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URGENT -- Rabbit has sudden loss of appetite. (still eating, details inside)

22 9:56:43

Question

Luna
My rabbit is not herself today. I let her out of her cage
for her usual run and offered her a piece of lettuce (she
usually loves romaine lettuce) but she just sniffed it and
didn't take it from my hand, I got a little worried so I
offered her a carrot, (she LOVES carrots) but she did the
same. So, this is where I got extremely worried. I won't
waste your time with a lot of useless information, but I
don't want to leave anything out.

1. My rabbit is female, approx 1 year old
2. Upright ears, grey, about 5 pounds and about 40cm across
normally
2. It's summer/fall-ish right now where I live
3. She recently shed a lot of fur
4. She's very thin (always has been, but after she shed all
that fur she felt thinner)
5. I recently attatched a cardboard box to her cage (her
"play area" - it's a large box with an assortment of toys
inside)
6. She likes to eat the cardboard
7. She likes to eat/nibble on the tribune magazine I got her
from the movies
8. I recently gave her grapes (which I know rabbits can
become addicted to)

Okay, so a lot of "useless" information above, but maybe the
pieces will fit together somehow.

So after she wouldn't eat the carrot, I tried to give her a
carrot again, (she usually goes crazy over them) and she ate
it, but not with her usual enthusiasm. Then I offered her
two more pellets and she ate those too (but not with her
usual enthusiasm). Then I ushered her back into her cage,
she kept biting the cage wanting to be let out (usually, she
just ignores me and goes crazy over the food, I limit her
pellets and fresh foods so when it's that time of day, she
goes crazy over her food - I give her unlimited unsweet hay)

I saw her poop a total of four droppings the time I spent
with her (she usually doesn't poop outside her cage anyways)
they were darker in color, hard, not laced with fur,
generally normal looking.

But I'm still worried. I mean I've heard about sudden rabbit
deaths.

She was fine yesterday, eating with her usual appetite.

So any ideas on what could be wrong? anything I should
do/not do for sure?

I already:
1. Washed her water bottle and replaced it with fresh water
2. Left her two kinds of hay
3. Cut her daily pellet portion by 1/2 to encourage her to
eat more hay
4. Left her fresh veggies

Tomorrow first thing I'm going to:
1. Check her poo
2. Let her out for exercise for a long time (I heard
exercise helps GI blockage?)

She ate her carrots (and I heard her chewed pellet food when
I went to check on her the second time) so she shouldn't
have any teeth problems right? how can I tell if she has
teeth problems?

What does her sudden loss of appetite mean? Can you tell?
She also wasn't running around as much when I let her out
today (but still a fair amount).

I'm really worried, even if it's just a short letter, please
reply ASAP!

Thank you so so so much for your time!

I attatched a recent image of my rabbit (she's ripping up my
textbook =_=)


Answer
Dear Serena,

Nowhere in your email do I see that you've considered taking her to the vet.  If you've checked this:

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

and are still without answers, then go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

An in-person diagnosis is vital when signs are this vague.  Since her appetite is a little off, but most everything else isn't critical, you may have caught something early.  But don't let it get worse.  Have her checked by a good rabbit vet.

Dana