Anorexia in Rabbits

Anorexia in rabbits is when they have a loss of appetite. There is something similar to this called pseudo-anorexia which is when the rabbits still have an appetite but are unable to chew or swallow their food. Dental disease is the common cause of it. They both lead to drastic weight loss.

Symptoms:

• They refuse to eat
• Their fecal pellets are small in size and amount 
• They have lost a lot of weight
• They have pain when they swallow
• They have pain when they are eating
• They have chronic bad breath

Causes:

Here is a list of some common causes (just remember that it won't be all of these, most likely just one):

• They have stomach ulcers
• They have dental diseases
• A metabolic disorder (such as kidney failure)
• They have cardiac failure
• They have an infectious disease
• They have a respiratory disease 
• They have a neurological disease
• Tumor growth
• They've had poisoning
• There has been environmental or dietary changes

Pseudo-anorexia can be caused by any disease which affects their swallowing ability such as gingivitis.

Treatment:

They will need to be taken to the vet to figure out what caused it to know how to treat it, the sooner it is sorted, the sooner they will be eating again. Sometimes you have to change what they are eating to make them eat again, and you want to make sure they are getting lots of water to drink.

The vet may prescribe a medication, and therefore you will need to make sure that they are having it.

Prevention:

I have heard that it is hard to know how to treat this as of the many different causes for it. Although you will want to keep them out of stress situations and a clean hutch with a nice healthy diet. With their diet you will want to give them some fruit and vegetables which they like (but not too much) and make sure not to give them the same all the time as they will become bored of what they are eating and possibly not eat.

I hope this post on anorexia in rabbits was useful for you.

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