Imade an appointment for at the vet on Wednesday 28th December for Lunar and Maple, but I decided later that I’ll actually take Buttons in to get checked over. I’m interested in finding out about his anxiety, lack of eating hay, calcium in his wee and his gas/stinky poops. Maybe I can get him sorted out so that he is happier and healthier. Poor bunny.

I had a good chat with the vet. She said Buttons is in great health, he is a good weight and his coat is shiny and healthy. His teeth are perfect and he doesn’t have any oral concerns. He also let out a great big fart when she pressed his tummy in the fart spot. I didn’t ask what the fart spot was, I should have.

She said that I should give him some probiotics. I told her which one I have and that I try, but he doesn’t drink the water when it’s in there. She said that I need to syringe feed him it. To be honest, I was thinking that, but I wasn’t sure whether I could or not, due to it being water and not a syrup – the consistency is different to medication.

We talked about his food intake, and I explained that Buttons doesn’t eat much hay. He eats about 4 strands and that’s him done for the day. I also told her that he doesn’t pounce on his food like the other bunnies when I give it to him, and he waits until about 11pm before he eats. I told her that I’m scared he will miss out when all bunnies are together. She said that he will figure it out, but start off by giving him his food in a different place to the other bunnies. Which makes sense, but I think he will change his habits once the little bunnies are in there with him.

She commented that Buttons is a very large rabbit. He’s normal size to me. She asked me if I knew which breed he was and I said that the breeder said he was a mix. She smiled and said, “Well… he has Polish in him because of his shape. He has English spot him him due to his broken colouration, he has lop in him because he has one slightly floppy ear, and he definitely has Flemish Giant in him because of his size and chunkiness.”

She said that when breeders mix and match, they look for the best quality rabbit at that point in time, but they don’t make considerations about the differences in digestion of small vs large rabbits which can cause problems like what Buttons has. She said that she suspects that Buttons has a small rabbit gut in a big rabbit body and that’s causing the problems I’m seeing.

I asked her about anxiety, and she said that there isn’t anything for bunnies with anxiety and she didn’t recommend getting anything like the anxiety drops mentioned earlier, because it may do more damage than good. It’s a matter of making him comfortable and happy, rather than drugging him up. She also said to think about giving him some willow products, as willow has a chemical in it that stimulates joy in a bunny’s brain and he will get happier by chewing it.

Which is incorrect and willow can kill a rabbit due to the cyanide properties in the wood. Willow is used to make asprin, so no wonder she thought it had calming qualities.

I also spoke about his depression after losing Cotton. She said that he will get over it once he had a friend – “Would you consider getting him a friend?” she asked. I laughed and said to her that he has 3 friends waiting at home, but two are not fixed due to age (Lunar and Maple), and the other has been fixed about 2 weeks ago (Chester) and we are just waiting it out. She nodded when I said we are waiting for Chester to meet Buttons. I explained that all bunnies had met each other at a distance, but have not been in the same pen. She approved of that.

I really liked talking to her, she was knowledgeable and ticked all the boxes of what I like in a vet.