Pet Forum / Mammals / Rabbits / July 2008

I'm sorry to say that Zolo is not eating as much as I originally thought
he was.  Perhaps you guys have some input to offer.  I will tell you the
whole story.

When I let the boys out for their afternoon carrot, Zolo ran right along
with Jump and Wizard onto my Lazy Boy table that you guys have seen in
my webshots, and he was enthusiastically trying to eat the carrot.  It
was so sad.  He couldn't get any at all.  If I offer him banana, he begs
and eats it right away. It's soft!  He can eat a little walnut, which is
also soft. but only if I break it into tiny pieces so he can chew with
his back teeth. His front teeth don't seem to be working.  Dr.
Stanzione, who I will call tomorrow, examined the close-up xray of
Zolo's head and gave him a thorough physical examination, and said he
could find no fault.  Nothing looked broken, his jaw looked aligned.  I
served kale this afternoon, and he was so enthusiastic, but could only
eat a tiny piece that was about one inch by one inch.  How sad.  I gave
him cranberries and he could only eat one and a half.  When I put him in
the cage last night, he appeared to eat some parsley, but I observed him
more closely tonight, and if he was able to get any of it past his front
teeth, I would say that he maybe ate two small pieces.

I have been feeding him Critical Care three times a day.  He is getting
20 to 30 cc's per meal.  I sit him on the table and Brenda holds his
butt, and once we get started, he willingly eats it all.  When I give
him his Propulsid, it must smell good to him because he leans forward
and accepts the small syringe immediately.  He absolutely loves Reglan.  
He, I suppose, can smell it in the syringe and must know what it is,
because he moves forward and takes the syringe in his mouth immediately,
and when it's done, he wants more.  After that, I give him a teeny
sliver of banana and then we give him his sub-Q fluids.  He hates being
stuck with the needle, duh, but I give him a small piece of banana after
that.  He gets this complete routine twice a day, nine in the morning
and nine at night.  I give him the Critical Care at these two times.  
Also, at twelve and at four PM.   He gets close to ninety cc's of
Critical Care a day.  When he's not busy being medicated, he plays with
the other rabbits and does most of his normal things.  But so much of a
rabbit's life (as all you well know) centers around eating and rabbits
express their dominance at this time.

Wizard and Zolo had a couple of spats.  They have never done this
before, but when I first brought Zolo home, Wizard groomed him and when
he didn't receive reciprocal grooming (Zolo was pretty damn grumpy from
all the meds),  Wizard was pissed off.  Zolo head butted him rather
sharply and rudely.  I had to grab Wizard by the scruff.  I gave him a
talking to and I told him that Zolo didn't feel well (who knows how much
good that did).  Wizard is the toughest three and half pound rabbit I
have ever met.  If you doesn't want you to hold him, believe me. you
won't be able to do so, unless you scruff him.  Pound for pound, he's
probably stronger than The Jump.  After Jump and Wizard did a show,
Wizard calmed down a bit and so did Zolo.  Zolo did eventually groom
Wizard.  However, his Jump got groomed first.

If anybody has any suggestions at all, or any ideas, I would really be
pleased.  It's been four days and I only see the slightest improvement.  
I am somewhat discouraged.  I hope that I don't have to feed Zolo
Critical Care and give him sub-Q fluids  for the rest of his life. I
have covered the sub-Q fluids with a paper bag, as Ronnie has suggested,
to protect it from light.