Start where rabbit health actually shows: the gut
A rabbit's digestive system is designed to move almost constantly, grazing on hay through the day and producing droppings steadily. That makes appetite and droppings your most important daily checks — more telling than how bright he looks, because rabbits sit quietly and hide discomfort until they are quite unwell. Each morning, confirm your rabbit has eaten hay overnight, comes forward for breakfast, and is still chewing through the day rather than sitting by a full rack. Look at the droppings in his litter corner: healthy ones are plentiful, round, dry, and crumbly with visible hay fibres. Very small droppings, strings of droppings joined by hair, or almost none at all are early warnings worth acting on.
Eyes, nose, ears, and breathing
Once the gut check is done, look at his head. Both eyes should be open, bright, and dry, with no white discharge collecting at the inner corner or wet fur running down the cheek — a weepy eye in a rabbit can be linked to tooth roots as well as irritation, so one that persists is not just cosmetic. His nose should be dry apart from normal slight moisture, and his breathing quiet; a rabbit breathing fast at rest, wheezing, or sneezing repeatedly with discharge needs attention. Lift each ear gently and look for crusty buildup deep in the canal, redness, or a head tilt, and notice whether he resents one ear being touched more than the other.
Body, rear end, and hocks
Run your hands over his ribs, spine, and jawline, feeling for new lumps, scabs, or a jaw that feels bumpy along the bone. Check his rear end every day in warm weather and regularly the rest of the year: droppings or urine soaking the fur under the tail leave the skin sore and, in summer, can attract flies within hours — a rabbit who cannot keep himself clean often cannot reach because of weight, stiffness, or dental pain, so repeated soiling is a clue, not just a mess. Look at the undersides of his back feet: the fur on the hocks should be thick, and bare, red skin there points to pressure from hard or damp flooring. Finally watch him hop — stiffness, reluctance to move, or favouring one leg all register best while he is moving freely.
Eating behaviour, not just eating
A rabbit can want food and still struggle with it. Watch how he handles a piece of hay or a herb stem: repeatedly dropping food, chewing slowly on one side, taking a long time over a small amount, or developing a wet chin all suggest his mouth hurts even though he still rushes to the bowl. Compare his interest across foods, too — a rabbit who eagerly eats soft greens but leaves hay alone may be telling you chewing the coarse strands is the painful part, which matters because hay does most of the work of wearing his teeth down.
The same-day rule for rabbits
Rabbits do not get a wait-and-see day when eating stops. A rabbit who has refused food, produced almost no droppings, sits hunched with eyes half closed, grinds his teeth audibly, or has a swollen, tight belly needs a veterinarian the same day, because a stalled gut becomes dangerous quickly. Fly eggs or maggots in soiled rear fur are an emergency on sight. Slower changes — gradual weight loss, a persistently weepy eye, recurring dirty bottom, or reduced interest in hay — still belong in a vet appointment rather than another month of watching.
A check the whole household performs the same way
Because the key signs are quantities — how much hay, how many droppings, whether the rear end was clean — the check works best written down rather than remembered differently by each person. Put the morning gut check on the shared rota so it happens even on busy days. In KinsLe, Care Teams lets everyone caring for your rabbit tick off the daily eating-and-droppings check as a timestamped duty, so the person feeding him in the evening can see the morning's result instead of guessing.