My rabbit really likes to eat. So much -- in fact -- that his diet of alfalfa pellets almost killed him. He would pack away the pellets each day, and not drink enough water. Eventually, his digestive tract clogged up, and he stopped eating and going to the litter box, entirely. It was pretty frightening. I ended up taking him to the veterinarian, and they took him in for three days. He was put on interstitial drip (something ONLY a vet should do), and given the following regimen. For the remaining 5 days, it was up to me to administer the regimen. Amazingly, it worked. He's been fine ever since. Here's the regimen that I unwaveringly followed: ---------------------------------------------------------- Emergency motility regimen for rabbits: ---------------------------------------------------------- Force feed 4 times every 24 hours: Administer water a half hour before each feeding. Do this for a full 7 days. Food mixture: - Half or one-third of a can of Ensure + (strawberry) - Half a cup of strawberry Astro brand yogurt (i.e. 6 tablespoons). It's important that it be a yogurt with natural ingredients and no sucrose. - 3 tablespoons of crushed alfalfa pellets. The easiest way to do this is to simply throw all of the ingredients into the blender, blend until smooth, and seal into a tupperware container. Place the mix into the fridge. Using a 30ml syringe (without the needle -- of course), give your bunny: 30 ml of water, a half-hour before each feeding. 20 ml of food mixture. When feeding your bunny, wrap him or her in a towel (to reduce struggling), place the end of the syringe into the bunny's mouth, and squeeze a little bit of mixture in at a time. Be patient, since it isn't fun to be force-fed. The schedule that I used with my rabbit was as follows: 7:45 AM Water 8:15 AM Food 1:30 PM Water 2:00 PM Food 7:30 PM Water 8:00 PM Food 1:30 AM Water 2:00 AM Food This went for a full week. Amazingly, our bunny went from hating the mixture to actually liking it. In addition, for three of the feedings each day, I'd give him the motility medicine that the veterinarian gave me. I'd typically give him the medicine, just before the food. The meds are: Cisapride 0.28 cc three times every 24 hours. Metoclopramide 1.4 cc three times every 24 hours. Note: I was using a 1cc syringe to squeeze the medicine into his mouth. So, for the metoclopramide, I had to fill the syringe, administer it, and then fill it again to the 0.4cc mark. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- After 5 days, things started to improve. He began eating again, and -- of course -- going to the litter box again. He's been fine ever since. Remember, it's important for your rabbit to have a consistent diet of 80% timothy hay. Bunnies should eat very few alfalfa pellets, and be allowed to have a restricted quantity of fruits and vegetables. If they eat too much fruit and light green vegetables, it can cause issues (e.g. too much iceberg lettuce can cause life-threatening diarrhea). Milk will definitely cause a deadly form of serious diarrhea over time, so be sure to never give this to your bunny. The yogurt in the above mixture is allowed -- but only for this short regimen. It's things like this that really make me wonder why pet stores insist on getting bunnies hooked on the wrong foods. It does the rabbit and the owner a great disservice. Note that soy is difficult for rabbits to digest. Sadly, it now appears in some brands of rabbit feed. ---------------- Note: I'm not even sure if Cisapride is a very good thing to give to rabbits (or humans -- for that matter). There seems to be some controversy about it on the internet. However, for a short 1-week regimen, it seems to be okay. Ultimately, in an emergency situation like the one that this regimen is designed for, your bunny should be taken to a competent veterinarian that specializes in rabbit medicine.