A depressed rabbit

[tazz1227]

Hi Heather and Daisey. Long time no hear from. I am going to post a new discussion. My kids are fighting and I need help !!

[Lance0]

This is an old post, so if your rabbit hasn't pulled out of its depressed state, I would smoke some "alfalfa" with it and give it gaterade. this works for a lot of animals. If I wasn't strictly a rodent psycologist, I would say you may be projecting your own depression on the rabbit and making it depressed. Lops, while always looking depressed with ears down and such, are often very content and just kicking back. My rootmate had a moody Lop that would become shy and wouldn't eat then be fine a week later.

[Daisylover]

Absolutely NO "alfalfa" or gaterade!!!! Bunnies systems are extremely delicate and one or the other or both would probably kill her! I know you know better than this Heather!

[Lance0]

Alright, Alfalfa disagrees with my stomach and stinks if you burn it ('') but the rabbits like it.
Its a little too high in protein to be a staple food but its blended into rabbit pellets and when mixed with fresh greens its healthy for them.

But usually when a rabbit looses its appitite, its has indigestion or constipation, whic is preferable to wet tail, but it needs hydration and fiber to get things moving again
If the problem happens again you should give it hay or little alpha grass is ok. Rabbits are pretty intollerant of changes in their diet, but are hopeless nibblers as well (as can be obseved in the this house's tomato garden) so there is no telling what made it lose its appitite, but easily remedied

Prblem is, it can be difficult to make a rabbit drink if it doesnt want to...Gatorade is a great rehydrater and appitite stimulator for virtually all mammals. It tastes better than water and it is the only softdrink besides water and sometimes fruit juice that any pets should drink. It has just enough mineral salts to stimulate eating and a low enough fructose and sucrose content to not inhibit the salt absorption. you can instead give a rabbit a little applejuice in the water to boost energy, but over 6% sugar may upset her digestion even more. You can also buy commercial rehydration formula made for human babies or primate babies (saline solution, you may not remember but you mother probably gave it to you when you got the flu as a baby) and it has less suger, but many zoos just use gatorade universally for any mammal

[Daisylover]

I disagree completely.

In the last year or two it has been well documented by many different vets that alfalfa based pellets are bad for rabbits...it is way too high in calcium, protein and low in fiber. Rabbit breeders use it for show rabbits because it does give them a beautiful coat, but eventually some of the excess calcium is excreted in the urine, which forms a "white sludge" and the rest is kept in the body and forms painful bladder stones and can eventually kill the bunny. Many rabbit owners on POTD will concur.

Gatorade maybe low in sugar but water is the best hydrator there is.

Besides, Heather's Bunny wasn't off her food or water, she was laying around "depressed" because her daughter and cage mate had died. She is doing well now and paying with her sons again.

[tazz1227]

GO DAISEY !!!

[Lance0]

Sure, Bulk feed it made a cheeply as possible and alfalfa to a rabbit is like red meat to people. if thats all you eat, its just too much protein.
Well, in any case, I am glad that what ever the problem was passed.

You may want to read the article at this link.
It goes in to detail about Rabbit digestion problems and the associated depression and debilitation.

http://www.therabbitcharity.freeserv...anorectic.html

Of course you can still disagree with the doctor and have happy rabbits and you are right Water is the the key, but animals who become ill get better substantually faster when fed Gatorade. and a whole lot of zoos use it because it works.

When a person goes into a hospitial dehydrated, they get an IV in the arm. That is a saline solution much like gatorade.
A mixture of electrolitic salts and carbohydrates in the water significantly increases the absorbtion rate of water into the body.
In the most severe cases it may save an animals life but
I know if I have a sick friend, I want to give it every advantage possible so it can make a quick recovery but I also know people who are naturalists and would never feed any comercial food or suppliment or medication to their pets and go so far as to buy only organic foods, and they keep healthy happy pets.

[Daisylover]

Lance,
Thanks for the add'l info. I see where you are coming from.

However I still believe Gatorade is a bad idea because of the sugar. Bunnies who get occasional treats made by pet food manufacturers, fruit or carrots...these products all have sugar in them. And a rabbit has a delicate digestive system which needs to be kept in balance.....digestive problems in rabbits can cause death within 24 hours if left untreated.

Every bunny is different when it comes to tolerating sugar. I have three bunnies (of five) that gets very soft stools and/or diahrea if they get too much sugar. This is only disconcerting because they don't get much of either to begin with. In fact recently, several bunny experts have revised their dietary recommendations and have either completely removed carrots from the list of approved food or now recommend 4 inches of carrot only a couple times/wk.

Add an illness on top of low sugar tolerance is asking for real digestive trouble by giving Gatorade. I'm sure the zoo care takers and vets have evaluated and tested Gatorade and determined appropriate dosage before recommending it. I have not heard of any such bunny vet/expert give this recommendation and would be extremely reluctant to administer it when quantity and dilution (if any) is not known.

At this point I think it's up to each pet owner to decide the merits of this method of treatment. Thanks for the interesting exchange of info.

[Lance0]

Thats a very good point. If there is any uncertainty, it is best to ask a Vet, and even then you get different opinions. Most mammels are also just as likely to become dibetic as a human so there are lots of good reasons to just use water. Even though rabbits are more sensitive then many animals, in an emergency situation, I would still choose to use it and risk the side effects. I've lived in the desert about half my life and seen many creatures die of exposure and dehydration, but it is of course, a pet owners choice to do what they think is best for their pet.
Incidentally, I know Gatorade is 6% sucrose and or fructose and at 7% the sugar starts to have a negative effect on digestion or block mineral absorption. I have heard of giving rabbits fruit juice and this is generally much higher in sugar, but that is mainly to give them a vitamin C boost.

[Heather Wallace]

For your information Lance, bunny is perfectly fine now as Daisy mentioned. This post was posted some time ago!!!