Rabbits and Nutri- Drops and question about what is going on

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have had these rabbits about a year now. I have read what can happen to them and have tried to get all the information I can. I have read for the Flemish Giant to give them 2 cups of greens a day, all the hay they can eat, some say a cup of pellets, some say all they want. My female rabbits seem fat and they are bigger than the males. I give them half a cup of pellets in the morning, a tablespoon of oats. At noon I pick some greens like grass and dandelions, cilantro, etc. In the winter I was giving them some kale, romaine lettuce and during the winter they were fine. In the evening I give them a tablespoon of oatmeal and some grass, kale, and was picking clover. They get apple branches and leaves off of a crab apple tree. I will cut up a raspberry cane in 10 pieces sometimes. They could eat the whole raspberry patch if I kept doing that. At night I give them another half cup of pellets. I make sure they have hay and before bed they get a small piece of carrot or apple and make sure they have water. About Feb. or March, Sunshine was off her food one morning. Just did not eat and was not pooping. She was not in pain like gas. I started giving her apple branches and raspberry canes and she ate whatever I brought and in a day or so she was pooping and back to normal. I thought it was odd, but she was shedding and I thought maybe hair, but never saw hair in the poop. About April found Twinkie acting odd and did not eat his food. I thought he was in pain, so we got some liquid baby gas medicine and put it down him and as the day went gave him more and he seemed over the gas, but not eating and not drinking. We would get him out and put water down him and some wet pellets mashed up in water. I remembered I had bought some vitamins when they were first born. I thought it might come in handy if they got sick. This is what I bought. http://bovidr.com/. I got a syringe and put some of this in and put it down him. About an hour later I thought might as well get him out and give him some water. Not this time! he took off and went to the back of the hutch, which has a hole they can go through and they have litter boxes back there and a place to hide. He stomped at me. I went to the back and opened the door and he took off to the front and stomped again. Totally had changed in an hour. He started eating and got over whatever was wrong. He also was not pooping a lot. Then, a couple of weeks later his mother Lulu did like her sister Sunshine and she quit eating. She did not have the gas, but was like her sister and would eat greens. Took days to get her to start eating pellets again. I was using Purina Professional and I thought something was wrong with those pellets. I had found looked like clumps, but not from being wet, so I went to a different store and had bought a new bag of the same kind and again I found a few pieces of these clumps, but when Twinkie was sick, none of the other rabbits were. I had been using the Professional for months. Before that I had used Purina Complete. Lulu was eating and drinking, but not eating pellets. She was hungry and would be at the door about beating on it for me to give her the oatmeat or the greens. Would snatch her carrot out of my hand. I went and bought a new bag of food and got the Purina Complete and as soon as she smelled it she was eating pellets, so I thought things were okay. Then, yesterday evening I went out and with the oatmeal. Cream who is the happiest of all the rabbits really and loves his hutch life was laying by the water bowl and drinking water. I opened the door and usually he is on his hing legs and shoving the door open to get to oatmeal, was laying there and I tried to move him and he was kind of stiff and just fell over. I got him out and we gave him the gas drops. I did not think really his stomach was full of gas, but not sure, so gave him the drops. He seemed dazed and weak. He would hop once and kind of just lay down. I had gone to town to the store, so was not sure if something had scared him. He was so weak, I thought maybe it was his heart. I petted him and talked to him and he just seemed dazed. Then, I remembered the Nutri-Drops and we measured it out and gave it to him. I went back in the house and an hour later went back out. It was getting late and time to give the pellets to the other rabbits. He is the first to get fed, so I opened his door, but he had pellets from that morning he had not ate all of and I petted him, went to the next door and he watched me feed the other rabbits, so I knew he was better and then he started grooming himself. I went back to him when I was finished feeding the other rabbits and his eyes looked normal and not dazed. I picked a dandelion and he ate it. He hopped like he had some strength. I went in and my son asked how he was and I said better. My son really likes this rabbit. He named him Cream because of his color. We went out to give carrots later and he took his out of my hand and was back to normal. I am writing all this to tell you about Nutri-Drops and I think it is something good to have on hand, but also asking what is going on with these rabbits? They have a big hutch area to hop and move around. It is not hot yet, so not the weather. They are under trees and have a breeze. They can run in the hutch and play, and the do play with each other through the wire. They have hay, they have pellets and they weigh at least 10 pounds for the males. I would say 12 to 13 is more like it for the smallest and the females 15 and a couple of them close to 20 pounds. They are taller and longer than the males. I was worried that I gave too much grass, but these rabbits ate PILES of greens last summer. I would go pick clover and other grass, some cilantro, leaves off the raspberries, the got a whole crab apple each, they had a kale leave each, so they ate greens all summer and through the fall until it was gone, so then they were eating store bought romaine and I had some kale all winter out in the garden. When spring came they were getting the dandelions. Could the grass be too rich for them since it is spring and not summer? Cream before this happned was pooping normal, eating normal and then a couple hours later in trouble. Is this just normal for rabbits to have this happen so fast? I had a rabbit years ago that I had in a smaller hutch than this and I do not even remember giving her hay. She lived until she was old and never got sick a day in her life, so I do not understand why these rabbits are having trouble. If they all got sick within the same week or something then I would say it was the food or something like a virus going through, but this is one rabbit spaced out over a month or more. Cream this morning will eat greens, but not his pellets. He ate some alfalfa I gave him last night. He will not eat oatmeal, but he is hopping around and grooming and drinking water. I am not sure he had gas, but he was tight all over his back and shoulders and very weak. During the winter they were eating more pellets, almost really had it in front of them all day. I would give 1/2 a cup in the morning and in evening fill their bowl up, which is about 1/2 a cup and then at night fill it again, but I want to get some weight off a few of them and decided maybe just a cup a day was enough. Sorry this is so long, but just wanted to give you an idea what they eat and not that I just went out and handed them a bunch of greens that they never had and made them sick. Is there a virus or something that I do not know that makes them sick for a few days? Updated that I went out and Cream is eating pellets and ate his oatmeal, so back to normal and wondering what the heck happened.

