Thanks. She was doing more normal round poops overnight. Still not drinking water so have been syringe feeding her some. She’s been eating. Not the full amount but still quite a lot.

I’ll give the vet a call about the metacam if there is more diahrrea today or if she stops pooping. She was having loose stools already which was why the vet prescribed antibiotics (flagyl l suspension) and probiotic (protexin). I usually give at the same time but should I space them out some?

She did have round poops stuck together before. Now it’s either small hard round balls which are similar to normal ones (there were lots of these last nitht) or loose unformed stools

Thanks for your reply. I am not sure if it is the metacam or the antibiotics causing loose stools now. We were ok with giving injections when we had to last year. She is eating some and doing more normal poops overnight which was a good sign. Found one loose stool this morning. Now she is not drinking at all which causes me to worry.

Having to go to work now. Asked my brother to keep an eye on her eating and stools. She’s a lot more jumpy and scared since coming back from the vets yesterday. How long should I wait if she might need sub q fluids as she is not drinking any water?

She just takes longer to pass the loose stools. Not sure if in pain. At the moment not acting like herself so feel the medication is affecting her. She was acting much better when she wasn’t on meds

Yes they said it was some kind of motile bacteria in her gut

Thanks for all your help on the metacam questions.
I have been doing some reading online and the symptoms seem to point to coccidinsis.
She is slightly anemic, losing weight, is diarhhea mixed with healthy poop.
I noticed this last year and took her to the vet who prescribed same antibiotics. And everything online shows they can relapse.
She’s 4 and a half years old so not a young rabbit. What are her chances of recovery if it is this bacteria?
It said needing treatment after 4-5days of ingestion. Don’t even know how she even ingested it as I only have her and so can’t get it from another rabbit. I don’t know if it was caught that early as not all her poops were soft/diahrrea like and whenever I took her to the vet last year all the fecal tests came back negative.
She’s active, eating, drinking ok – what can I do??
Please let me know if you have any thoughts/insights- everything is appreciated.
Thank you so much. I don’t know what to do ??

Ok that sounds positive. She does have healthy poop but she also sometimes does massive clumps of poop stuck together.

She did have loose diarrhea on the day I took her to the vet.

The vet said it was bacteria on the discharge sheet but didn’t specify so sounds like it is not coccidiosis.

Sniffles needs to go in again for a medical progress check on Sunday so will ask for more details then.

Thanks for all your help. She is a little sick bunny now as she had an ear infection that looked to be clearing and was also diagnosed with arthritis (although very early stages) on Monday on top of whatever is happening in her gut that they have given me the antibioticsame and probiotics for.

Worried for my little girl

Took her back to the vets for a check up yesterday.

Her poops had been normal for a while so thought antibiotics were working.

The vet said that Sniffles has arthritis in her neck which he thought led to the gut issues from her not eating properly . Gave her pain relief meloxicam which she needs to go on for the rest of her life.

Although poops had been normal, yesterday she did another clump of poop. She had finished the course of antibiotics but the probiotics will run for another couple of days. Hoping that with the pain relief her gut will start settling back to normal as maybe she will start eating/digesting properly if she is getting pain relief for the arthritis.

Keeping my fingers crossed for my little bunny baby.

Thanks all for being there

Posted By jerseygirl on 1/22/2018 12:55 AM
{{{Sniffles}}}
Did you talk to the vet about your concerns about metacam? If she is to go on something long term, would the vet have some other options to try?

This may sound like a strange request, but are you able to post some photos of the poop you are seeing?

Im wondering if some of the mushy/loose poop is squashed cecatrophs or unformed cecatrophes. If she has some stiffness in her neck (and had possible ear infection) she may not have been able to reach her cecatroph droppings like normal. So she may be leaving excess around and stepping on them. And if not ingesting as many as she needs, this could have upset her gut flora too.

What is her diet like? Is she having any new treats or other foods since this all began?
You mentioned her not drinking at one point. Does she have a bottle or bowl? Is she drinking better again now?
Has the vet given her teeth a good look during one of her check-ups lately?

Hi Jerseygirl,

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn’t mention the metacam as I felt like it was a problem she had before the metacam (she started doing loose poops last year for which I took her in and they just gave the same course of antibiotics/probiotics as this time following a fecal analysis. At this time she had an ear infection too). We went away for a couple of weeks in dec (so annoying but had to go!) and left her with some house sitters (one of them who owns a bunny themself). They were ok giving the oral meds but think struggled with the ear meds.

