Baytril is a typical antibiotic to help bunnies with "colds".     That’s the first time I’ve heard of critical care being prescribed along with the antiobiotic when there aren’t any digestive problems accompanying the cold – but the vets reasoning makes sense and critical care is a wonderful source of fiber and nutrition, so regardless, I can’t imagine it would do any harm) 

And like you said, it is true that sometimes antibiotics cause soft stools.    And also depending on how soupy you make the critical care, that could be contributing.

I would say keep an eye on it, and if it continues, let the vet know so they can either swtich her to a different antibiotic or advise you on what to do.

Since your bunny is not bonded yet to the other bunnies, it is better to be safe than sorry as it can be highly contagious.  (remember to make sure you clean thoroughly and prevent in spread by not allowing them to share ANYTHING.  (eg. Wash your hands after touching your sick bunnies stuff)

I honestly don’t know if it is no longer contagious after a few days on antibiotics.  I know that is true in humans, but I do not  if this pertains to rabbits.

I would be interested in hearing what your vet has to say, And I will also research that question.

I’m really glad to hear she’s feeling better and that her poops are no longer soft. It could be the meds or veggies causing them. I’m not sure about being contagious after a few days on meds – but I would recommend erroring on the safe side and keeping them apart until you see the vet.

Chino is doing some very sloppy poos, i dont know if they are cecal as they tend to be well and truly squished (to the floor and her). i am trying to wean her onto pellets rather than a mixed food and that seems to have coincided with them starting. she’s starting to finish all her food now, but i have really had to persist and after 2 or 3 weeks she’s still only at about 2/3 pellets and 1/3 old food, but at least she will finish it (i give her pretty tiny portions twice a day). she has plenty of timothy hay and loves it, often going for that before her food bowl. i did start introducing tiny portions of veg but have stopped that now, offering fresh herbs only as her ‘extras’. She herself is certainly now cleaner though i still have to pick off some lumps and help her clean so i’m thinking the slops are less sloppy. But i still have to scrape squished poo from the floor of her hutch.

Lollo has taken to pellets brilliantly, loves them, again fed twice a day. i give him the middle amount of the range recommended which he wolfs down, with his old food there’d always be something left that he just didnt fancy. He also eats tons of hay and he gets eg carrot tops, spring greens, green pepper, broccoli, cauliflower leaves depending on what i have in the fridge (occasionally he has a small amount of carrot as a treat). He definately is not eating his cecals- yet when he was on his previous, less nutritious diet he was. I found 2 large cecals in his litter tray (yay, in the litter tray!) today.

Blue only eats hay if she is desperate and she really isnt a huge eater, again she has a mix of old food/pellets and only eats the pellets if she cant stomach any more hay (thats after only a few mouthfuls). her poos are great!

Update- def not cecals. Chino had some horrendously sloppy/ runny poos through the night, she was covered this morning and i had to bath her. fortunately she quite enjoyed the bath/ attention, but it took an hour to get her clean and i cant do that everyday, i just dont have the hours- thank goodness its saturday (i work sunday mornings too!) i really need some advice on the diet. i haven’t given her any pellets today but offered her some of her old ‘mix’ food which she has eaten a bit of, she has had a little grass (i took her to a friends garden!) as i thought that may be good for her and she has nibbled a couple of small dandelion leaves. she doesnt seem to have had any further ’bouts’ but i cant bear the thought of her going through that regularly. HHHEEELLLPPP!

If she has full runny poos, then that sounds like true diarrhea, and that should really be seen by a vet asap as this can make her dehydrated.  

Is Chino on any meds right now? 

Can you also tell me (remind me if you said before) what the ingredients of the new pellet are?  Can you include percentages fat, fiber, protien – hopefully the packaging will show that.

How long have you been feeding her greens/veggies.   Remind me – how old is Chino?

Though some rabbits do fine with most veggies and leafy greens, you may have a rabbit that is sensitive to one or more veg/greens.   So the best way to determine if there is a sensitivity is to take out all veggies/greens and offer one by one – giving it a few days before introducing another.

