My buck has diarrha..help

[horsenut50]

My Netherland Dwarf buck has watery stool. He gets timothy hay and pellets everyday, nothing has changed in his diet forever but he has normal stool and diarrhea. I can't keep his cage grate clean. How do I get him to have normal stool? He doesn't have a poopy butt either. Doesn't act sick, good weight, alert and eager to see me when I come to his cage, eats well and drinks enough water. Have no idea why he has this and how to stop it. It's really bad. Help?

 

[naturestee]

I would recommend taking him to a vet.If his stool is watery and very bad, he probably has a serious condition, possibly an infection. Till you can get him there, feed him lots of timothy/grass hay, reduce his pellets, and give him a little rolled oats.

How old is he?

 

[horsenut50]

Thanks. He's two years old and is healthy otherwise. I don't feed him veggies as he doesn't like them. So he only gets his pellets and timothy hay. The pellets that I feed him are Purina, so they are good quality. I don't have access to a rabbit savvy vet in my area. All that I have talked to really don't have a lot of knowledge about rabbits. They say that they are an exotic animal and for me to find an exotic animal vet. I haven't had any luck in finding one in my area. I will take away his pellets and just give him hay. Maybe that'll help. I have never wormed him, would that give him loose stool? What kind of dosage of wormer and what kind? He is a house bunny. I also have two other Dwarfs in seperate cages that are fine. Like I said, he seems healthy other than the loose stool.

 

[Carolyn]

The most important thing you can do for your little one is keep him hydrated. They lose a lot of fluid when they have runny stools and dehydration can quickly take a rabbit's life. Pedialyte is a huge benefit in that it restores the electrolytes lost. It can be syringe fed, but must do slowly so that you don't get it into his lungs.

I'd encourage you to make sure he eats plenty of timothy hay. Limit his pellets to a small amount and give him unlimited hay so that he'll eat it.

Would definitely stop all treats.


-Carolyn

 

[naturestee]

I don't know if you have seen these sites before, but maybe they can help you find a vet. If not, maybe you know an experienced breeder? Some breeders know a lot about treating their rabbits and are happy to help others.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/PB_vets.html

 

[horsenut50]

Thank you so very much for your help! I really appreciate it.

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Again, Horsenut,

What did you use for a wormer and how much did you give?

You'll find a lot of posts about runny stools/diarrhea here. You can doa search on the topic if you type it in at the top of the page.

We have rabbit fanciers from all walks of life here from pet owners -to rescues - to breeders - to an ARBA judge that are happy to sharetheir knowledge.

By the way, Welcome Aboard!

-Carolyn

 

[ariel]

Hello hoursenut,
As it's already been said I would just give the hay and keep the fluidsflowing. No treats and just a handfull of pellets. I can understand howscary it is to see your bun going through this ( I went through asimilar thing just under a year ago).

I was lucky enough to have a very helpful vet at the time, smallamounts of fluid frequently, is your bun still drinking ok on his own?

If so keep an eye on how much he is drinking, if he stops drinking onhis own you will have to syringe feed him the water so he stayshydrated.

Grab the phone book and call a vet and ask them do they know of anyvets who care for rabbits in your area and get advice from them also.

I wish you luck and please let us know how we get on.

Welcome to the forum, you've got a lot of experienced people here who can offer advice.

 

[horsenut50]

Carolyn wrote:

What did you use for a wormer and how much did you give?

Hi Carolyn. I posted that I have never dewormed my rabbit. Do you thinkthat this could be the cause?I also would like to know how todose and what kind of dewormer do you use on a bunny? I have horses anduse a paste Ivermectin as well as other classes of chemicals forparasites but have never wormed a bunny before. He is two pounds.Thanks everyone for the advice. This really stinks! He'sdrinking well and eating well. I just went to pick him up and he poopeda solid piece on me. But there is still a large puddle of yuck on thebottom of his cage. Not just the soft stuff, it's definately diarrhia.Why would he have both loose and solid stool?

Thanks for the welcome Arial.

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Horsenut,

I've used Ivermectin 1.87% for my rabbits as a dewormer. There are somecontroversial views on using it, and you'll find many interestingconversations about it in our archives.