I came home and she had lost a bit of weight 3.5kgs->3.1kgs

Keeping an eye on her poops there were still some soft ones mixed with normal ones and she kept scratching her ears. So I took her in on Sat and they gave ear meds and metacam (annoyingly she didn’t have recent poop to do the fecal the day and booked her in for a full check up meant to be today Monday 22nd – bloods, xrays, ears, dental). Started giving the ear meds on Sat with metacam. She started doing clumpy poops after this visit and then Monday 15th was so loose. I completely panicked (but had to go to work as 1st day back) and told my brother to take her in as emergency to our vet. Before he took her in she had done more normal poops and he took in a sample of the loose poop. They admitted her that day and did the full analysis that was meant to happen today. Found that her ear infection was clearing since we started again with treatment. Found a healing wound in the back of her mouth from an unknown cause but they didn’t seem too worried about that. Through xrays diagnosed her with arthritis in her neck. And they didnt get any loose poop during day to test but tested sample my brother took and found an imbalance of bacteria in her guts. They just said it was motile bacteria and she had too many “swimming”/”moving” bacteria in the gut. The vets told me to continue with ear meds, metacam and the now prescribed antibiotics and probobiotics- poor bunny! On tues/weds she had clumpy poop. The ear meds and metacam ended weds. By fri/sat she had normal poops but then found uneaten cecotropes. She ate a couple when I put in front of her but not all. I did notice some clumpy poops then that were held together by cecotropes. By this time I was thinking she was mostly normal- eating crazy amounts, drinking water, very active and pooping quite a lot and mostLy normal (apart from the uneaten cecotropes).

Took her into the vet yesterday (sunday) and when mentioned the cecotropes said that she was probably not eating it due to getting more carbs from veges or she was in pain (as she finished pain meds on weds). He said she was probably more active and back to normal thurs/Fri due to lasting effects of the metacam.

After coming back home yesterday she was not much herself and found a clump of poop that I hadn’t seen for days. Today just got round balls that were squishy/mushy. Finished antibiotics course this am (every 12 hours 1.6ml flagyl s suspension) and the probiotics should last a couple more days (1ml protexin every 12 hours). Prescribed her yesterday with 0.1ml meloxicam ongoing. Hoping this might ease her pain to eat her cecotropes and maybe digest food better (the bloods showed she was slightly anemic) and this will sort out her poops problem. Do you think I should call the vet about the metacam?

She is eating, drinking a little, still hopping around – comes up to greet us and follows us. Sounds like a lot of problems so I am so worried. Holding onto as little hope as I can as I don’t know what I’ll do if I lost her. Going crazy with worry.

Thank you so much. Please let me know if there is anything more I can do…or if I should call vet and tell them about the soft poops again? And my earlier worries with metacam?

Photos attached

Just eating normal foods- Silverbeet, kale, Bok choy, parsley, mint

Just give her tiniest amount of apple as a treat.

Eating sooo much hay.

Drinking from bottle (not as much as before) but vet was not too worried saying she gets some water through foods and she wasn’t dehydrated. I’ve been syringe feeding her a bit of water following meds. She likes the meds so it is easy as she laps it up.

The photos aren’t loading – I will need to try resize on comp and attach

Clumpy poop yesterday

More normal-ish poops today:

Soft/mushy poops today:

My baby – BunnySniffles

My thoughts out there to all bunny lovers <3

She’s doing ok. Eating, pooping, drinking some, a little active. It’s hard to tell because it’s like she might switch so quickly. If you didn’t know she was sick probably wouldn’t be able to tell she is sick. The vet thinks she’s been hiding the arthritis pain. The only thing I noticed differently about her was soft/mushy poop so had no idea she was really sick thanks for asking

I think the poop must be stuck with cecetropes. She had lots of uneaten ones in her cage today.

I’m thinking of reducing her veges and pellets. Do you think this might be the best course? Worried with all the other changes in the body. I’ll give the vet a call as well tomorrow. Maybe it’s the arthritis in her neck. Yet she’s on pain meds now so thought that might help…

Posted By bam on 1/23/2018 4:08 AM
You can reduce pellets and/or greens, just make sure she’s eating her hay and doesn’t lose a lot of weight. Metacam is effective against arthritic pain, but arthritic pain is about active inflammation, and it can take a couple of weeks on an anti-inflammatory med to really get the inflammation down. Then the med helps keep it down. Sometimes you can lower the dose after a couple of weeks, to find the smallest dose that’s still effective.

Sometimes it’s one particular green that isn’t agreeing with the bun.

She is adorable!

Thanks bam! I have reduced veges/pellets some and will see if this makes a difference. She eats lots of hay from what I see which makes me wonder if it’s more the pain from arthritis esp if takes a while for meloxicam to work that is affecting her to not eat cecetropes. Also she is sometimes breathing heavy which could be coz of the pain or residual stress from disruption and trips to the vet last week.

Hopefully the meloxicam works…

Aww thanks… I’ve had her since she was a baby and she’s such a part of the family now. This is breaking my heart

What are the signs of meloxicam intolerance/overdose in rabbits?

What are the signs of meloxicam intolerance/overdose in rabbits?

She’s been prescribed:

15 x Meloxicam Equine 30mg/ml 250ml (per ml)
Give 0.1ml by mouth ONCE per day

Right after giving medicine she is acting more lethargic and breathing heavy although towards end of course (next day) more active. Before I gave her the medicine today (4th night) she was hopping, active and enthusiastically eating her greens. Right after giving the meloxicam she lied down and started breathing heavy. Does this dose sound alright for bunz?

Haven’t seen any cecotropes today. Before dose I think I saw her eat a two. Her poops tonight have been not as many, still hard but all irregular shaped.

Called the vet today and told him about uneaten cecetropes/heavy breathing and thinks she might need another pain killer on top of this one.