Start with leafy greens first, as many times it is the solid veggies, especially broccoli that can cause digestive upsets.

But first, I do recommend taking Chino to a rabbit savvy vet asap if her poos continue to be runny. 

Chino hasnt had any runs since the other day. She had it a couple of weeks ago but even more runny like water, i took her to the vet then but by the time she got there she was fine, just a bit mucky, and had started doing normal poos again. The vet checked her over and said she was otherwise healthy and just to make sure she was eating/drinking, which she was, and i had to give her some pro-biotics to help her gastro-intestinal ‘flora’. She weighed in just short of 1 kilo, and she’s on no meds right now.

Chino is apparently over 12 weeks old although she’s petite; either she’s younger or part mini! i started her with veg at 10 weeks, literally just giving minute amounts/tasters. i started with a tiny bit of carrot, then spring greens, then tried broccoli then added carrot tops. i guess i didnt leave long enough in between to see if one was the culprit, but also i started the weening off the old food at the same time. i have had the thought in the back of my mind that it could have been the brocolli but then i didnt give her it every day that she had the sloppy poos.

Right, i got the food in front of me… the new pellets i was introducing chino to contain (greatest first as on bag) – cereals, dried forages, derivatives of veg origin, minerals, oils and fats, Fructo-Oligosaccharides (profeed [reg trade mark] min 0.3%) + Entercoccus Faecium M74 (??!), no colourants/preservatives. It is specifically for juniors/dwarfs. the analysis is protein 16%, oils+fats 4.5%, fibre 16%, ash 7%, calcium 0.90% and phospherous 0.5% with vitamins A, D3, E and copper also.

I just gave her a few sprigs from the carrot tops earlier so i hope they ‘stay in’. i gave her a dandelion leaf yesterday and she had some grass, both of these seem okay so far. and also she’s back on the mix food to her delight.

hi Loopy-lop,

It may have been the brocolli or one of the other veggies… at her age, you’re doing the right things with single introduction of small amount of veggies. Maybe leave a little more time to see if there’s tummy upset and keep notes on when you see soft poopies?

You’re in the UK right? The protein amount is right on but that fibre content sounds a little low and that may not be helping with his loose poops either. Ideally fiber should be at least 18%, even with food for young bunnies.

Rabbit Rehome’s site has an anaylsis for the UK brands of bunny food:

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/rabbitfood.asp

I feel really dumb for asking..but what exactly are loose stools? and what do cecals look like?

new_obsession, its not a dumb question because if you havent seen either you wouldnt necessarily know! cecals are the long, bunched-grape type poos which apparently most people never see due to them being eaten directly from the exit site, so to speak! they are supposed to be eaten as they are nutritious, which is why i worry that Lollo doesnt eat his. As for the sloppy ones- with Chino it has varied from watery runs, just like us humans have (though in far tinier quantities!), and this was kind of leaking when she hopped about- which was when i took her straight to the vet; to somewhat thicker mush, which looked like mud and of similar consistency. It also smells a bit like human diarrhea (sorry!) which i guess is the smell of bile, so it was easy to identify.

i hope you never see either though, it was scary when she was leaking it, and i kept thinking how poorly we feel when our tummies are bad. and on a practical level it takes a lot of bathing/ cleaning to get rid of!

also, in addition to above- my 2 older babies sometimes have pellet type poos that are softer than usual but i believe this isn’t anything to worry about, or so i understand, it is just that they may have eaten a very small amount of something they shouldnt (ie found a raisin or two under the couch!) and it doesnt last too long.

Cereals?  I think of oat, grains etc – which can be bad for a bunny if given as a staple of their diet.  I know things may be called something different around the world, so I just want to clarify.   Also where is the hay in this pellet?  Is that dried forages? I’m assuming it’s not saying what type of hay if there is hay?   Also fat content seems to be rather high especially since the fibre is on the low side

Gravehearted gave you some good advice. I just want to add a link about what makes up a "good" pellet.

