgreens.  Needs to be Bonine, the other stuff is not the right ingredient (meclizine).  They will be pink tablets.  You need to use a knife or pill cutter to cut into quarters.  Gring up a quarter, add 6-7 drops clean water, stir until you have a pink solution.  Suck into a medicinal feeding syringe and give to your bunny.  Can give twice a day.  If he is nauseous this might help get his appetite back.

If you have any Oxbow Critical care you can give him some of that via a feeding syringe.  If not you can add water to his regular pellets, mush up, and feed via a feeding syringe.  Never point the syringe down the throat, you always put it between the gap of the front and back teeth, on the tongue, and just squirt out a little bit.  He will lap it in, wait for him to finish before squirting another small amount.

Make sure he is getting his pain meds for post-op pain.  He should be getting metacam to help him deal with the pain so he can eat and drink as normal as possible.  Without pain meds rabbits may be in too much pain to eat and drink.

I'd also double check his rear to see if there looks like any infection or visible problems back there.

He definitely needs to get to the vet however, you need to get him in.  Personally I would not wait until next week.  You have gone through all this for him and by waiting it might all be for nothing if he dies before next week.  Please, you cannot wait or put it off, he's already underweight, this will weaken him further and screw up his gut.  

You can also check the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org/vets/vets) to see if there are other rabbit vets near/around where you live.

When you get to the vet and they have given treatment and provided a course of recovery care, make sure he's got pain meds if he needs them, make sure he's got antibiotics if he's fighting a post op infection, make sure you can give him sub-q fluids if you have to, make sure you've got Oxbow critical care you can give him if he still needs some help eating, and make sure you have some probiotics you can give him to help his gut working (Bene-Bac) as this will help replenish his gut with good bacteria to help it keep working while he's not eating normal.  You can actually buy the Bene-Bac online at amazon.  Get the 15 ml syringes, they last awhile and rabbits enjoy taking it (has a little fat and mild sweetness to it).