Lazy, less hungry, heavy breathing bunny.

Question
My rabbit is about a year old and lately he's been going through major changes in behavior, and it has me a little worried. I had a rabbit before him, and he died at 5 months old (I only had him for 2 months). I never found out what the cause of death was, so I'm a little paranoid that whatever it was, it will happen to my new rabbit, Ellie. My other rabbit was neutered & my vet said it might have been too much trauma for him, so we decided not to get Ellie neutered.

Ellie used to be really energetic. He attacked his food the second it was put in his cage, and wouldn't stop eating it until it was all gone. He never dug in the cage and was always quiet at night. He almost never laid down, he always had something to do.

Lately, he's very lethargic. He eats, but not as much as he used to, and its on his own time. Also, he's still drinking his water, but not as much. He doesn't go after the food the way he used to. Last night he dug all night long. I had to put a towel over his cage to calm him & quiet him down. Now, he lays down all the time, and when he's laying, he breaths very fast. I noticed that he has been sneezing, not too much, but he never used to sneeze. There is no goop coming out of his eyes or nose though.

I feed him alfalfa hay every day. Last week, he had some romaine lettuce to munch on and one day last week, I ran out of food. To make sure he didn't go hungry, I fed him some pellets. I try not to feed him pellets because my vet told me it wasn't the best thing for rabbits, but it was either the pellets, or go hungry. The pellets always made him a little lazy. He would never finish them at once, and he didn't the last time I gave them to him. I bought more hay the very next day so he hasn't eaten pellets since then, but he is still lazy. I made an appointment with my vet, but the earliest they had was Tuesday. I also got the number of an emergency vet that specializes in exotic animals, just in case he gets worse before Tuesday.

My question is, what do you think is going on with my bunny, and what can I do to help him out. I'm very loving & careful with him, and I will be so torn if I have to go through losing another pet. I'm sorry this post was SO long, but I wanted to give you as much information as possible, so you can give me your accurate opinion.

Thank you.

Alyssa

Answer
Dear Alyssa,

I'm really not sure any very experienced rabbit vet would recommend against spay/neuter of a rabbit simply because another rabbit had died after such surgery.  It really makes me wonder whether that vet (secretly) believed that s/he had somehow been at fault for the rabbit's death.  

A diagnosis of death due to "too much stress from surgery" seems a bit vague to me, and I would not feel comfortable going to a vet that gave me such an explanation.  I would find another vet who truly is experienced and expert in rabbit care:

www.rabbit.org/vets

That said, please read:

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

and

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

There are many reasons your bunny could be lethargic, but none of them are normal, and I would want to have a full wellness check done, including bloodwork, if this were my rabbit.

Please also check this for information about a healthy rabbit diet:

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

Pellets are inadvisable only if the rabbit is obese.  Otherwise, they are an important way to provide micronutrients, as long as you give a very high quality pellet such as Oxbow (timothy or alfalfa based), Purina Hi-Fiber, or other such brand, and give them in very small quantities.  (No more than 1/4 cup per day for a medium-sized rabbit.)

For all the best information on proper rabbit care, please visit:

www.rabbit.org/

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you have more questions.

Dana