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/pellets.html 

I am so glad though that Chino is doing better.  Keep us updated

binky-bunny, i bought a new food a few days ago and am introducing Chino to it to start with, then maybe the others if she is okay on it. I think she needs the change the quickest. It is higher fibre – 19%, with 14% protein and 4% fat. i checked out some foods you guys have talked about BUT can’t find any U.K stockists. The food i have now got is called Science Selective- please google it and tell me what you think of the breakdown. And if anyone in the UK has found anything nutritionally equal to the American foods, PLEASE tell me where to get some! P.S still no signs of diarrhea though still some dark soft squished poo….

Smart idea about trying it on her first!   Science Selective is better.  However, since it is made of alfalfa, it is still higher in fat (ideal – less then 2%)   But since it is higher in fiber, that might help.  How old is Chino again?  Alfalfa is okay for young bunnies, but a timothy based is ideal especially for a bunny who gets soft stools often.

I don’t know exactly where you live in the UK but IF Science Selective doesn’t help, then here are some places in the U.K. that sell Oxbow Bunny Basics (there are two kinds, alfalfa based and timothy based, timothy based is "Bunny Basics T – for adult bunnies)   The T is about 23% fiber and 1.5% fat

http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp?page=international_united_kingdom

And some on that list take orders online or by phone like http://www.bunnybazaar.co.uk/

If after you’ve given the best pellet, and Chino still has this problem, you find that Chino is also sensitive to some greens.  Many solid veggies can cause problems, so you may have to restrict to leafy greens only.  

ALSO, the fact that Chino is improving already may be a sign that this is working out (it can take weeks for a system to get back to normal – which can make it frustrating when you are trying to solve the problem)

I can’t remember if you said or not, but is Chino a lop? 

I know this can be frustrating!!  Been there done that, and even now with the best of everything, Bailey can still suffer from poopybutt –  mostly because she is a crumb bumb, and searches the floor for any dropped cracker crumbs.  

Chino seems to be okay at the minute, not sloppy-poop-bum but she isn’t eating her caecals and is producing a lot of them. she does much prefer the Science Selective and eats every last bit. Yes, she’s a lop (see other post… a dwarf-lop to me or dutch-lop to you!) i know you said they can be a bit more sensitive in the digestive department so i hope she isn’t going to suffer with it too much.

i don’t know if you checked out the cost of Oxbow over here, it’s extremely expensive, i couldn’t believe it when i compared it to U.S prices (AND delivery is on top of that…!) i’m going to have to do a lot of research i think as i would struggle to keep all 3 bunnies on that and afford to feed myself!

 No, I haven’t fully checked.  When I compared prices on the one link, it seemed comparable, maybe my euro/dollar conversion was off.   I can understand though if they are shipping over, that it could cost quite a bit unless they stamp their name on a local version that is comparable.

The only one I could find in NZ was:

 Ponsonby Veterinary Centre

46-48 Pollen St.
Grey Lynn,
Auckland

 But maybe there are other vet places nearby that might carry it. 

Either way though, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that you are able to keep poopybutt at bay!

thanks binkybunny but travelling to NZ would def up the cost…. (what with me living in england!)

for 4kg of bunny basics/T its 10.69 uk pounds, not including shipping costs, which is just over $20, as opposed to $6.50 for a 5lb bag on the U.S oxbow site. the equivelent is roughly $20.00 for 8.8lbs – if my calculations are correct!

it’s a problem we seem to have in the u.k – the mentality is to charge huge amounts for ‘healthy’ pet food when in fact that exact food is actually just a standard product in the U.S. Most uk brands of rabbit food contain a lot of what you guys in the U.S would avoid like the plague. if i didnt have a full-time job i would SO start up a web-shop that stocks everything I want for my rabbits including decent sized indoor cages/pens, healthy food, a good range of hays and forages etc. Anyone in the UK want to partner up and set up this potentially fab site with me?!

Oh, how goofy of me.  Why did I think New Zealand.  Maybe I was looking at your current ranking and just blanked out. 

So if you do decide to get an online biz  over there, let me know, and I can put it in the links section of my site.