Seems little Bailey is not well, mucus in poop

[NZminilops]

It's Sunday and Bailey has got mucus (mucous?) coming from his bottom. I thought he smelt a bit strange so craddled him on his back to take a look and a blob of it was sitting half out of his bottom. As I was cleaning it off some gas bubbled gurgled through from his bottom too. It was about the size of two poops worth and had little bits of poop in it.

He's recently been weaned and is approx 10 weeks old. He just came on a very long car ride to get here a few days ago, and is eating the same food. His breeder said he was feeling a bit thin before she sent him off so advised me to feed oats. I've read that oats can make this both worse and better.

He seems happy in himself, active, alert, friendly and not grinding teeth or appearing in any pain. He has been eating and drinking as a normal young rabbit would.

His stomach feels a little bloated and it's gurgling a lot. Between the breeder and coming here, he was feed an entire piece of bread and some grass by someone else, could that have done something to him, having not had bread before and rarely had grass?

I can't get him to the vet till tomorrow as it's Sunday here, anything I can do for him in the mean time to help with this?

 

[pla725]

The stress of the trip and the wrong food definitely is causing bloat and gas. I believe there is information on the site on how to do with that.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

 

[Ivory]

Young rabbits can have problems with their digestive systems. All sorts of weird changes are still going on, and sometimes they have problems digesting certain things.

Don't feed any bread. Rabbits aren't always great at digesting starchy foods. THey aren't equipped to do it. Keep the bunny on good pellets and timothy hay. A little gastritis isn't uncommon in young rabbits. Just keep an eye on him and keep him on a dry diet for a few days. And no bread !

 

[pla725]

I just re-read you post. What concerns me is that breeder said he was feeling a bit thin. I would contact her and see what she meant by that statement.

Sounds to me like the little guy had a horrific 24 hours. This service sounds great but they really need to be educated on how to care for rabbits.

 

[NZminilops]

Ok, just to clear something up quickly, it wasn't myself the breeder nor the PetBus that fed Bailey the breed, it was Sarah, who was grabbing Bailey for me for the PetBus to pick up. The breeder, Tamsin, works night shift and was unable to do it, and I know Sarah from a forum and she has one of Baileys litter mates. I did NOT condone the feeding of bread and was very angry with her about this!

Tamsin said re: Baileys weight:
I was a bit worried this morning because he didn't come running to the front of the cage and he seems a bit thinner then usual. Otherwise fine, but I get worried before they travel :-( I think that he has been holding back from feeding with the other piglets so feeding on his own when you get him will be good for him. He has at least a cup of pellets a day, that is what I feed my adult dwarf lops, so it probably would pay to free feed him as much as he would like until he is well conditioned (fatter) up. He was ivomec'd this morning. Hmmm, what else - he is not used to much veggies so go easy with them - he has had a wee bit of grass and carrot and celery but that is all


She is a registered breeder and been breeding successfully for a very long time so I took her word on that. Bailey was sharing food and housing with 6 other baby rabbits and the adult foster mother.
He's eating the same pellets he had down there and plenty of hay. Only other thing I have given him was a pinch of oats. We do not get timothy hay or pellets in New Zealand so he has been eating lucerne (alfalfa) pellets and "general" tan coloured hay.

So is the best thing to do is keep the fibre intake high? I was also reading protein is very important in this situation, is that true as well?

Thanks for the help

 

[pamnock]

At that age, sounds like it could be mucoid enteropathy. Antibiotics are sometimes used in treatment to curb overgrowth of harmful bacteria that develop. A trip to the vet is in order!

Pam

 

[NZminilops]

Yup, I've got to go to the vet anyway to get some test results from my bun Jack and pay off some of the huge mounting vet bill, so I'll take Bailey in too.

So far overnight and this morning I can't see he's done any of the 'jelly' poops anywhere, he's done lots of semi-normal ones. Normal is size and shape just slightly soft. His stomach feels good and he's full of energy and very cheerful and friendly. There is no jelly around his bottom.

Hopefully it's something where the treatment isn't going to be too harsh on his little bunny system.

 

[naturestee]

Hopefully it was just a temporary problem from the foods he should not have had. It sounds like he's getting better.

 

[pamnock]

It does sound like he's doing better. Be certain to have him checked for parasites and squirt a little vitamin E into his mouth for a couple days.

Pam