 

[bj taylor]

gardeningwithrabbits; I have no help to offer. I hope to soon be raising a few rabbits. I will be learning from what others advise you. to me, in full ignorance, it sounds like a rich diet. you give the rabbits weight. is that good weights for them? perhaps pare the greens down a little? again, i'm ignorant so take my questions/comments with a grain of salt. are the oats completely hydrated when you give them? can they be causing a kind of bloat? the greens you're picking, could they be contaminated w/chemicals?

I hope you can figure out the culprit that's making them sick. I wrote down the nutria drops. i'm going to include that in my rabbit first aid kit

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

The oats are oatmeal old fashion and actually not quite a tablespoon. I read they like it and to give it to them if there was any diarrhea with baby rabbits. The greens are out of my yard and no chemicals. I have read give a Flemish Giant all they want of pellets, give them 1 cup a day, give then a 1/4 cup for each 5 pounds, give them only 1/8th a cup a day, so I am confused on that. I do not give them fruit other than a very small bite of apple, which is not that often. They get a little piece of carrot at night. They get hay. That is another thing with these rabbits. I have 5 males and 5 females. It seems the females eat all their hay, while most of the males do not eat that much hay. Also, about the greens, I have read to give them 2 cups a day and last year they had more than that and were find, but were slim. This year, I am not giving them as much and they are getting maybe 2 cups, but sometimes less. The older females, which are just over 1 year old gained weigh during the winter with less greens. Their brothers Cream and Snickers are not overweight. The 5 young ones, which are 8 months old are just plump, expect Twinkie who is slim. What happened to Cream yesterday might not have been his stomach though. Good luck with your rabbits when you get them. You may be right about a rich diet.

 

[secuono]

You don't need to feed as much pellets when adding greens.
The pellets could of been moldy or contaminated, same goes for the greens. Or you might of fed a type of plant they weren't used to yet.
For FGs, that doesn't sound fat, but that's only if their bone structure is also large.

 

[baymule]

Many years ago I raised rabbits and for the summer, I would switch them to a grain diet and take them off the pellets. I mixed barley, oats, milo (the red grain that is in hen scratch) in equal parts and that brought them through the heat just fine. They got a few pellets as a treat.

It could be that the pellets had residual pesticides on them and that's why your rabbits were affected. Or maybe there were a few moldy pellets in the bag. It is all guess and conjecture, but there are no real answers. I am glad that your rabbits are ok now, hope they don't get sick again.

