Cecal overproduction

[sweetbluebun]

My baby Holland Lop Guppy keeps producing tons of smelly cecal “grape bunches”.  He’s about 10 weeks old and I’ve had him on a diet of alfalfa pellets and hay, no treats or veggies (because he’s too young) but I’m seeing an overabundance of cecals.  He’s been like this since I’ve had him, but I’m really noticing how many now because he has an xpen and leaves them all over the place (as oppsoed to getting squished into the litterbox when he’s caged).  Yesterday I was petting my other bun Cheeky and I smelled this awful oder that was coming from the floor, I sniffed Cheeky and he was fine then I kept sniffing into the next xpen when too my horror I saw two big cecal bunches stuck to Guppy’s bum! It smelled abosultely horrible and made me gag a little too.  I managed to get some of it off, but he got so agiitated I had to let him go and a big clump had dried on his fur (he’s since pulled it out).  I know theres quite a few poop posts on here, and I’ve checked them to get insight.  I’ve been feeding Guppy a very basic diets of pellets and hay and he’s been eating just fine.  I haven’t called the vet yet, but would there be any reason as to why he doesnt eat his cecals?  I’ve read that a rich diet can cause overproduction but I’m heistant to take away the pellets because he is still growing and needs the calories to get bigger.  I was thinking of making the switch to timothy pellets (Cheeky is on these) but I wasn’t sure if it would be enough fat content for Guppy.   

I would esitmate he probably has about 3-4 bunches a day thay he doesn’t eat.  Should I take him to the vet or make a dietary change.  I’m just worried he has some kind of gastro infection. 

[Beka27]

i’d take him to the vet. it sounds like your diet is correct for his age, you’re right that you would not want to eliminate pellets, esp. in a baby bunny that is still growing. what brand of food are you using? is it just alfalfa pellets with no added seeds/corn/cereal? carbohydrates can cause these problems… but a basic alfalfa pellet should be fine. do you know when he was weaned? was it very young? it could also be a parasite, so it is a good idea to take him in to be examined to find out for sure what’s going on. has he seen the vet for an exam yet?

[sweetbluebun]

Guppy is on LM Animal Farms Classic Rabbit Food, it just has pellets and nothing else in it. I think he was weaned at around 7.5 weeks because I got him at 8.5 weeks and when I got him the breeder told me that he had been weaned for 1 week. He hasn’t been to the vets yet, but I’m going to try to get him in soon, hopefully by Friday when I’m paid! I’ve literally been spending all my money on buns lately (well whatever doesn’t go into my savings for grad school) but I’m thinking I might have to dip into that for my furry babies considering how pricey my exotics vet is. I hate money!

[Sarita]

I would add some timothy hay to his diet.

[sweetbluebun]

Oh he gets timothy hay, and eats quite a bit of it I might add

[sweetbluebun]

Update – Ok so I called the vet and he told me to cut back on the pellets and increase the amt of hay he’s eating. I asked him how much he should get and he told me 1/2 cup a day should be enough.

[MarkBun]

My measurement is 1/4 cups of pellets per 4 pounds of bun. And unlimited hay.

[sweetbluebun]

Another Update – I’ve reduced Guppy’s pellets to about 1/2 c a day, and he finishes all of them, and I’ve increased his hay. He’s only left 1 cecal bunch for the past few days which is alot better than the previous 3-4 bunches he was leaving before, plus it’s less stinky! His regular poops are still normal and abundant, so everything looks good.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s great news!!

[KatnipCrzy]

Glad to hear he is doing better!  First question that popped into my mind though- “what was the breeder feeding?”  A diet change even if it is the same base timothy or alfalfa can cause GI upset, etc.

[sweetbluebun]

The breeder was feeding him pro manna, but she gave me a bag so that I could use it to help Guppy with the transition. I looked everywhere, but they don’t sell it in metro/suburban areas and I couldn’t find the rabbit feed online. I strictly fed the pro manna and hay the first week just to keep his routine as similar as I could, then I started slowly mixing it with the LM farms feed the second week until I didn’t have any left and he had to go on the LM completely. That might of been the issue, but he was producing alot of cecals since I’d had him (they were getting smushed to the bottom of his cage and I wasn’t noticing them as much as when he had an xpen and they were all over the place.

[Sarita]

I’ve recently seen ProManna at Petsmart – do you have a Petsmart near you? I’ve heard ProManna is very good if you can find it – it’s an alfalfa based pellet so that would be fine for him at his age.

[sweetbluebun]

There’s 4 and I checked each one! None of them had it. The closest place that had pro-manna was way out in the boonies about 2.5 hrs away. I asked if they would ship it and they said no. So I just had to get some other brand from Petsmart. But hmm… maybe Petsmart is finally wising up and getting Pro manna? I will call and check, I’ve heard it’s really good, so it’s defiantely worth a shot! Thanks for the info

[Sarita]

See if your Petsmart has Oxbow pellets then. Mine does not only the hay but I understand that many have the pellets and those are great quality as well.

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