Antibiotics for poopy butt?

[lindsay715]

Hi guys,

I had an account on here a few years ago but I forgot the login information! 

Yesterday we had to take my bunny Duchess to the vet for a pretty bad case of poopy butt. But unfortunately only my boyfriend was able to take her because I had work, and apparently he wasn’t paying much attention to anything the vet said, and I’m currently engaged in a game of phone tag with the vet who is a very busy guy. 

Basically the vet prescribed an oral antibiotic twice a day for two weeks. He shaved off some of the mats on her butt and noticed a bit of dermatitis from the poopy mess, which apparently the antibiotics will help. But I’m thinking antibiotics are pretty rough on the GI tract, and I’m a little confused as to how this will help her going forward. Has anybun here been prescribed antibiotics for poopy butt? Hopefully I’ll hear back today from the vet so I can ask him, but in the meantime I am curious.

I am administering the antibiotics and also going to groom her more often as she is shedding quite a bit this time of year and the vet said that could be an issue. I am going to reduce her pellets even more and keep her with unlimited timothy hay – I started reducing pellets earlier this year when she was a little overweight. I am going to go from 1/2 cup day to 1/4 – 1/3, maybe lower if she adjusts okay. The vet said she is at a good weight now – 8 pounds! – but I think her body type may be a factor. She is a very bulky French lop mix and I think her body type might be inhibiting her ability to groom herself & access the cecotropes. 

I was sad this morning to see more messy poos in her litter box. I really wish I had been able to go to the appointment yesterday because I’m not feeling confident at all about this plan of action. 

I know there’s lots of posts on poopy butt and I’ve gotten loads of great information from them. But the antibiotics have me confused, and apparently that’s something my boyfriend didn’t clarify with the vet or forgot, I don’t even know. Any ideas?

[jerseygirl]

Was the name of the med printed on an invoice?
Do you know if they did a fecal test?

Typically poopy but is diet related or the parasite coccidia – which you give an oral wormer for. A bacterial imbalance can certainly contribute too though. Look up Cecal dysbiosis for more info.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

[lindsay715]

So I did speak to the vet this morning. He said that the antibiotic was primarily to help the dermatitis on her rear, and that it should not cause any further GI issues. He said that it could actually help runny stools. I believe he said sulfadimethoxine but I’m going to check the bottle when I get home this evening. It was definitely a sulfa drug.

They did not do a fecal test, but they did blood work. One of her liver enzymes came back high which the vet said can be normal with aging but it is something to keep an eye on. Her blood sugar was a tiny bit high which he said was probably due to the stress of going to the vet. To me this seems like another good reason to decrease pellets though. Otherwise everything was fine.

I’m a bit frustrated that they opted for blood work over a fecal test, but I guess I learned my lesson about not taking the buns to the vet myself. He just said to remove fresh veggies, fruits and treats and increase fiber. He seemed confident that she’ll improve. Although if she improves, I’m thinking it will be based on dietary changes and not the antibiotic, since that’s only treating one of the consequences of poopy butt and not the poopy butt itself. I’m… not really happy with our vet right now.

[Bam]

You can give her a probiotic to help her GI flora while she’s getting the abs. In the USA there’s Benebac, in Europe you can get Fibreplex. There may be other brands as well.

Feces contains, as you know =), lots of bacteria that can be harmful if they get into a wound or onto compromized skin, so perhaps the vet thought abs was the best option since there’s both poopy-butt and dermatitis. I know in some places vets will give abs for poopy butt, but I think this practice is rather on its way out since nowadays we want to cut back on the use of abs in both people and animals. But for an aged or very young animal it may still be required , since the elderly and the very young don’t have tip-top immune defense.

[lindsay715]

Posted By bam on 7/30/2015 10:51 AM

You can give her a probiotic to help her GI flora while she’s getting the abs. In the USA there’s Benebac, in Europe you can get Fibreplex. There may be other brands as well.

Feces contains, as you know =), lots of bacteria that can be harmful if they get into a wound or onto compromized skin, so perhaps the vet thought abs was the best option since there’s both poopy-butt and dermatitis. I know in some places vets will give abs for poopy butt, but I think this practice is rather on its way out since nowadays we want to cut back on the use of abs in both people and animals. But for an aged or very young animal it may still be required , since the elderly and the very young don’t have tip-top immune defense.

That’s a good point about the antibiotics and the dermatitis/poopy butt combination. And I will look into the Benebac, thank you! 

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