 

[hoodat]

I don't like to knock a company but I've had some bad results with Purina. One thing I dislike about them is that their feed is not consistent. Bags can differ in formulas from one to another. My rabbits prefer almost any other pellets over them. I've gotten several bags of Purina that my rabbits absolutely refused to eat although I could see nothing wrong with them. The pellets they like best are the ones from Perris CA where they grow a lot of alfalfa. Manna Pro is another brand that is usually available and has always been reliable for me. Wal Marts Small World brand is made by Manna Pro and is comparable in price to feed stores if you buy the 25 pound bags (the biggest they handle). My Wal Mart sells it for $7.32 per 25 pound bag.
I try to raise my rabbits for my own table mostly on greens and grains. If I can come up with enough high quality greens they only nibble on pellets now and then. The growth rate is slightly slower because the food is less concentrated but the taste is better.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

From reading what you posted about Purina made me think and I started searching about food. I found that most food is made to grow rabbits fast to eat with no care of how long they live. I never thought of that. I am buying a grow big fast food and I am not going to eat these rabbits, so I am going to look for the brands of pellets you mentioned. Why didn't I think of this!! I am not raising show rabbits or meat rabbits. I found an article by a vet. He said this - If you give your bunny fresh produce, limit it to kale, collard, spinach and similar vegetables that have lots of fiber and very little sugar. Now, I have on purpose not fed these rabbits spinach. I read something that said DO NOT GIVE RABBITS SPINACH! Can they have spinach? I think I am feeding backwards from what I did in the beginning. They used to eat big amounts of greens. The baby rabbits started eating hay and grass before they did pellets because they came out and ate what their mother did. I have read too many websites that are raising rabbits for meat and pellets pellets pellets is all they talk. Mine did nibble pellets before and ate the greens and for winter I was using kale and romaine, and up through about Nov. they were eating raspberry and blackberry leaves too. I am going to get different pellets and mixed them with what I have left of the Purina. I have some planting to go do. More greens. You really gave me some great information. Thank you!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I did it a little different for their greens. I went with a big bowl and scissors. I cut everything in pieces, like mustard, kale leaves. I cut up kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, dandelions, cilantro, raspberry leaves, some grass that I am not sure if it is wheat or what, but is tall and I cut it up in short pieces. I took a cup that holds half a cup and gave each of them a half cup, so I know kind of what I am doing. When I got to the end I went back and the first rabbits were finishing and did not look like they really wanted more. Some went to the litter box like they were going to do business. The smallest male had a couple of pieces left and one was a piece of mustard green and he never has liked mustard unless it is the red kind. Cream the one that was sick the other day had all his gone. The 5 young ones had theirs all gone, except Bella who is very picky about greens. She eats hay and likes dandelions and kale, but other things she picks at. So, this morning they had 1/2 cup of pellets and oatmeal, which most have it gone and a few have a tiny bit left. Well, a few of them did not get 1/2 a cup because I cut their amount. I am going to get the less rich pellets and not give them any until late and less than what they have been getting and give them 1/2 cup of vegetables in the evening and then if things go okay, I will up the amount of greens. Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[bj taylor]

hoodat, what do you mean "grains". what grains are you giving your rabbits?

gwr, it sounds like you've got a game plan for your rabbits. I hope it balances everything out for you. my focus will be different than yours. I will be raising them for our meat, but they will have a good life in the meantime.

 

[hoodat]

hoodat, what do you mean "grains". what grains are you giving your rabbits?

gwr, it sounds like you've got a game plan for your rabbits. I hope it balances everything out for you. my focus will be different than yours. I will be raising them for our meat, but they will have a good life in the meantime.

I feed a mixture of Barley, wheat and oats in equal amounts. In cold weather and when a doe is nursing I add BOSS (black oil sunflower seed) It is high in both protein and essential oils. The grain isn't fed in large amounts, only as a daily supplement to round out their diet. If you are feeding greens as the main diet it is amazing how much they can go through without getting fat. I differ from most rabbit raisers in that I feed very little hay.Most of it just gets wasted except when a doe needs some to make a nest. They get all the fiber they need from the greens. I don't get compulsive about diet. I try to give them a wide variety of greens, including weeds I pull out of the garden but mostly I feed whatever is available. One part of my garden is kept planted in red clover and the type of wide leaf chicory used as fodder for cattle and wild animals. I can always fall back on that if wild food is scarce. I almost never have health problems with them so I must be doing something right.
Each rabbit is different. My Rex buck will hardly touch greens during the day. He just tramples them running back and forth, but if I pile in the greens in the evening they are all gone by morning. Most of the rest will gobble them any time of day.
That Rex buck is quite a character. I give him an old phone book and he amuses himself tearing out the pages. If I demand to see his registration papers he will tear a page out of the phone book and wave it at me.