12 week old bun won’t eat cecals

[Laura0183]

Hi there. First time on the forum, I have a 10 month lilac agouti mini lop buck called Poirot and recently got a 10 week mini lop frosty point doe to bond.
She was very stressed out when we got her home (she had been bought previously and returned as the owner lost interest) and had issues with a poopy bum. She eats loads of hay so I removed the pellets, cleaned her up and she seems better.

She is very thin though and while I have started small amounts of pellets she keeps leaving her cecals if I increase them at all. Anyone know of any weight gain ideas without over feeding pellets?

On the plus side the 2 buns are grooming each other after only 2 bunny dates

Any advice welcome.

Laura

[Monkeybun]

What kind of pellets are they? You may want to switch to a different one if they are causing her problems. At her age, she needs them.

Also, you will want to wait until she is spayed to bond. Females can get quite testy and territorial, makign for unhappy bonding sessions.

[Laura0183]

Thanks for the reply, she is on burgess excel junior and dwarf food (what she was weaned on) I was concerned about swapping from that in case it made it worse. Can you recommend any other food for little ones?

She won’t be able to be spayed for quite some time so they are in the same room but seperated and are getting on fine at the moment but if she shows any signs of aggression I will wait until afterwards.

[Tate]

As far as I know, Excel is a great food and one comparable in the US is Oxbow. Not sure about the availability on that elsewhere though. I had a similar situation with my lop and once I started decreasing the amount of protein I gave him, he was able to fully digest his pellets. He went from eating about a tablespoon of timothy based pellets to a little over an 1/8 cup per day. Both of my rabbits get Oxbow Organics Rabbit food now and they are doing awesome.

[Monkeybun]

The alfalfa pellet may be too rich for him. Have you taken him to a vet to see if theres another cause of the poopy butt?

[misdh]

My bun did the same thing at about the same age. It was a huge mess. I cut her back to a tablespoon of pellets in the morning and a tablespoon at night and that worked immediately. I also introduced veggies at the same time as I have read that twelve weeks is fine to introduce veggies. I started with small amounts of romaine and she has done fine. She gets romaine and parsley now. She is growing by leaps and bounds and cutting back the pellets doesn’t seem to have affected her growth.

[Laura0183]

Thanks all, I cut back her pellets again today as she has more cecals in her cage today. She is keeping herself clean though so I have no need to clean her up myself.

She had her first check up at the vets when I got her 2 weeks ago and they thought it was the stress of moving her, new place etc. I think she’s just better with small amouns if pellets and loads of hay, started introducing her to parsley and she is ok so maybe she will be a hay and veggies bun unlike my other one who refuses to eat hay at all!! Tried loads of types, had him fully checked out and nothing wrong…perfectly healthy just fussy!

Will post some pics soon, they are a lovely pair.

[jerseygirl]

unlike my other one who refuses to eat hay at all!! Tried loads of types, had him fully checked out and nothing wrong…perfectly healthy just fussy!

Me too. I have one non-hay eater. Frustrating!

Some young rabbits just over produce cecals for a while. You can certainly modify diet to help. I’ve also heard Burgess is a good, recommended brand but have also heard it can cause some messy poop for some rabbits. Some are sensitive to it for some reason. So if you are finding the hay/pellet balance is still not the rmemdy, try slowly switching her to the adult pellet or an alternative brand.

Love to see pics soon. Their colouring sounds really pretty.

[Author]

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