GI slowdown / treatment?

[ZoeS]

I have two adult, bonded, spayed/neutered buns. Abe is an English angora and I noticed yesterday that he was having small poops (I am 99% sure the small poops are his.)

This coincided with his shedding, so my first thought is I waited too long to start plucking – his fur grows at an uneven pace and he doesn’t tolerate plucking when the next coat hasn’t started to grow out much, so plucking is a multi-day process. I am about 60% done now and have combed him all over to pull out the loosest hair even if I can’t pluck him all over yet, and I do find he is a bit skinny underneath all that fur, but he’s always been slim while Penny has always been a bit overweight (makes it hard to “fix” either of them!) I do normally give him about 25% alfalfa pellets because of all the fur he has to grow, but the last few months I had been giving only timothy, as I know Penny eats everything and she’s too tubby as it is (she’s not obese, but she is “solid” – ribs are detectable but I have to push in a bit to feel them).

I have not noticed any difference in activity or eating. I always subconsciously monitor whether they come excitedly for their pellets/greens and they have been. Looking back, they may have been eating less hay but since I free feed hay and sometimes they make a mess of it rather than eating it, it’s really hard to tell.

I can feel no dental burrs but I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I plied Abe with random treats last night to see if he was eating, and he did drop some bits of a piece of dried papaya (and then ate them), but everything else he seems to be eating normally (hay, dandelion etc – chew chew chew until it’s all gone down the hatch).

I went out today and got a load of their favourite greens as well as some alfalfa hay and pellets which they ate as enthusiastically as usual. Well – Penny avoided after a few minutes, but I think I got too “in her face” to see if she was eating (although I never suspected the small poops were hers) and she doesn’t like me much to begin with, so I think that’s all it is.

I made a vet appointment for next Wednesday. Ostensibly just a checkup.

Sorry for the novel. Does this seem a reasonable course of action? If the poops get worse (or not better) I would readily make an “emergency” appointment but since they are eating and pooping (and obviously now I am making a concerted effort to ply them with food, and relieve Abe of fur as fast as I can, which I suspect is the culprit vs a dental issue) I am hoping that I can correct it at home.

[Sarita]

You won’t be able to feel dental spurs and the vet will use a special instrument to look at the back teeth although it’s not always easy for the vet to actually see the very back teeth to check for spurs.

Other than that, it sounds like you are doing the best that can be done.

[ZoeS]

Thanks! I read last night somewhere you could maybe feel a dental spur by touching the cheek but it just felt like bunny cheek to me. I guess I am thinking/hoping that even if it *is* dental, the fact that he’s still eating and acting normal (running up/down the stairs and getting excited when I walk in), there will be no harm in waiting until Wednesday.

I am more hoping that he just had a bit of a belly full of fur and now, post-grooming and with lots of greens, all will go back to normal shortly and it’ll just be a regular checkup.

[Sarita]

Sometimes the spurs grow into the tongue too. I agree that if it is dental and you can keep him eating he should be fine until Wednesday.

My rabbit Bobby gets dentals every 3 months – he has no bottom left lower molars and honestly I cannot tell (usually) that he needs his teeth done other than I just do it every 3 months and my vet always says he has some spurs so I know just to go ahead and make the appt.

[ZoeS]

Thanks, I appreciate the input! If there’s a dental issue, I will probably start doing checkups every 6 months, although I know that dental spurs can form pretty quickly. They are behind on their vetting as I got a divorce and moved last year, so things were a bit hectic. Glad to be getting back into a schedule.

[ZoeS]

Okay, after getting home from work around 6, they had eaten a lot of their greens from noon, but not all (I did give them a BIG pile and they ate a lot of it), and seem to have eaten some hay/pellets but not sure on that one. There were some poops in the litter box. I gave them both some small treats to test that they would still take food, which they took happily, although I couldn’t get anymore greens or hay or pellets into either of them (honestly, I think they are full at the moment).

A few minutes ago (sometime between 6:30 and 6:45) someone pooped out a “strand” of tiny poops – you know, with the hair linking them together – and a strand of regular-sized poops. Not sure which came first, both looked equally fresh. They were not huge strands, but more than I’d like to see connected with hair, so I am hoping that that was the “blockage” (not full blockage of course, but “slow down” or “hogging all the GI tract space”). Am keeping the box clean so I can monitor.

Abe does seem to be “chattering” (sort of like a grumble) but he always has, so I am not sure if he’s making that sound more now or if I’m looking for it. It seems to be his “what do I want to eat out of this pile of greens?” noise, or his “put me down” noise. Then again with the pasteurella, he makes lots of weird sounds.

Anyhoo, I am feeling slightly better. Still stressed, but the funny thing is if I hadn’t noticed the tiny poops, I wouldn’t think anything was up based on their behaviour or eating habits.

[ZoeS]

I think things are starting to improve now. I opted for a more hands off (yet still observant) approach because I think I was really annoying them. Until yesterday poops were still on the small side, but moist. This morning they are normal size.

I did recall that I got a new kind of hay recently, so supposing that might have been the cause of a drop in consumption, I got the regular kind. But also the wrong kind. They were eating them, but not with as much as gusto as I was hoping for. I did get the proper right kind today so we will see. They have four kinds of hay now, lots of veg, pellets (limited quantity) and I’ve weaned myself off giving them treats (maybe once a day they get a bite of fruit because they somehow know when I’m eating a banana or an apple!).

I also trimmed all of Abe’s fur rather than pluck. Easier, quicker, less stressful for me and him. Gave the poor guy a bit of a bald spot in my panic last week.

Still have the appointment for next week in case there are some dental or whatever issues. His breathing seems poppier as well – not unusual with the pasteurella, but some abx might help a bit. But I think I’ve averted total GI statis.

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