hello everyone! Mister Babadook is having some problems and I was hoping for some ideas on what it could possibly be. I adopted him early January 2018 from a shelter, he was thin and covered in dead fleas and flea dirt. He was on Revolution for one month and at that time he was 4lb 7oz. After I brought him home he was steadily gaining weight and so I stopped weighing him, he was 4lb 14oz the last time I weighed him. In March I was petting him and noticed he seemed very thin again so I weighed him and was down a 2lb 14oz.. I didn’t notice any signs of him not feeling well, but in hindsight he had strange shaped poop which I had assumed was from him molting or recovering from his neuter.. I honestly feel terribly guilty for not noticing sooner that he had lost so much weight. I feel so grateful he’s still with me..

I rushed him to the vet and the vet assumed it was worms because had fleas in the past and that it had gotten very bad to to the point where he had an infection from it. She wasn’t sure he would survive especially after losing so much weight.. The vet prescribed Baytril and Panacur, only for Mister Babadook nothing was prescribed for BB8. After I bought him home he didn’t want to eat and didn’t want his medicine. For three days I force fed him critical care, his medicine, and water. After that he willingly started eating again and took his medicine. He seemed to bounce back and was gaining weight very quickly thanks to the help of critical care, alfalfa pellets, alfalfa hay, oats, and peanuts butter. I weighed him daily for about two months and he was 4lb 15oz. At this time I was giving BB8 more treats because he would sometimes see me give some to Mister Babadook and I would feel guilty if I didn’t give him some too, anyway BB8 had gained some weight and was now over weight, going from 3lb 14oz to 4lb 2oz. I didn’t want BB8 to be unhealthy so I cut back on giving him treats, just treats everything else stayed the same. Their diet now was 1/8 cup of oxbow adult pellets, unlimited hay, 2 1/2 cups of veggies, and a treat every other day. For the first time since I’ve gotten Mister Babadook his poop seemed normal.

I thought they were healthy again.. In August I noticed Mister Babadook was having some strange looking poops, looking like the ones he was when he had worms. I weighed them both and they both lost some weight(nothing drastic like before thankfully). We went back to the vet and she assumed before we treated Mister Babadook he gave worms to BB8 and because we didn’t give BB8 Panacur he gave worms to Mister Babadook. So Panacur and Advantage was given to both of them. This seemed to work, and Mister Babadook’s poops went back to normal. They both went back to a good weight and were on Advantage for two months.

In late October I noticed Mister Babadook’s poop was tiny. I assumed this was because of something I was feeding him. So I switched the veggies I was giving him and stopped giving him treats. But he was still having small poops. At this same time he started to sneeze. I dimly assumed this was because of the hay I had bought them, it was very dusty. I bought more hay online and bought them hay from the pet store while I waited for that to arrive. I bought the least dusty hay I could find at the pet store but it was still kind of dusty. Anyway a few days later the hay arrived and Mister Babadook absolutely loved it. He started to eat more hay than he ever did before, I thought he ate a lot of hay before but with this new hay he crazy for it. Because of this I assumed his small poops might be from the hay I had been feeding him but even after being on his new hay for a few days his poop remained tiny.. He did stop sneezing though thankfully. A day before the vet appointment he had a lot of cecotropes but the day after he went back to tiny poops.

We went back to the vet. Vet said it’s probably not worms because this is the third time this year and nothing has changed for him to get worms(no new rabbits/pets in the house). She thinks Panacur is like a bandaid and is helping Mister Babadook feel better but isn’t solving the actual problem. The vet wanted to do a stool sample but Mister Babadook refused to poop and she was worried a fecal scrape would stress him out too much. She also recommend a blood test which I said no to.. It just scared me. She gave Panacur for both rabbits and said if he has strange poops again to come back for a blood test and if the blood test doesn’t show anything we could try X-rays. We come back home and before I even gave him his first dosage of Panacur he has large normal poops again.. Nothing had changed from his normal routine other than going to the vets. Now it’s been a week after they stopped their treatments and Mister Babadook has some strange poops again, oddly shaped but large with a few tiny poops mixed in. I made an appointment with the vet for a blood test later this week. I was hoping anyone had any ideas on what this could be? I’m lost and terribly worried for him although right now he’s acting completely healthy and happy. 

Some extra details, he was two bald spots on him right though although I believe that’s from him molting, he’s molting right now, the vets have never tested their poops for worms, BB8 has consistent large round poop but his poop is much darker than Mister Babadook’s, because of the strangely shaped poop I thought it might be the start of GI Stasis so I brushed him everyday and gave him infant gas drops, right now they both get brushed once a day, the vet checked his teeth in his last appointment, they’re both on Oxbow Garden Select pellets but earlier in the year they were on Oxbow Junior pellets and Oxbow Adult Essentials pellets, when Mister Babadook had ‘worms’ the first two times his poop was large but oddly egg shaped but the third time his poop was just very tiny, the hay they are currently on is small pet select’s second cut timothy, and I sometimes take them outside but the last time they were outside was in August when they were still on Adavantage.

So sorry this is so long but I’m very nervous about the blood test and the results of what is wrong with Mister Babadook. If anyone has ideas of what this could be I would be very grateful. Any other tests I should ask the vet for? Thank you! Also I might have gotten some of the time line wrong, I’m going by memory and the vet bills.. Thanks again