Started an account to ask this... Soft poo??

[MiniRexBun]

Max is a:
Male
7 month old
Mini Rex

He had GI stasis about a month ago and we had him eating some not-so-good pellets which had been causing him gas on and off for a little while. We have stopped those and he had been fine for a week. Today he was eating hay and drinking fine then all of a sudden- he starts acting all gassy again. I had been giving him simethicone drops and belly rubs, because I thought it was just gas, but now he is producing all sized soft poops that have been sticking to him. they smell too.... Should I start critical care? It has been about 5 hours since I have seen him eat or drink anything. He is also grinding his teeth like he hurts. We are new bunny parents. We have had him since February. Please, My boyfriend is between jobs and we can't afford a vet right now. I'm at a loss...

 

[JBun]

Does he get any pellets or have you stopped feeding them completely? What kind of hay are you feeding, and what kind of veggies and treats? The teeth grinding is a really bad sign. It means he's in quite a bit of pain. Can you tell if his belly is bloated at all? If you have any metacam for him, it would probably be a good idea to give him some of that as well. You can hold off on the critical care for the moment since it's only been a few hours since he last ate.

 

[MiniRexBun]

We had been giving him some pellets that had seeds and grains and legumes in it. We picked out the dangerous parts and gave him a little less then a fourth of a cup two nights ago after not having given him any for about 3 days. We give him timothy hay; enough to eat, play with, and waste. We give baby carrots as treats. No more then 3 small ones per day (and usually less if any.) We let him graze outside too as the grass is 'natural'... when we take him out in his harness. He didn't feel bloated a few hours ago when I was giving him belly rubs. I don't know what metacam is but I have some metaclorpomide from his stasis. he started making little gassy noises a minute ago. He is also grooming the soft stool out of his fur. Does this help?

 

[JBun]

That's a good sign that he is willing to groom. If he was in a lot of pain, he wouldn't bother. The simethicone may be helping. If you've only given one dose, then you can give another two doses. Dosage info is of the 20mg/ml simethicone, 1-2cc every hour for 3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed. Metacam is a pain reliever, and is usually something the vet gives you when you have a rabbit with GI stasis, so I thought you might have had some. Stop the carrots and the pellets, as both have sugars in them that are going to make the gut imbalance worse, and until you get the soft poops resolved, don't let him have fresh grass for now. Just feed lots of timothy hay if he will eat it, and offer him a water dish if he doesn't have one. If he's not drinking now, you may need to syringe him some water. If it gets to be more than 12 hours after the last time he ate, you may need to start feeding him the critical care. Make sure his body temp is warm before feeding him and giving him water. If he's cold then you need to warm him up with warm packs or warm towels. If you have pet probiotics like Bene bac, it would probablly help to give him some of that too. The poop is mushy and really smelly because he has an overgrowth of bad bacteria. With eliminating the carrots and pellets for now, and just eating grass hay, it should help get his digestive system back in balance. It could be after not having pellets for 3 days, then suddenly feeding them to him, it could have caused the problem that he is having now. Sometimes you have to gradually reintroduce a food back into the diet again, to give the digestive system time to adjust to the food changes. Especially with a rabbit that has had GI problems. You need to start with a small amount for a few days, and only start increasing the amount if there aren't any changes in poop, or indications that it is upsetting your rabbits stomach. I have a rabbit with GI problems, and I started to reintroduce pellets, and only started him out with 3 little pieces, and worked up from there. But he's very sensitive so I had to be really careful to start out slowly. But even then, after a month of working him up to 1/8 cup a day, he started showing discomfort after eating the pellets, so I had to stop them. He just can't tolerate pellets anymore or he'll get stasis, so he gets grass hay, a little alfalfa hay, and specific leafy greens each day. No treats ever, and no pellets. So, it may be that you can't feed your rabbit pellets anymore. You may be able to try putting him back on them again, but you will want to take it really slow, and only after you get him feeling better again, and his poop is normal.

It is a possibility that the soft poop is being caused by a parasite called coccidiosis. In which case, you will need to get him into the vet to get treated with an antiparasitic. You will want to keep an eye out for a downturn in his behavior, and mucous or a jelly like substance in the stool, as it can be an indication of this. If his poops don't start to improve by tomorrow, then you should probably get him into the vet. Also if he starts to have watery diarrhea, that has to be seen by a vet immediately.

I'm including this link for stasis, though that's not what he seems to be having now, but you might find the info usful.

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

 

[MiniRexBun]

Thank you so much for taking me seriously. I did lots of research on having 'normal' non-fussy bunnies, and not as much on their illnesses... I know I should have, but, I guess I felt it would be morbid I suppose. Thank you so much for your input and advice!

 

[JBun]

We all take bunny poop problems very seriously, on this forum. It's often the first indication that a rabbit owner will have, that something is wrong with their rabbit. I check my rabbits poop every day to make sure that it is looking normal, especially since I have two rabbits prone to digestive issues. I would suggest that with your rabbit having reoccuring digestive trouble, that it might be good to ask your vet for some metacam, to have on hand for your rabbit. A rabbit won't eat on it's own if it is in pain. Metacam and simethicone seem to help a lot with digestive problems, and helping a rabbit to feel well enough to start eating again.

It's good to know what health issues to look out for with our rabbits, as it can be hard to see when they are sick because they hide illness so well. The most common problem with rabbits, seems to be digestive problems. So it's good to learn as much as you can about it. Medirabbit is a good website to find info on rabbit illnesses, but some of the pictures can be a little hard to look at, as they are a bit graphic. Bio miami is good as well. And there is a library section on this forum, that has a lot of info on rabbit illnesses and care, and lots of helpful links to other good info.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/rabbithealth.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/index_en.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm

I hope your little guy is feeling better soon.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:

 

[MiniRexBun]

Thanks guys. Max is all better. No treats for a while. Thanks for your input!

 

[minmelethuireb]

You might already have this imformation, but I didn't see it mentioned:
In my opinion, the best rabbit pellets are Oxbow. It's generally what exotic animal vets recommend. For rabbits under one year, you can use the "Young Rabbit" formula, and "Adult Rabbit" for over one year. Another brand that has similar ingredients is Kaytee Timothy complete.

I think they sell both brands at most Petsmarts.

 

[tonyshuman]

:yeahthat:

It is best for a bunny over a year to have pellets with timothy hay as the main ingredient. Kaytee Timothy Complete is also ok, I think, and is a bit cheaper. I buy Oxbow Bunny Basics T (Adult) in 50lb bags at around $1/lb, which is a great price for a high quality pellet. There are other good pellets out there, some even better than Oxbow, but I'm not up to date on that info. There might be good info in the Nutrition section.