New English Lop

[heathergavitt]

Okay I am new to this forum..and in a way new to Bunnies. I will give a little background so you know that I have some sense..lol..
I have 4 horses, 6 dogs, 3 cats, 5 Gpigs, and 4 bunnies..Have always had animals, and have never really had any problems with my bunnies.
I have two "run of the mill easter bunnies" and I just bought two Pedigreed English Lops. They are sisters and just under a year old. They are about 8 pounds each if I had to guess. My question is that when I got them Wrinkles was acting a little mopey and had runny poop, not diarrhea but loose. And was not acting "right", not eating much and just lazy. Piglet seemed fine and was eating great. I gave her 1 cc of Imodium per the breeder we got them from and gave only crimped oats(as I have a crimper and whole oats for my horses. Gave alfalfa hay and peanut hay, but nothing else. The next day wrinkles was FINE..hopping around..eating drinking all normal again. Now Piglet is not feeling well. Loose poop, little mucus in it. I gave 1 cc of Imodium and gave her 6 cc of sugar water. What else can I do for her? Are worms a possibility and if so what is the best worm medication for rabbits..I have everything on hand, Strongid, Panacur and Ivomec. Wrinkles fur is nice and groomed..and Piglet seems to have not so unkempt fur now..not dirty but you can tell she is not grooming herself. What should my next course of action be for her. I put fresh hay, water and Gave them Quaker oats, hoping that would be more appetizing to her. I am working a 12 hour shift today, but she was in her box relaxing when I left. :anotherbun

 

[heathergavitt]

Piglet is the one inside the box, and wrinkles is on the crate..!

 

[heathergavitt]

Lord..I just read that Pine shavings are bad for them!!! I was told by the breeder that pine were okay and cedar were not!!! Could that be the problem! Now I wanna run home and clean their pen out!! I am worried now!

 

[candice136]

i looked on the internet and people say that pine shavings are fine i found this website here is a link:

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/rabbits/348474-pine-bedding-safe-rabbits.html

 

[JBun]

The oils in pine shavings can cause elevated liver enzymes. Some people believe that is bad, some don't. The safest way to go is to use kiln dried pine shavings or pine pellets, then you don't have to worry about it.

As for using immodium on a rabbit, that's not something I would do, though I know it's something some breeders do. It would be better to figure out what is causing the soft poops with your rabbits. Though parasites and bacteria can sometimes be the cause, the most common cause is a rabbits diet. Introducing veggies or alfalfa hay too quickly, can cause poop to get soft, as can a rabbits digestive system being sensitve to certain foods(veggies, alfalfa), and also too many carbs and sugars in a rabbits diet from treats or pellets. But with your one rabbit having mucous in her poo, that is really something that you should be taking her to the vet for. It may be mucoid enteritis, it could also be coccidiosis, or a bacterial problem. You'll need to have a fecal test done to figure out what is causing it. In the meantime it would be best to eliminate all sugars from her diet, stop pellets, and feed only a non grain grass hay(timothy, orchard, bermuda, coastal, meadow). With these being new rabbits, if you didn't get transition feed from the breeder, then it's most likely all these diet changes are causing the poop problems. With rabbits it's always good to slowly introduce new food in small amounts, then gradually increase if there are no poop changes. Or in the case of pellets, to gradually transition to a new kind of pellet by slowly decreasing the old pellet amount, and increasing the new pellets by the same amount, and doing this over 2-3 weeks time. This gives your rabbits digestive flora time to adapt to the new foods. The only thing that doesn't have to be slowly introduced is non grain grass hay. Like with horses, alfalfa hay can also cause problems with some rabbits. It would probably be better to be feeding your rabbits a grass hay, especially with them having these digestive problems. And also stop any treats and veggies until their poops are completely back to normal. Then you can slowly introduce new foods to them one at a time, but limiting any sugary foods(or stopping sugary foods if the soft poops come back), and you may also have to decrease the pellet amounts. If you have eliminated veggies and sugary foods, and have changed to grass hay, and they still get soft poop, decrease their pellet amounts til you get to a point where the soft poops stop. You may even have to change to a different rabbit pellet, as some pellets will cause problems for some rabbits, but make sure to transition slowly onto the new pellet.

Here are some rabbit vet listings. You can also look in the library section here on RO, and find lots of dietary and health info on rabbits.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

 

[tonyshuman]

It is hard to tell what's going on here. There are several intestinal parasites in rabbits, including worms and coccidia. Different medicines work for different worms. You will probably need to go to a vet to figure out which med will work.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Parasitic_diseases/Nem_gen/Nematodes.htm

It's great that you haven't had big medical problems with your rabbits before these two, but rabbits can and do get sick, and it is often very expensive to treat them. I would suggest you find a rabbit vet. I would avoid the peanut and alfalfa hays for your adult bunnies as they are too rich in protein and calcium. I also would avoid oats and other starchy/sugary items. These tend to promote growth of the "bad" bacteria in the rabbit's GI tract. The typical treatment for a bunny with diarrhea/runny poops is to check for parasites, and if that is not the cause, feed only grass hay, water, and probiotics until the poos have returned to normal. I would not give immodium.