bunnies ears are very warm

Question
I have a new bunnies he is about 4 mos old.  I just picked him up from his pen(inside bunny) and his ears feel so hot to the touch.  Is there a problem??  Otherwise he seems fine.  Also, when I got him he had almost died from starvation.  Now he eats anything.  He loves cat food, nuts, meat, pizza. Is this going to hurt him?  Thank you for your time in this matter...

Answer
Hi Debra,

what you are feeding him will kill him.  I am not exaggerating.  You NEVER feed a rabbit meat, dairy, sugar/high carb foods, cat/dog food or human food.  Their gut is not set up to handle this. They need a lot of low energy food such as timothy hay and grass hays.  They can have small amounts of rabbit food (timothy food pellets, without extra junk in it).  They can have hay cubes.

At 4 months old they should not have any fruits and I would wait until 6 months old to start giving very small amounts of greens.  I would wait until 9 months to a year to start very, very small amounts of fruits.  

I suggest reading up on proper rabbit diet and nutrition.  Start at the House Rabbit Society:

www.rabbit.org

and do searches on "diet", "nutrition", "babies" and " hay".

His ears are hot because his gut bacteria may be out of whack and causing him problems.  I would take him to a good rabbit vet right away.  If he is still hot, I would take a cold pack, wrap it in a sock and place it so he can lean or rest next to it so he can get some cold.  Don't give it to him without covering it, it would be too cold or wet without a sock over it.  But get him to a vet tomorrow.

If you don't have one yet go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  Tell the vet what you've been feeding him so that he cna diagnose what problems he may have.  He or she will help you with nutrition as well.  Ask him about gas drops to help any trapped gas his current diet may be causing him problems.

Lee