I give a pea-sized dollop and then 10 days later, treat again with same amount for any eggs that have been laid.

Don't know why he'd all of the sudden get the runs; we don't know his history. All you can do is take it from here.

Make Sure he continues to stay hydrated...that is The Most Important thing when they have runny stools.

As noted, a small amount of pellets, and unlimited Timothy hay. Youcould throw some oats in there - good old fashioned Quaker Oats orrolled oats should dry him up in a day or so. If you don't have oats,don't worry. The timothy hay should take care of it just fine.

-Carolyn

 

[naturestee]

Wait- both loose and solid? Sorry, Imust have missed that before. Bit of a rotten night for ushere, ya know?

It sounds like the problem is his cecal poops (aka cecotrophs or nightpoops), not his regular poops. He's 2 years old and eatingPurina? Try finding a pellet with lower protein.Some brands make alfalfa pellets with only 15% protein. Iprefer timothy pellets. I use Oxbow Bunny Basics/T and it has14% protein. I think the Kaytee brand timothy pellets have13%. Another option is to cut back on his pellets alot. This is a common problem in adult rabbits.Purina and many other brands have protein levels that are good foryoung rabbits and breeding rabbits, but pets often don't need that muchprotein.

Thankfully, it doesn't sound like actual diarrhea. You'llneed to be careful about the protein content of what you feed him, buthe should start improving with a change in diet.

 

[naturestee]

Not everyone knows about cecals because usuallythe rabbit eats them straight from the souce, if you know what Imean. Here's a couple articles. The first one haspictures of healthy cecals.

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/diet/cecals.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

According to the second article, runny cecals can also be caused by starch rich or fiber poor diets.

 

[ariel]

Horsenut, despite wether you think it's diarrhea or not, watery stools isn't what your bunny should be having.

Like I said stick to the hay and a few pellets and some oats and keep the fluids flowing.

Have you had a chance to get some numbers of a vet to ask if they know of any vets who treat rabbits??

I am not sure about where you live but over here in Australia rabbitvets are also known as "Pocket Pet" vets. This was discussed a littlewhile ago here ( I know you weren't here then but if you use the searchbox in the right hand corner you may find it).

I will try and find the thread and bump it for you.

In my opinion, don't muck around with watery poopies.

I am not at all trying to scare you, but a chat with a vet with youdescribing what the poopes are like may help to give you some ideas onwhat to do.

Goodluck and I am off to try and find that thread for you.

 

[horsenut50]

Thanks for the articles, information andsuggestions. At least they give me some insite with what may be goingon with him. This isn't my first rabbit, I have hadrabbitsmost all my life. But this is the first time that I have ran acrossthis problem.Ariel, I have found a vet in the House RabbitSociety listing that is far from me but I will call Monday as they areclosed on Sunday and talk to a rabbit vet. He is eating his hay anddrinking quite well so I am hoping he is okay to wait til Monday butI'm pretty sure he's going to be alright. He's in great spirits as Ihave let him loose on the floor and he's doing his jump for joy moves.I will also take a fecal to a local vet and have it floated to see ifhe has any parasites. Will change over his feed also to a lowerprotein/higher fiber. The purina food he is on is the Maintenancevariety for house pets. I had him on the show formula but thought thatthat was too high in protein. Guess I have to go lower.

 

[ariel]

Glad to hear you can talk with a vet, sometimes just bouncing ideas helps

The fact he is eating and drinking is a great sign. (as you'd already know)
I got the feeling you knew a fair bit about bunnies actually, please post an update when you have one.
Good idea to take along a poopie and that's fantastic he is doing his "jump for joys"

Hope to hear from you soon.


Ariel.

 

[horsenut50]

Thanks everyone for all suggestions and support.Max is back to normal with no more diarrhea. He's got solid poop and isgoing just like clockwork. I really appreciate everyones support. Thisis a great board.

 

[sfritzp]

Yea! I just read all this, and I'm glad the buck is better!
You would be wise to go with the lower protein food as advised.
These people do know their rabbits, and you came to the right place!