Supa Rabbit Excel

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

GemRVN — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:04:00 GMT

She's a little monster at times but yes she really is full of character. I have never met a rabbit before her that would jump up on your knee and start licking you!!! She goes mad for my boyfriend they curl up and fall asleep together!! Had to give me more hay this morning before I went out although she's not ate much of it so far :-)

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Vicky RVN — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:55:54 GMT

That's fab that she's eating more hay just goes to show how particular creatures can be, It's all about discovering their ways bless them!

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Tracey Louise — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:35:12 GMT

thats great news gem, she sounds like a character bless her, i love how rabbits all have very different personallities and you obviously care about her alot and just want her to be happy. glad shes eating some more hay now.

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

GemRVN — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:10:57 GMT

Hmm just placed her back into her indoor house without any food only hay and water, decided to take some of the hay out the rack and place it on the floor, the little monster is now tucking into it!!! Might have solved the hay problem?!?!

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

GemRVN — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:45:49 GMT

Wow thanks everyone I take all comments as advice and hope I can pass any advice given to me onto my clients. As regards to her teeth they were checked the other week when she was poorly and they're fine. All in all she's very much better, I understand what people say in regards to hay, she did prefer to oxbow hay so I might put her back on that but as I type she's enjoying a hay tunnel!!! As regards to reducing her green intake, she's a bunny who loves her greens!! I can happily cut them back down to a handful a day as she's only been increased a week or so. Maybe I'm feeding her too much of the stuff she enjoys?! I'm sure if I didn't give her extra greens in the morning she would tuck into her hay?! Unfortunately I can't encourage her to eat the grass, she either sunbathes or runs round, she does eat her hay then when she's in her hutch. She's just a fussy bunny!!! I shall reduced the greens to the evening and give her pellets before work, as she sees greens as her supper!! Hopefully she'll start to tuck into her hay at night. (she lives indoors at night and outside during the day, weather depending!) Thanks again everyone I enjoy reading everyones opinions. Gemma (and pebbles)

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Tracey Louise — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:47:18 GMT

[quote user="hayleyw"]

Just one point nobody has mentioned.. have you had her teeth checked recently?

[/quote]

i agree with this, but did mention it earlier regarding the illeus causes, but assusming you have had the rabbit checked over with your vet and they would have done a thorough examination?

[quote user="Tracey Louise"]

illeus can be caused by various problems, pain, bad dentistry, poor diet, illness of any kind really that stops the rabbit eating.

[/quote]

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

hayleyw — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:53:24 GMT

Just one point nobody has mentioned.. have you had her teeth checked recently? Just I had a rabbit once with very bad teeth that would eat the excel pellets and greens fine but wouldn't eat much hay or grass. Sometimes fussy bunnies can be the ones with teeth trouble. I'm probably wrong, just sometimes signs of teeth trouble can be really subtle. Try a nice sweet meadow hay, I like to smell the hay - if it smells good and fresh they should like it! Also stick her out in the garden plenty to eat lots of grass and only give the greens once a week as a treat instead of the popcorn sticks. If you still wanted to give her treat (other than fresh fruit/veg) every once in a while, some pet shops sell "healthier" treats like the excel ones..

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Tracey Louise — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:43:21 GMT

You are feeding too many greens, thats my advice, if you do not want to take this then i wont be offended at all.

But from your original post you make it sound like its possible that the excel is causing the illeus, but it is more than likely the green stuff.

Like vicky said, there are so many types of hay/grass available, so find one the rabbit likes as taking up to 5 days to eat a rack of hay is too long imo and should be a rack every day/couple of days, but if you cut down the greens you will notice your rabbit eat more hay.

There are plenty of rabbit toys on the market without having to have the stick from popcorn treat to play with. my rabbit loves the ball with the bell inside, he picks it up, throws it, chases it, nudges it etc.

