Poop colour change and poopy bum?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 10sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by Lee.

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- 07/15/2015 at 9:22 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  So this morning when I went and checked on Si there was a lot of darker poop spread around his area, and his litter box had some dark poop. There was also some smudges on the ground and his litter tray where he has obviously gotten it stuck on his foot and bum. I hated to do it because we are still so new to each other but I picked him up so I could check his bum and he has poop smeared onto his genital areas, it seems mostly formed just softer/sticker than his normal poops.
  
  I noticed the last two days that he went from eating LOTS of hay and barely any pellets, to eating pretty much all pellets and no hay (even refreshed his hay, tried hand feeding it, putting it out of the litter box). He was still eating and drinking so didnt stress.
  
  Here is a pic of the litter tray you can see the colour difference
  
  Is this something to worry about? Or just because of the excess protein from the pellets with no hay? Any tricks on how to get him to eat his hay again?
  
  Also I need to clean his bum , which sucks because I feel like he is going to go back to not interacting with me now. Any advice on best way to clean him up?
- 07/15/2015 at 9:27 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  Also meant to add he is booked in to see the vet tomorrow for his calici vaccination…..Im not sure how ‘rabbit saavy’ the vets here are but sadly we only have one at the moment (and tbh Im not impressed with their dog savvyness), so not sure how much help they will be with his poop changes.
- 07/15/2015 at 9:40 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  Ok another update lol sorry!
  
  2 days ago when he swtiched from eating hay to pellets, I changed his litter tray, I have 2 so I filled up the fresh one with litter and put that in and took the dirty one out to clean it. The dirty one was green the new one was blue. I have just switched the trays back again and he seems to be eating hay again now? That or he has decided he doesnt want to eat out of the hay wheel anymore and so ate the fresh stuff I put on top of the litter in the tray. Time will tell I guess.
  
  He also seems to be cleaning himself a little.
- 07/15/2015 at 9:50 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17240 posts
  I would blame it on the diet change. Dark poops can be caused by increased protein intake. Are they young bunny/junior pellets?
- 07/15/2015 at 9:54 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  Yep LBJ they are the Oxbow young rabbit pellets. He has eaten a little hay today which is already more than the 2 days before. Obviously he has decided either he only like the green litter box or he only likes to eat his hay if it is loose….
- 07/15/2015 at 10:31 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  When you say he may only like to eat his hay if its loose, do you mean after its scattered around vs is a pile or in the litterbox vs in a feeder? Some bunnies prefer to dig around in the hay so if its in a feeder, he may prefer it in the litterbox.
- 07/15/2015 at 10:47 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  JR – I mean loose in a pile in his litter box (and probably scattered around) – as opposed to in his hay wheel or in a cardboard cylinder – as soon as I pulled it out of the hay wheel he seemed to want to eat it again.
- 07/15/2015 at 10:57 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Sounds like he prefers to forage. Just put a nice pile of hay in his litterbox for him and let him dig and munch away!
- 07/15/2015 at 11:01 PM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  He is totally snubbing me now lol, how dare I pick him up! And then what does he do hops into his litter tray and pulls hay out of his hay roller, such temperamental little beasties hehe.
- 07/16/2015 at 9:57 AM
  HereComesTheBun
  Participant
  107 posts
  I noticed the same thing about the color change when I switched Hugo from the original pellets he was on to Oxbow’s Young Rabbit. It wasn’t as extreme, since he was eating a fair amount of hay, but I was a bit taken aback, too. So it’s definitely the protein in the alfalfa pellets. This morning, though, his droppings were much lighter, because he’d been eating hay all night.
  
  Is Si eating more loose hay now? If he’s on unlimited pellets, I’m sure you could also decrease the pellet intake just a little bit to see if that makes a difference.
- 07/18/2015 at 3:06 AM
  Lee
  Participant
  213 posts
  HCTB – Yes he has started easting his hay again, I dont think to the extent he was previously, but he wasn’t eating many pellets then, I think he is kinda eating a bit of both now rather than more of one than the other
  
  Hugo is so cute BTW!
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