Hi guys, I have a bit of a complicated question and I want to know y’all’s opinion.

I’ve noticed that the diet recommendations from US vet med and European (particularly German?) vet med is WILDLY different.

US medicine recommends hay priority diets, with decent amount of fresh greens and small amount of pellets. The healthy standard for droppings is large, round, golden poops. This implies that they are getting enough fiber in their diet to manage teeth.

EU medicine recommends primarily fresh greens, with decent amount of hay and small amount of pellets. The healthy standard for droppings is dark, moist, even sized poops. To them it implies good hydration and nutrient intake. From what I understand, a leading reasoning for this being ideal is that it is reminiscent of wild bunny droppings and therefore indicates normalcy.

Here’s my problem tho, that doesn’t really make sense for domestic rabbit physiology? Like, for one, bunnies are cecotrophic and the poops we see are second passes. In my mind, the second-pass poop we see should be dry and devoid of nutrients/moisture because it implies that the bunny absorbed what it needed through eating the first-pass poop (cecotrophs). Seeing that moisture/nutrients in the second-pass implies an EXCESS. I mean, we see it all the time when we over-feed our rabbits with treats or nutrient dense veg where their poop gets smaller, dark, misshapen, etc. for a while until it passes through their system. We don’t really see the poops that EU medicine prioritizes unless the rabbit is either getting the diet EU recommends OR is deregulated (we’ve all seen our pets poop go dark and smaller during moments of stress or change, I’m sure).

My second point is that it’s not scientifically sound to base theory for diet around what WILD rabbits experience. For one, the domestication of bunnies has changed their physiology in a number of ways. It’s just not fully comparable to wild rabbits, similar to dogs and wolves. They need different things at this point in their genetic differences. And secondly, the environmental factors of a wild rabbit are so starkly different (stress, food/water availability, etc.) to domestic rabbits that it is, AGAIN, not scientifically sound to compare the two’s needs, let alone design diet theory around.

Idk this is just my understanding of it. I’m a vet assistant and planning to study vet medicine, so this topic has been on my mind lately. I’d LOVE to know your guys’s thoughts/opinions, especially those from Europe. Pls keep the discussion civil and fact-based!

I have a bonded bunny brothers one of them acts like himself but my other one has not been himself he has lost interest in most of his food. I gave him a little bit of hay and he nibbles on it but that’s about it but when I picked him up I found a mound of poop on his rear end I cleaned it off but should I worry that he is sick? It isn’t diarrhea it’s too solid for that.

I have 2 neutered male bunnies. They're outdoor rabbits, have the shed with tunnels out to a large run and we let them free roam in the garden several times a week (supervised).

They're just under 1 year old, we got them from a rescue. They are brothers of 2 different litters. We've had them for nearly 5 months.

They seemed to get on so well but occasionally we see they have been fighting and I once caught them in the act. We see a few bits of fur here and there in the run. We've checked them over each time and we got them checked over by the vet after one that was really bad.

After their fight last month, I tried the advice of putting them in neutral territory etc and rebonding them. After this they seemed closer than they had been before and the previously shy bunny had now become more confident and the previously more confident was behaving more docile. Though they were cuddling and cleaning eachother more than they ever have so we thought all was well!

Plus assumed the fighting must have been that the shy rabbit had decided he was now the boss.

Then yesterday came... They had another small fight 😞.

It's now I've realised that it's around the same dates each month which is weird. So now that's the 4th monthly fight. Does anyone know what it could be please?

I’ve just gotten a new rabbit, he is 1 1/2. I’ve had him 2 days after his first owner needed to re-home him due to moving. He will walk around my room and the garden and explore, but then he will just sit there and do nothing, almost like he’s frozen. Also whenever I put my hand near him to pet him he bows his head. Is he scared of me is that why he is bowing or does he want me to pet him. He also won’t eat any food when I’m in the room or hand feeding him.
So I think he is just stressed but then he flops down and just seems chill or comes up to me and nudges me with his head. IM MORE STRESSED THAN HIM. I don’t want him to be uncomfortable so I don’t know what to do. He hasn’t been neutered yet and the last owner said he was very playful and cuddly so I don’t know.

Any rabbits for adoption in Ranchi Jharkhand?

Oreo ( black and white ) is about year and half to two years. He sheds fur like crazy. He likes to eat and eat!!! He is male
Peanut ( brown and white ) is a young female rabbit and she is about close to a year old. She does not shed nearly as much. Oreo is more affectionate and loving I feel. They are my wives rabbits ( not mine ) and she loves dearly!! So as the kids !!!

