Small poops but normal behavior

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 7sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 3 months ago by Bam.

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- 01/20/2023 at 5:26 PM
  Jessica6829
  Participant
  32 posts
  Hi there! Before I rush to the vet I just wanted to get some thoughts on what could be going on with my bunny Rue. Rue is a 10 months old intact female holland lop. She has her spay surgery booked about a week from now. About a week ago her behavior was off and she was seemingly very unhappy. She was digging, destroying things a lot, not being playful, and not really binkying too much. Nothing was physically wrong that I could tell and she wasn’t exhibiting any signs of pain. She went through a pretty severe Stasis episode when she was about 5 months old so I learned her pain indicators pretty quickly.
  
  This past week her behavior seems to have rebounded and she’s been binkying and acting like she usually does. Recently though her poops have been smaller some quite small, some normal sized but overall smaller. She’s on an unlimited Timothy hat (2nd cut), pellet free diet and gets about 1 1/2 cups of greens, half an Oxbow digestive supplement, and half a oxbow multi vitamin a day. Has any one ever experienced this before? Could her hormones be causing her to have smaller poops?
- 01/21/2023 at 2:39 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  16999 posts
  It does sound like this could be about hormones. This time of year even de-sexed rabbits start to get March Madness. It’s not only sex hormones that are influenced by the seasonal change.
  
  It’s always difficult to assess how much hay a rabbit eats, because we always give them more than they can eat. To help increase hay intake you can serve (really) small wads of hay throughout her area. Theres something about “found” hay that makes it more appealing than served hay. Hay is the best thing for making the poop big and round and, to the dedicated rabbit owner, beautiful.
  
  For now I don’t think you need to rush her off to the vet. Any vet visit is (unavoidably) somewhat stressful for a rabbit. I think you could just keep monitoring her. You can give simethicone baby gas drops if you suspect even a little bit of gas.
  - 01/21/2023 at 6:08 AM
    Jessica6829
    Participant
    32 posts
    Well that is good to hear that it could be hormone related. She still seems to be eating well although it doesn’t appear that she ate as much hay as usual last night. I have noticed she’s been drinking less water and while her poops don’t seem dry they are drier than I’m used to seeing from her. Since her major Stasis episode she’s been a Stasis prone bun and it took my husband and I a very long time to nurse her back to health after her major episode so I am a bit paranoid with her poops now. She was back and forth to the vet so many times in such a short period of her life that I am really loathe to bring her in if it’s not necessary since I know that’s stressful for her.
    
    I haven’t heard any gas gurgles from her lately but I do have simethicone and that has seemed to help her in the past. I just don’t know how long she can be on that since this poop issue seems to be something that comes and goes for her. It does seem to coincide with hormonal episodes but one of the other times she’s had this poop issue it did lead to some minor Stasis previously.
    
    This rabbit really has me stumped. I’ve had many rabbits in my life but none have been quite like her. Wonderful, adorable, stressful little creatures!
- 01/21/2023 at 12:19 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  16999 posts
  They are wonderful creatures, but sometimes very high maintenance!
  
  If she eats less hay she’ll drink less water. You can try serving her daily greens freshly rinsed and wet to get more water in her. (This will obviously result in her drinking less water, but its the total water consumption that is important.)
  
  I think a rabbit can have gasdrops as needed. Its not absorbed into the body, it only acts locally in the GI tract. I had a bun who needed gas drops often due to chronic illness.
  
  I can well understand your concerns, since she has been stasis-prone from a rather young age. GI problems in young buns can be due to an “immature” GI microbiota. Rabbits depend a lot more on gut microbes for their digestion than we do, and it can take time for a young bun to develop a fully diverse and robust population of the different bacteria and yeasts they really need.
  
  You could try a probiotic for her, if you havent already. Benebac is suitable for buns, but there are many other brands.
- 01/21/2023 at 12:33 PM
  Jessica6829
  Participant
  32 posts
  The water intake and the less hay eating makes sense. I never actually thought of that! Also good to know that someone else has experience giving gas drops frequently.
  
  She is already getting 1 tsp of the powdered benebac daily per my vet’s instructions. We put her on it when she was having a hard time recovering from her initial stasis and it really seemed to help. However, every time we try to wean her off of it she starts to get small poops and it sets off another minor Stasis episode so my vet said just to leave her on it. Unfortunately for me her GI issues were brought on by improper feeding from a pet sitter while I was away on my honeymoon. My vet has told me she most likely a Stasis prone bun at this point.
  
  I’ve been trying to push hay as much as possible for her today. She doesn’t usually poop or eat much in the afternoon so I’ll have to wait and see how her poops look this evening. I have a large bag of critical care that I can open too so I’m wondering if I should start her on that too? I haven’t yet because of her normal behavior.
  
  Do you have any thoughts on the cause of small poops? I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what’s causing this and I just can’t figure it out.
- 01/21/2023 at 3:16 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  Smaller poop can simply be less food intake, so if she’s eating somewhat less hay, that would be contributing to it. Unsure if this was mentioned in a previous post, but for what reason is your rabbit on a pellet-free diet? For her age, pellet-free is definitely not recommended, nor is it recommended in general. You mention she recently came out of stasis, so if they were taken out to try and better balance her gut for a bit, I would recommend bringing them back in because they could be why her poos are smaller (i.e., she’s only getting poop-material from hay and veggies).
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 01/21/2023 at 3:58 PM
  Jessica6829
  Participant
  32 posts
  She’s been mostly pellet free for awhile now per my vet’s recommendation to keep her out of stasis and she’s been pooping normally with not issues. I do give her pellets as treats in about a tsp per day. She seems to have a very sensitive gut so she’s had few minor Stasis episodes since her original one. I was feeding her Oxbow Garden Select for adult rabbits for awhile. About a tbsp a day, but she seemed to have issues with that so not sure if it was those pellets specifically or if another type would work better. I have a hard time finding food her gut will tolerate so that is why she was recommended to be on the multivitamin. After pushing her to eat hay most of the day she has had some normal poops. Just still can’t quite figure out why other than hormones.
- 01/22/2023 at 1:16 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  16999 posts
  Since she’s still young, maybe you could try mixing in some alfalfa hay for her? Its not recommended for adult buns, but since she’s on a low pellets-regimen, a little bit of alfalfa is unlikely to add an excess of protein and calcium. Alfalfa has good fiber and buns often like it a lot.
  
  Exercise also helps the intestines move. Rabbits tend to poop less in the afternoon because daytime is as a rule resting time for rabbits.
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