fatty liver disease and diet?

Question
Hi
I have 5 rabbits,one of which died recently,having shown no sign of illness,no abnormal behaviour and when she died i could see no sign of anything being wrong with her. She was only two and a half years old. However, in hindsight i notice that she was drinking excessively but that is the only difference i can find. I have been looking through possible causes and am becoming increasingly worried that she may have died from fatty liver disease caused by her diet. Do you think this is possible given no signs of illness? I have been feeding her rabbit museli and straw and occassionally fruit or veg, but primarily the muesli, which from reading on the site looks as though it is too high in fat and protein and far too low in fibre for a rabbits diet. The muesli contains toasted pea flakes, extruded biscuits, oats, toasted maize flakes, toasted bean flakes, wheat, barley flakes, dried grass and sugar cane molasses. It says it has 13.5% protein, 4% oils and fats, 9% fibre, 4% ash. Also, i recently changed from wheat straw to hay but i am sure this was timothy hay. And the only other thing i changed was that i started putting wood shavings in their hutch which i have now read somewhere can contribute to fatty liver disease as it contains phenols. Please can you advise me on the diet and bedding as if this has caused my rabbits death i need to change it quick for the sake of my other 4 rabbits. thank you.

Answer
Hi Lynn,

don't use wood shavings.  The phenols can cause problems.  They cause liver and kidney damage in rabbits (upping liver enzyme elevations, etc) as well as respiratory problems(asthma, inflammation, allergic responses).

A better litter is wood stove fuel pellets (ie compressed sawdust pellets).  They are fantastic, easy to scoop out the used portion and replace with new, no phenols, inexpensive and pretty abundant at your local home and garden stores.

Further, I don't know if your gal was spayed or not, but if she was not, there may be a chance uterine cancer was a factor here.

The diet is not what I would recommend.  Here is what rabbits need in order of importance (not including water):

1. Hay.  They are designed to eat grass hays, they are like little cows this way.  They eat a lot of low energy foods and are designed to extract the maximum energy from it.  They need hay to keep their gi tracts working the way they should, and especially so because they need hay to push through ingested hair from grooming.  They can't cough up furballs like cats, so the hay has to help push hair through.  Unlimited hay, they can eat as much as they want, they won't get fat on hay.  A good timothy grass hay, or orchard grass hay.  If they are under 1 year old, you can give some alfalfa hay.

2. Limited greens.  Greens are optional, they don't need them to live.  Some have problems with certain greens, or too much greens.  No greens or fruit under 6 months old.  When starting to give for the first time give very, very small amounts.

3.  More limited food pellets.  Guidelines are no more than 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight, per day.  Don't get pellets with extra junk in them (no seeds, fruit, nuts, etc), just pellets.  Again, a good timothy hay pellet (I like Oxbow).  If they are under 1 year old you can give some alfalfa food pellets.  Watch pellets in adult rabbits, they will get fat if you overfeed.

4. Very limited high carb/sugar items.  A small pinch of oats, a few cheerios, a very small fruit piece.  Avoid items that have sugar as a listed ingredient (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup).  They have a sweet tooth and love this but they can really get fat quickly and sweets can throw their gi tract bacteria balance off and lead to grave conditions.

Petromalt (malt flavored petroleum jelly) can be given a small amount per day, every other day, couple times a week, to help their gi tract passing hair.  A little bit on the finger tip or on something they like to eat.

Lee