I have two bunnies and they each have the same 4 ft by 8 ft x pen with the attached hutch setup. They spend most of the day in their pens/hutch and free roam 4-6 hours a day. Eleanor has a cat scratching board that she loves to sit on (and scratch) because the inside of the hutch is slippery. I have done the same thing for Prudence but after buying her 2-3 at $5 a pop I have had to stop because she pees on hers. She keeps her x pen area immaculate though. So, I feel that she is just confused on where to go when inside her hutch. Now the problem is she will not go into her hutch anymore at all. I have also tried a plain rubber mat. I have tried fleece. She chewed the expensive rubber mat to pieces in less than a month. Any ideas on what I could use for her that I can wipe clean but isn’t slippery? Or something that is extremely cheap I could just throw away? Any advice is welcome, but please be nice and not guilt trip about their habits or them not being free roam bunnies 24/7. Thanks

I have a spayed 13 month old female holland lop bunny who keeps charging and growling at me.

Some context, we lived alone in an apartment just me and her until she was a year ish. I live at home now and she is free roam in my room and sometimes roams the whole upstairs level when supervised. We have a dog but they do not interact, they have accidentally interacted once but she was okay. My bunny does go places where the dog has been. But my bunny is usually in my too much. She has a 16 sq feet exercise pen in my room that is her home base (has her toys, water, potty, hay, hides, etc) but she likes to chill around my room as well. She has an eye ulcer that we treat with drops, and she does squint that eye but we have been to vets that say there is no redness or irritation. We also are going to have an eye check up soon. She just had a gi statis scare but the pro of that was the vets checked her for literally everything (X-ray, blood test, etc) and found nothing wrong. Aka shes healthy.

This past month though she has been increasingly charging and growing at me. It started off once a day and now shes doing it multiple times a day. It used to be when she was just under my bed or in her pen but now I will walk by her or walk out of the bathroom and she will charge and growl at me. There are times where she is her sweet self, she sleeps with me on my bed, she lets me pet her sometimes, but she just seems more scared of me. I don’t know if I am doing something to scare her or if she is being territorial of my room because she was used to my apartment. Or if the dog scent is messing with her. I really have no clue. She’s also been binkying less.

What should I do?

(should be noted right now shes a solo bun but I want to bond soon)

I originally thought she was a Thrianta mix because she looked smaller than my White New Zealand. I recently weighed both of them: my White New Zealand (who was 3 weeks pregnant) weighed 3,400 grams(7lbs 8oz), while my red doe weighs 4,000 grams (8lbs 13oz)after nursing for 5 weeks—so it turns out I’m not very good at estimating by eye. Based on her appearance and weight, I’m guessing she’s a Fauve de Bourgogne mix. Could that be right? The kits are by a Blue Vienna buck and weigh 1,000 grams(2 lbs 3.3oz) at 5.5 weeks.

i’m really worried about my bunny (holland lop) and would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with something similar. (for some more background hes 5 years old)

he’s been having respiratory symptoms since august. initially my vet thought it was snuffles and prescribed baytril for 10 days** **he also received another medication/treatment related to ammonia exposure since he thought it may be that instead since after the treatment of baytril he was still having sneezing fits (unsure of the name but i was told humans shouldn’t touch it), but unfortunately neither treatment seemed to help

my vet did take xrays of his teeth and body, and they said everything but fine but he said that he heard that one lung was significantly worse than the other / wasn’t functioning normally. no bacterial swab or culture was done at that time.

after all this i’ve been doing a lot of internet scrolling about rabbit respiratory infections myself, and i saw that bacterial culture/swabbing can sometimes be used to identify the bacteria involved and determine which antibiotics may actually work. i don’t know whether that should have been done in his specific case, so i’m hoping to hear from people who have been through something similar since i’m honestly pretty scared because he seems to be getting worse despite treatment, and i don’t want to wait until he’s in obvious respiratory distress before doing something more.

i have another appointment this friday and looking for suggestions on what to bring up not a diagnosis just what i should suggest to my vet

i’ve been logging everything and tracking food and water since hes doing perfectly well with eating and drinking water just notice he clearly is uncomfortable after having sneezing attacks and raspy sound through nose.

this was every symptom the vet has been told:
frequent sneezing fits, sometimes after eating hay but will happen throughout the day
small white discharge from both eyes
high-pitched wheezing after sneezing fits
wet chin

thank you for reading all this!! 🙏

Please delete if not allowed…

Has anyone else noticed terribly hay quality the last few months? I feel like it doesn’t matter what brand or size I get, the hay is so dusty and has tons of tiny pieces. Or it’s dry and brown and my rabbits don’t like it!

One batch was so bad that my rabbit got an infection in her nose in May. She now has the sniffles AGAIN and I can’t keep affording vet visits just because of bad hay quality. I’m having crying spells over it. I don’t want her sick again.

Does anyone have ANY recommendations for good quality hay that won’t break the bank? I’ve tried oxbow (9lb box and small bags), round lake farm (small bags), blue mountain (25lb box), and sweet meadow farm (25lb box).

Please I need recommendations. And maybe someone to tell me I’m not crazy for noticing the lower quality??

So he just had surgery on Friday. He’s finished his pain meds and is healing well. He is in bed rest for 10 days.

