rabbit ate my lolly!!

Question
Dear Dana,

I suspect my rabbit ate 1 or 2 sugar pastile that dropped on the floor accidentally. I am very worried about whether this will cause any harm to my darling rabbit. I know that sugar is bad for rabbit's stomach and I am now very worry. He seems to be normal so far (12 hours already since he ate the sweet). Do I need to take him to the vet or is there anything I can do?

Thanks
Lily

Answer
Dear Lily,

If it's been 12 hours and you see no sign of runny stool or gassiness, then I think you're in the clear.  Most rabbits can tolerate a bit of sugar if they are fed an otherwise healthy diet.  The main thing is to not allow them to eat too much sweet or salty or starchy stuff at one sitting.

If you do see runny stool, it should run its course once the bunny has had a healthy diet for a day or so, and his cecal flora comes back to normal.  You can read more about this here:

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

But if he starts to show signs of lethargy, inappetence, or abdominal discomfort (gas?), then it would be a good idea to have him checked by an experienced rabbit vet, just to be safe.  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

But at this point, I would not worry too much about this particular episode.

Hope that helps!
Dana