Picky Eaters... Or Not

Muddy Buddy had not eaten for two days and wasn't drinking much, either.  He had lost six ounces.  We have dealt with wool block before, and this was not it.  There was nothing abnormal about his poop, other than the amount. He looked as happy as ever, but his water bottle had not been touched.  I asked Becky, and she told me to flavor it with some Gatorade.  She brought it back to my attention that before he was vaccinated, I had been putting a few drops of grapefruit seed extract in his water bottle.  I put a few drops into his water and brought it over to him during his playtime.  (It was highly unlikely that any rabbit would stop for water during playtime.)  He started drinking like there was no tomorrow.  I held the water bottle there for him for 3-5 minutes, just letting him drink.  I decided to put him back in his cage with his new flavored water bottle.  I thought I had figured it out.

But the next day, he had drank some, but not his usual.  I brought him out for playtime and didn't want to bring his water bottle out, too, so I just brought out a watering crock.  He drank and drank and drank.  I then checked the water bottle.  It worked fine, but he liked the crock more.  I gave him lots of strawberry leaves, wild bird seed, and a half slice of bread to keep some weight on him.  He is  now eating his magic mix (Betty Chu's own recipe), along with the bird seed, as happy as ever. 

Pregnant Does Can Have Cravings, Too

Lydia writes....

My one and only, very dearest, rabbit, Snowball, was bred with Cookie, my sister Becky's broken chocolate.  For the first few days, everything was fine.  At the West Coast Classic, everything was fine.  Then Charlotte and I got the flu, so the rest of the family was caring for our rabbits.  Snowball suddenly stopped eating her pellets, but she continued to eat her hay and coconut oil oats.  I asked everybody if they had fed her the wrong food.  They replied that they hadn't fed her any pellets at all, since her feeder was still full.  The next morning I asked my mom whether Snowball had eaten.

Again, the answer was no.  So I asked Jared to research the problem.  He found that when rabbits get pregnant, they can start getting picky.  So we fed her some strawberry leaves and bananas.  She did not want any strawberries.  A few days later, she began eating her pellets again.  And sometimes I even find that her bowl is empty by dinnertime.

Tootsie, my sister Charlotte's self chocolate doe who was bred at the same time, did not have the same cravings.  She just ate like normal.  So you never know what will happen.  

By the way, the does are due to kindle in three days.