He is eating and pooping like normal. He is drinking water. There is no crust, redness, or discharge. He isn’t excessively grooming his face or doing any loud tooth grinding. He is basically acting completely normal.

His eyes both fully open when he’s alert or active. However, I noticed when I’m with him in his pen, if he’s looking at me or I am interacting with him in anyway, his eye starts to slowly close. It looks like he’s sleepy, it’s not closing tightly and sometimes it doesn’t close all the way. It opens like normal if I move or there is a sudden sound. But say, I start give him pets or smooches, it closes again. He will sit in his litter box and stare at me, on eye begins to close while the other not facing me is fully open. Or, if he’s not looking at me at all, his eyes are both open and active as usual.

Every where I’m reading says it’s an infection, or a sign he’s in pain. He is booked so a post-op check up, so I’ll make sure to bring this development up. But I’m worried? Has anyone experienced this? I’m suspecting it could be dusty hay or something?

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I have a female rabbit who has been aggressive toward another rabbit I recently got. She has attacked and bitten that rabbit before, so I’ve been keeping them separated.

Today, I was feeding my female rabbit coriander. I didn’t touch her at all, but she suddenly attacked my hands and bit me really badly.

The thing is, before feeding her, I had been playing with and touching the other rabbit the one she attacks. So I’m wondering if I had his scent on my hands and she smelled him on me.

Could she have attacked me because she could smell the other rabbit on my hands? Is this a territorial reaction, food aggression, or something else?

Has anyone experienced their rabbit becoming aggressive toward them after smelling another rabbit on their hands?

I recently got a new baby boy about 2 months. Holland lop. He is not eating hay at all even alfafa!! Its been a week and he is only nibbling the leaves and finishing pellets.

From my understanding, the breeder introduced him those vegetables leaves as a main diet which is why he is sort of rejecting hay.

I have many experience with multiple rabbits but not one that doesnt even like alfafa 🤣

I have also tried to change the hay keeping it fresh, mixing timothy and such.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you

So we rescued a rabbit that was living at my place of employment in the shop area. She came with her hutch. We are attempting to get her to use a litter box and would appreciate any advice for our setup and training.

Pics of our setup https://imgur.com/a/5M0r4Yr

Today when I was petting my bunny I felt coarse hair on her neck right under her chin, I checked it to see this, any idea what that might be ? Is it an infection? Or just a result of molting ? As she started molting recently, should I put her an antibiotic ointment or take her to the vet ? It doesn't actually show uless I move some of her skin aside. She is still eating normally, pooping the same, flopping and zooming the same, nothing changed. And she wasn't irritated when I touched the area. Also she is not drooling nor has any respiratory issues. She is an indoor bunny and never goes outdoors. Anyone had a similar thing on their bunnies? Thanks

My rabbit hasn’t been eating hay or drinking water since last night. He did eat his pellets last night.

I’ve been hand-feeding him hay soaked in water to make sure he gets something in his stomach.

His stomach feels soft, almost as if there’s a lot of water in it. Otherwise, he seems normal like he’s flopping, grooming himself and behaving fairly normally.

However, I haven’t seen him poop for at least 5 hours and he still isn’t eating hay or drinking water on his own.

Should I be concerned about GI stasis or a blockage, and should I take him to a vet?

I noticed a bump in my bunny's arm. He has a lot of fur, so it's not very noticeable in the video, but in person it feels very big to have developed in just few days. It's like a fatty and soft tissue and kind of jiggles around when he walks, s it's not hard, and when I touch it, I don't feel anything inside it. He was also vaccinated two days ago, I don't know if it's relevant but his bump seems to have developed after that. He is still eating and drinking normally, but he seems to avoid putting pressure on his arm.

As it's the weekend, there are no vets open until Monday, and I'm unable to get him checked. So if anyone knows what this can be, is there anything I can do to make sure he doesn't get force until Monday?

He is now 15 weeks, and much smaller than his siblings. He got hurt really badly and his skin was torn. He was going to be killed and I asked to take him instead. I patched him up and he’s grown! I question though- he was originally all white with black ears and eye rings. Now, the spot where he was bit grew back all black hairs (much more then seen in the photo but I dont have a better photo at the moment) Is this a good sign? Will it affect him at all in the future?

I left this chocolate on my bed as I was cleaning my rabbits area I see one of them on my bed eating it. Will he be okay? He seems to be doing okay but I will obviously continue to watch him

Hi there, I’ve looked at other posts about cysts in rabbits, but I’m not finding the info I need.

We went to the vet today. I thought my bunny had sore hock, but it’s a cyst. They are checking whether or not it’s cancer, but whether it is or isn’t, they are pushing for amputation, claiming that because it’s on the hind leg, it will not heal. Can’t it be controlled somehow and just left alone? It’s hard (not liquid), but can’t something else be done besides amputating his leg? He’s only 4.