Trying to figure out what's wrong with my Bunny (Max)

[SarahJ]

I'm drawing blanks as to what's up so thought I'll post and see if anyone has any ideas!

Max is a 4 year old Netherland Dwarf Dutch cross. I originally was meant to be fostering him for the welfare centre I volunteered at as he had stopped eating. Took him to the vets and he had a dental op (3 teeth removed and spurs filed down) since his op he has done better then got worse. The main problem is he has been passing unformed cecotrophs (very mushy poos, look like toothpaste that has been squeezed from a tube and they stink) and clear jelly like substance.

We have been back and forth to the vet. He's been wormed, had a course of Baytril antibiotic and a poop test (they only tested for enteritis and it was negative). On our most recent vet appt. he had a dental x-ray which showed no problems. He refuses to eat hay and will only nibble at a bit of fresh stuff now and then, he will eat all his pellets up. He's been on Metacam for the past week to see if his refusal to eat anything other than pellets is pain related - no luck. His cecotrophs are forming a bit better and there is more formed than unformed now-although still more mushy ones than I'd like to see. His last jelly poos were Sunday (he had come home with me so may attribute that to stress of the car ride).

I understand that to sort out the mushy poos I need to feed him on increased hay and decreased pellets - but how does that work with a bunny who doesn't eat hay!!!!!!!! I tried cutting his pellets down and feeding them throughout the day but he emptied his bowl and then didn't eat anything until the next lot. He is fed Oxbow Bunny Basics T with some Protexin Pro Fibre. I have also tried Fibreplex (been through about 3 tubes and made no difference!)

So to rule out what's not wrong with him:
No head tilt
No respitory problems (although he does occasionaly 'bark' - got that checked out at the vets and his system was fine)
No dental problems (that can be seen with visual examination and x-ray)

Next train of thought is maybe skeletal/joint problems - he hops around on his tip toes (back legs) which not sure is normal or not. There also seems to be some stiffness when he flops to the side.

Anyone have any ideas?!?!?

 

[Maureen Las]

Ihad a bun who stopped eating hay entirely after he initally had multiple molars pulled.

he had been a hay eater and he really liked hay and even tried to eat it but after multiple dentals it was just not possible for him.

My bun lived on Oxbow critical care and Oxbow Bunny Basics and was not able to eat veggies; he had a bowl of very wet gruel every day and was healthy except for his teeth.

Fibreplex has fiber and probiotics in it but I am uncertain what the fiber is from

Critical care actually has hay in it and probiotics and is tasty for many bunnies in apple banana flavor.
Your bun could have other issues (coccidia?) or he could just not have enough good fiber in his diet as you stated.

Iwould try critical care (apple banana) which could be ordered online

teeth issues do reoccur quickly so it is possible that he still has mouth issues...

or you may want to try different kinds of hay as unless the hay is high quality and tasty most rabbits do not want it.
your vet may also want to try a drug with antiinflammatory properties like metronidazole (Flagyl)


My bun had excessive and large fecals from his diet but he didproduce very normal cecal pellets.

your bun may benefit from lab tests which could indicate whether there is a parasite present (eosinophils are often high with parasites)
he may also have arthritis. many folks have had good results with the use of liquid flavored glucosamine /chondroitin supplements

 

[tonyshuman]

I think a probiotic, critical care, and metronidazole.

He's not on Zantac, is he? That's commonly used in the UK but has the opposite effect of what we want here.

Is the Fibreplex a probiotic? You can also try feeding baby food squash or pumpkin if you can find it--they are very fibrous.

It sounds like this poor guy has lots of issues. I would want an x-ray done to see if he has any foot, leg, or spinal deformities. It's possible he's in a lot of pain from some kind of skeletal issue which led to him not eating which was compounded by the tooth problems and he's having a hard time getting his system back in order. Not only will you have to treat the GI issues that have developed but also the initial cause (ie if he had some other skeletal issue).

He's still pretty young so the movement thing could be bone spurs but I would doubt old-age related movement pain.

Another thing that can be done is a culture of the feces, or like angieluv said some histology to look for the type of cells present there.

 

[SarahJ]

Thank you so much for the advice Just ordered him some Critical Care and a Sample Pack of different hays to see if he will like one!

We will be back off to the vet for a full x-ray and fecal test (really annoyed they only tested for enteritis before) next week

 

[Maureen Las]

Some parasites will not always show up in a fecal. For ex , coccidia (a protozan parasite ) sometimes will not show up in one fecal test because of the life cycle of the eggs. There may be abnormalities in a blood panel, however..

We will hope the critical care helps him out some.

 

[fannymanson]

One of my bunnies broke off his top teeth so I chopped up a bunch of timothy hay really fine and mixed it with smashed pellets and apple juice and baked them. They are soft enough that he could eat dispite his tooth problem. Maybe this could help Max get some hay in his system?