Remedy for diarrhea

[ynnub]

I had a rabbit years ago as a child and she had aweful diarrhea problems. we took her to the vet, and were told to feed her plain yogurt to help combat the diarrhea. i guess the idea was that the good bacteria in the yogurt would help regulate the bacterias in her digestive system.

has anyone else done this or been perscribed this by a vet? My bun had an episode of diarrhea last week, gave him about a thirs of a teaspoon in a syringe over a 3 hour period, and he seemd to be fine the next day.

 

[hillrise]

Yogurt does help with diarrhea a lot of times, if it's not caused by a serious bug (like enteritis).

Something in the dairy products (the protein maybe?) is a stool hardener (if you eat too much cheese, you'll get constipated). On the other side of the coin is fiber, which is a large part of a rabbit's diet, and can cause the runs if there's too much.

A lot of times (for any species) one of the best things to do to fix diarrhea is to stop all food for a day or two, but be sure to provide plenty of clean water. Then slowly reintroduce food.

You may want to take a look at your food label and consider switching to a food with a slightly lower fiber content if you get the problem again.

 

[ra7751]

Oh boy. Yogurt DOES NOT help with diarrhea and can make it worse. The idea is the "beneficial" bacteria (which actually stabilizes the pH in the gut)in yogurt. Most yogurt contains dairy products (lactose) and sugars. Lactose and/or refined sugars are not welltolerated by rabbits. While yogurt can help in a human or even a dog or cat, the digestive system of a rabbit is totally different. Many things can contribute to diarrhea but the rootcause is nearly always a bacterial imbalance in the GI that results in an overgrowth of the bacteria Clostridium Difficile. This bacteria can grow almost uncontolled if the good bacteria is compromised. The best way to prevent diarrhea is to provide a stable and stress free environment and a correct diet with low proteins and high levels of fiber. Fiber, as it does in humans, control GI transit time. We now have products, such as Gastric Support, which is much better than yogurt as well as BioSponge (a scrubber that can filter toxins from Clostridia) that are much more suited to use ina rabbit.

Randy

 

[Sweetie]

I would like to also add that you must never stop a rabbits food for any length of time. Their gut needs to keep moving all the time. If you stop their food for a day or so then the rabbit will go into GI stasis and you will have more problems than you are having.

There are probiotics out there that can help to get the good bacteria in balance. The probiotic, Probios, is a good one to use with rabbits. The others that Randy has mentioned are good as well I have heard.

It is very important to keep your rabbit hydrated, definitely increase the fiber. It sounds like your rabbit is not getting enough fiber in his/her diet. It should be 70%-90% fiber diet. Lots of water as well, because a dehydrated rabbit will go downhill very quickly.

As Randy said, yogurt is not good for rabbits as it has too much sugar in it and will make things worse.

 

[tonyshuman]

Definitely try a non-dairy probiotic and hay next time. If the diarrhea doesn't clear up quickly, ie in a day, or if the bunny is young (under 6 mo), they need to be seen by a vet. Some causes of diarrhea are not simple GI bacterial imbalances and need medication. Bunnies can go downhill very quickly with diarrhea. I have seen way too many bunnies get very sick very fast on this forum with diarrhea.