Poops--when should I worry?

[cardcrimson]

Again, very new to the bunny world.

10 week old mini lop arrived here Christmas Eve. He has been very active and is still eating pellets, hay, and nibbling on a timothy/alfalfa cube. Cleaned out the cage a couple of hours ago (tons of pills) but he's added no new ones. How often does a rabbit poop and when do I get worried?

He's chewed a little on the coroplast, but no major shredding. I had a couple of towels in with him; he loved to sleep on them and jump from one to the other. He starting pulling them up with his teeth and I was afraid he would shred them and ingest some fibers.

He may have been a little dehydrated. I had a water bottle thing in there, but he wouldn't walk across the coroplast to get it. So I added a bowl of water, which he enjoyed until he knocked it over. I've also moved the water bottle and he has been drinking out of it happily now.

After reading about blockages, I got concerned and thought I'd put in a quick post. There were so many pills the first day or so, and now none (at least for the last couple of hours, anyway).

Thanks for the help!

 

[whitelop]

I want to say that he's fine, but I can't be sure. Thats reassuring, I know.

First, I would take the towels out, since he's already picking at them. My baby can't have towels because thats the one thing that she picks at and I'm scared she'll eat it. So I would highly suggest getting fleece. Even if he does pick at the fleece its got shorter fibers and they tend to pass easier than a towel fiber would. (most of the time rabbits don't actually eat the fibers, they just pull on them. BUT some rabbits actually eat them.)

You built a NIC cage right? I would zip tie the bowl of water to the side of the cage. I have my babies water is a heavy ceramic soup cup that she can't tip over. But you could put his water in a coffee cup or something and zip tie the handle to the side of the cage, until you can get a heavy ceramic bowl or a water bowl that hooks to the side of the cage.

Make sure he's eat a ton of hay. My baby bun gets unlimited timothy hay with a handful of alfalfa twice a day. And a little over 1/4 cup of pellets a day, split into two feedings and she always has pellets left over. We're transitioning pellets right now, but she still gets the same amount. I'm not sure what kind of hay you're feeding, whether it be grass or alfalfa, but make sure he always has enough hay to eat and you give him fresh hay frequently. I just give my bun a few fresh handfuls a day and she digs around in her hay box to get what she wants. But she is always eating hay. If you're feeding too many pellets a lot of the time they will eat pellets over hay. Babies should technically get unlimited pellets, but I think unlimited is too much, so like 1/2 cup twice a day should be pretty unlimited to a mini lop sized bunny. But hay is the most important part of the diet and keeps things moving well. So hay hay hay! And make sure he's drinking enough water.

As for the towels in there, are they sliding around and the bun doesn't like the coroplast? I assume that at the pet store they were in a cage with pine/aspen bedding? So he's used to the cushy bedding. I would clip the towels down to the coroplast if you could. Or find a way to weight it down on the corners so its spread out all over the floor so he can walk around better and not feel confined to just the towels where ever they are.

 

[LakeCondo]

As long as he's eating, he'll poop eventually. Sometimes they go quite a few hours, then unload lots of poops. I think they like to do it when we're not watching, or at least that's the way Honey is.

 

[Imbrium]

I LOVE this water dish for my bunnies... it's never been knocked over with two rambunctious little girls and doesn't need to be refilled multiple times a day the way a normal bowl would (I do clean it out/refill it once a day, though) - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Van-Ness-1.5-Liter-Auto-Waterer-1-ct/10315207

as for the poops, if his appetite is normal, I wouldn't worry about a lack of poops for a few hours. they tend to be lethargic/do a lot of their sleeping during the middle of the day anyway, so won't be pooping as much... then they wake up and it's poops galore! 8-12+ hours without eating and/or pooping is the threshold for it being considered an emergency (though it's often possible to catch a lack of appetite sooner than that and get a jump on stasis treatment).

 

[Nancy McClelland]

spike would be out for three to four hours and when we put him back in his hutch, he'd go to his pan and pass between 30 to 40--they will hold off sometime. Just monitor.

 

[cardcrimson]

Thanks for your advice and patience. He went for about 5 hours without a poop, then Katie bar the door--a poop explosion. All seems okay, though he is chewing everything in sight, including a little coroplast, his water bowl, a new hay feeder. Doesn't seem to like the willow ball, the willow tunnel, or the wood chew toys as much as the plastic stuff. . . .

 

[patches2593]

if you were worried about blockages, you should buy little pieces of papaya from a petstore and give him/her one every day. i do because it is good for their digestive system and may help prevent a blockage. that is what i was told when my first rabbit had a blockage is to give him papaya