URGENT!My Rabbit WONT eat!

Question
My 3 year old female rabbit Oreo hasn't been eating.She stopped eating on monday and now its thursday.I have got her to eat some veggies and a bit of hay but thats about it.I've been looking it up on the computer and I think its probably over grown teeth of her molars are bothering her.We are probably taking her to the vet tommorrow because she HAD been eating the veggies but now she won't even touch them!I really don't know what else to do until tommorrow!She isn'e exzactly "fit" infact she's pretty fat.She was like that when we got her a year ago.She has had a bad past (She was abused) so maybe shes stressed but she should have eaten something by now.

Answer
Dear Robyn,

If you can get her to the vet today, that would be better.  It might well be molar spurs that are causing the initial problem, but if she is now completely inappetent, then the pain of dental problems might be eliciting ileus--a rabbit's potentially life-threatening response to pain/stress/illness.

If your bunny is not producing any poops, or is producing nasty, pasty stuff that might even be sticking to her bottom, then she is in danger of this.  Please read:

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

and

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

If you can't find a rabbit savvy vet in your area, you might want to bring this with you to the vet:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.pdf

If you don't already have a rabbit-savvy vet, you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

It's important to have a vet who is familiar with dental problems and ileus in rabbits, as dog/cat vets are often not sufficiently experienced with rabbits to do enough appropriate treatment.  Nothing against the vets' competence: they might be terrific with dogs and cats.  But you need someone who is experienced with *rabbits*--a whole 'nother ball game.

Please also see:

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

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

Dana