New Bunny - Poop Issues

[Scarly]

so I just adopted a new bunny, Peter (neutered), he is a 2 year old Holland Lop. His poop basically looks like dog poop it’s not ball shaped and soft and squishy. It’s not cecotropes either those look even softer.

His diet thus far (not from me, his previous owner):
Alfalfa hay (tho there was none in his cage when I picked him up or in the photos she sent me 2 days ago)
Unlimited Generic Rabbit Mix Pellets: with corn, and a bunch of other weird looking stuff

Occasional veggies, mostly arugula

So obviously not good. He’s super over weight and has never been out of his cage unless he was picked up to cuddle, but that hasn’t happened in about a year as he scratched too much.

I’m wondering if I can just keep him going on Timothy hay To increase his fibre content or should feed pellets and veggies as well?

I have Sherwood SarX recovery on hand as well, wondering if I should give him some of that?

I think gut flora is just really bad. He’s happily eating Timothy hay now and drinking plenty of water from a bowl. He previously only had a bottle but the ball was stuck and no water was coming out when I checked it out at home, who knows how long that’s been going on

Thanks in advance!

 

[JBun]

Is his fecal poop completely unformed and mushy with no normal fecal balls being produced? If so, how long have you had him and did he start out with normal fecal poop balls and is the mushy fecal poop a new occurrence, or has he had mushy fecal poop the whole time?

 

[Scarly]

Is his fecal poop completely unformed and mushy with no normal fecal balls being produced? If so, how long have you had him and did he start out with normal fecal poop balls and is the mushy fecal poop a new occurrence, or has he had mushy fecal poop the whole time?

I picked him up from his previous owner 2 hours ago and that’s what was in his litter box. I cleaned it out and he’s had one new poop, looks like maybe 5 droppings/pellets (based on size) but all mushed into one

 

[JBun]

Are you sure it's not mushy cecotropes as apposed to the fecal poop being mushy? It's an important distinction because mushy cecotropes(cecals will be mushy but the fecal poop will be the normal round balls) can usually be corrected through dietary changes, whereas mushy fecal poop is usually considered an emergency? Can you ask the previous owner about the poop and if this was going on before you brought the bun home?

Might not be relevant, but what coloring is your rabbit? Does he happen to be mostly white with some spots of color?

Has he been on a long car ride before this, to get to you?

Maybe if you can, post a picture of the poop.

 

[Scarly]

Are you sure it's not mushy cecotropes as apposed to the fecal poop being mushy? It's an important distinction because mushy cecotropes(cecals will be mushy but the fecal poop will be the normal round balls) can usually be corrected through dietary changes, whereas mushy fecal poop is usually considered an emergency? Can you ask the previous owner about the poop and if this was going on before you brought the bun home?

Might not be relevant, but what coloring is your rabbit? Does he happen to be mostly white with some spots of color?

Has he been on a long car ride before this, to get to you?

Maybe if you can, post a picture of the poop.

He was in a 30 min car ride to get to my house a pic of his poop below and him in his cage, he’s ventured out a bit to look around but always goes back to the cage.

Previous owner has no idea she said she hasn’t seen balls of poop that were hard since he was little and she thought I was constipated and that the soft poop was a good thing.

This poop actually looks better than the previous which was larger. But only a single ball of poop in the last 4 hours.

 

[Blue eyes]

Close the cage and don't let him out for the next 48 hours. It is the quickest way for him to get adjusted. It also solidifies in his mind what, precisely, is "his" territory -- extremely helpful with litter training and for venturing out to free roam in the future.

Also, ditch the hay wheel. It is too difficult for him to get enough out. He should be eating more hay per day than that hay wheel can hold. Just place the hay directly in the litter box (on top of the pelleted litter). Then you can refresh the hay a couple times per day (add more hay in box).
Alternatively, get a hay feeder with very large openings.

The more hay he eats, the better. That should help tremendously with his poos. If you are already seeing some improvement, let's keep fingers crossed that the hay will do the trick.

 

[Scarly]

Close the cage and don't let him out for the next 48 hours. It is the quickest way for him to get adjusted. It also solidifies in his mind what, precisely, is "his" territory -- extremely helpful with litter training and for venturing out to free roam in the future.

Also, ditch the hay wheel. It is too difficult for him to get enough out. He should be eating more hay per day than that hay wheel can hold. Just place the hay directly in the litter box (on top of the pelleted litter). Then you can refresh the hay a couple times per day (add more hay in box).
Alternatively, get a hay feeder with very large openings.

The more hay he eats, the better. That should help tremendously with his poos. If you are already seeing some improvement, let's keep fingers crossed that the hay will do the trick.

Yeah, we realized he didn't really know how to use the hay wheel after about 15 mins and just gave him a big pile of it. I also added one of the drip water bottles as I don't think he really understood the bowl of water either, though now he uses it.

He seems super excited about the hay which is great, I was a little worried since he's used to Alfalfa hay.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[zuppa]

He was in a 30 min car ride to get to my house a pic of his poop below and him in his cage, he’s ventured out a bit to look around but always goes back to the cage.

Previous owner has no idea she said she hasn’t seen balls of poop that were hard since he was little and she thought I was constipated and that the soft poop was a good thing.

This poop actually looks better than the previous which was larger. But only a single ball of poop in the last 4 hours.

Hi, just saw this photo on your Instagram and knew i saw this on RO some time ago. I didn't know he was bloating since I didn't know it is even possible by the time, but I had completely same situation last December, also with adopted rabbit and I also thought when I saw him first Oh he's so fat! He looked different on photo they sent me but jeez he hardly fit into the carrier, was exactly same carrier as in the second photo. He also had bloat and we managed to fix it without going to vets but that was really challenging and took one week before his poos started to look a bit better. Now he's completely healthy and happy rabbit, I just can't believe your story was so similar to mine and both rabbits look very similar too just mine is silver and guess what? I call him Peter as well )

That's fantastic how different is he now, so much effort and money as well, I just feel so good for him, watched his photo, well done to you!

Here's my thread about him, I didn't take a pic of when he was so fat but he was exactly like yours!
I remember you said he was only fed pellets and didn't know what hay is, mine was about the same, he only ate pellets they were fancy mix of flakes and grain, and his treats were also all grain and dairy. He had baby corn for vegs and fresh fruit mix full 100 gram pot every day, that's what they gave me for him, two packs of baby corn, one pot of fruits, strawberry, grapes, mango, melon in it.

That was horrible time I honestly thought he won't survive and I was unable to pay vets so did tons of research and he's a very good rabbit now I have to take some pics of him, he's healthy and happy and very sweet rabbit, very tidy as well.

So thanks for your story and glad I found it again when I know now what this bloating is.

New rabbit fat and tiny poos

 

[zuppa]

This could be like a warning to all feeding their rabbits alfalfa and unlimited pellets, also grain mixes and too much treats,

Hi all adopted a new bunny yesterday, he’s not used to eating hay, when he did have hay it was alfalfa and he got unlimited pellets. I’ve switched him to Timothy hay and earning off pellets, just gave him a table spoon.
Poop looks concerning do I need a vet visit or ok to just keep feeding hay. It looks a lot better than yesterday. Yesterday his actual poop was soft today it’s hard and tiny. Cecotropes look a mess too and smell super intense. Photo below. The one bigger poop is from my other bunny as comparison.
Thanks in advance!