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Vicky RVN — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:06:34 GMT

Sounds like the amount of pellets you are feeding her is fine. I'd cut down on the greens though, to both small handfuls rather than large and small. Hay can vary so much in quality. I get mine for my pigs from a farm, buy it by the bale. It is really fresh and smells lovely and the pigs eat it so much better than pet shop hay (and it is soooo much cheaper!). At work we use Oxbow hay, which the animals seem to like. So maybe try looking around for different hay to see if you can find some that she prefers?

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

jodieandrews — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:14:59 GMT

Hi, my friend's rabbit also suffered bouts of illeus over time with it being more regular at the end. He went down hill really quickly. We ex-laped him as the vet could feel a mass in the abdomen, thought maybe an impaction, but actually had a really weird tumour on his intestine that had blocked it up.

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

GemRVN — Sun, 22 May 2011 15:51:40 GMT

She's actually really fussy when it comes to hay and grass. She will happily eat them at her own pace a hay rack of supa rabbit excel forage hay will last her upto 5 days. She gets fed at night before bedtime with her receiving excel pellets that cover the bottom of a standard cat food bowl, hay is always available, and she gets a big handful of greens at night and a smaller handful in the morning before i go to work. When she's in her run she just sits in a corner and doesn't really eat the grass, she palys in her run and runs round as she should. The popcorn stick is a treat once a week and i know they aren't the ideal treat but i like to leave the wood in with her afterwards to play with!!

Gems

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Tracey Louise — Sun, 22 May 2011 10:17:51 GMT

[quote user="GemRVN"]

She gets one small bowl of pellets and a huge handful of mixed greens such as spring greens or curly kale or spinach. She always has fresh hay and water. She also has a popcorn stick once a week. To other vn's does this sound like a good diet for my little bunny?

[/quote]

Rabbits need more hay/grass in there diet than fresh greens, so although what you are feeding your rabbit sounds pretty healthy its not great to be honest and the popcorn stick weekly is a no go. Why do pet shops sell this rubbish? they are supposed to be knowledgable and advise us on suitable diet for our pets!!

It may sound boring to us but a rabbit should enjoy munching on hay all day really and have a small amount of pellets (supa excel and supreme are fine, just not the mixed pellets, peas, sweet stuff etc as they will pick out the sweet bits and leave the important bits).

Its rabbit awareness week next week and i am really looking forward to getting the owners in and seeing what they are all feeding, should be interesting.

Glad the rabbit is better now, sorry to hear you are allergic to them

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

GemRVN — Sat, 21 May 2011 23:06:40 GMT

Thanks guys my rabbit is doing really well, she's currently sat with my boyfriend getting serious cuddles :-) The rabbit that died was prone to illeus what started as an episode every 6 months to an episode every 2 weeks before he died. My rabbit had slid along the laminate flooring the day her illeus started so I think she became a little stressed. She gets one small bowl of pellets and a huge handful of mixed greens such as spring greens or curly kale or spinach. She always has fresh hay and water. She also has a popcorn stick once a week. To other vn's does this sound like a good diet for my little bunny? I have not had a rabbit for many years due to my allergy to them!!! Gems

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Tracey Louise — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:13:39 GMT

illeus can be caused by various problems, pain, bad dentistry, poor diet, illness of any kind really that stops the rabbit eating. and once the gut stops moving, it can sometimes never get started again so prognosis is not always good, no matter what treatment is given.

I really doubt it is the excel food causing this, but it does depend whether the rest of the diet is adequate as, eg. lots of hay/grass and some pellets, and minimal treats, fruit, veg.

Poor rabbits though, hope yours pulls through.

Re: Supa Rabbit Excel

Jenny Cook RVN — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:35:42 GMT

My two adult lionheads are on the adult supa excel and have been for years now with no problems. They are needing to go and get teeth checked again though as im monitoring the little spurs they have, cos they are eating fine at the moment with them and are well in themselves.

Ive never had problems with excel diets... Im sorry to hear of your loss of your bunny though xx