Rabbit poop not looking normal

penance · Oct 21, 2012

Hi everyone ... new here and I decided to seek info on my rabbit's behavior. BV is a male bun and I've had him approximately for 8 years

I just noticed this today while cleaning his pen ... his poop looks like this, immediately I realized something was wrong because his poop was always been hard and round.

I figured it could have something to do with his diet, he ran out of hay recently so I definitely know he needs some, I order in bulk and it hasn't arrived yet. Could it be that he's missing the hay from his daily diet? He's fed a main diet of romaine lettuce, spring mix, spinach and other leaves that I can find at the market (but not iceberg lettuce), cucumber, cilantro, apples, grapes, sometimes strawberries, I keep it mixed up for him

for chew toys, I give him cardboard boxes and paper towel rolls

He's been fed like this for years and this has never happened, and then especially what worried me was that he peed outside of his litter box, right after I had steam cleaned my carpet:grumpy: I heard and saw him do the act! he's never peed outside his litter box ... could it be old age affecting him as well?

JBun · Oct 21, 2012

Your bun could be developing GI stasis due to the sudden change in his diet. It's very serious and if he starts to not eat or poop very much, or stops altogether, get him to the vet right away. I would stop giving any sugars or grains, so no fruit,grains, or anything starchy like carrots. Go out to a petstore TODAY, and get a bag of hay, same as what he's used to, to tide you over til your other hay arrives. It might be good to even decrease his pellets or stop them, and just give him lots of hay, as much as he wants, until his poops start looking normal again. I say this about the pellets because most pellets have added grain and sugars which can make the GI problems worse once they've started. You can keep giving him the veggies that you've been giving, like the green leafy ones, in fact they help them because of the water content. Make sure he has plenty of water, give a water bowl also if he doesn't have one already. Most likely this was caused because of a change in diet and the lack of the fiber from the hay, but it is possible there could be something else wrong. If his poop doesn't go back to normal after getting the hay back in his diet, or if you are worried about his health, then take him into the vet.

You may have better success at geting ideas from people if this is posted in the infirmary. PM a moderator and ask them to change it or repost in the infirmary. There is also a vet on here sometimes that will chime in, but usually he only looks at the topics posted in the infirmary.

katherine at sacred stories · Oct 21, 2012

:yeahthat:

Nancy McClelland · Oct 21, 2012

You can always get a small bundle of Timothy from Walmart to hold you over.

penance · Oct 28, 2012

an update: BV has hay and his poop is looking normal again ... he was still pooping out of his litter box and on top of his card board box that he plays on but I'll be monitoring him until he gets 100% better ... thanks