Developed a Sensitivity to Pellets?

[Binkles]

Over the last week or so, Little-Bit has seemingly developed a sensitivity to pellets all off a sudden. I give her about a tablespoon of Oxbow Timothy pellets a day. For the most part her poo p is normal and healthy, but she’s started making just a few big, dark, and sometimes deformed poops most days only in the mornings. The reasons I suspect the pellets is because 1. The weird poops happen 6-10 hours after she eats, and 2. If I eliminate the pellets, they go away.

More potentially pertinent information: she just lost her husbun Peter two weeks ago. She’s been in good spirits, eating hay ravenous, drinking plenty of water, very relaxed. She has been having some gas/ bloaty episodes here and there because she is shedding like the dickens as well. Maybe these are related to the pellets too?

Ugh, just what I need after a month trying to save Peter. More stress..

So I guess my question is, does it seem like the pellets are the culprit to you as well? What can I do? Would giving a probiotic help? Should a switch to a pellet free diet or should I try and wait it out to see if it supports itself out?

[Bam]

A probiotic won’t harm according to Medirabbit, but it might help.

If this goes away when you remove the pellets, you can remove the pellets for a while and increase the hay, then you can try and re-introduce the pellets again a few weeks later when her tum seems stable. Adult buns can go a long time without pellets if they are otherwise healthy, and hay is the best thing for putting a bunny tummy back on track. You need to check so she actually does eat more hay though, some buns won’t and start eating stuff like carpet instead, which of course is bad.

It might be something in those particular pellets that she’s reacting to, sometimes switching to another brand helps.

Here is a very informative article about intermittent soft cecotropes from the House Rabbit society:
http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

[Binkles]

Hmm, I was going to say that they don’t look like cecals, but the description in the article mentioning that the cecals can become irregular while the stools remain fine resulting in soft poops intermixed with regular poops seems pretty close to what we’re experiencing. Maybe they are cecals? I don’t know.

I’m afraid to stop feeding her pellets again, because I already did stop feeding them for about a week hoping her poops would get better (and they did.) I just started feeding them again two days ago. She’s already kind of a skinny bunny to begin with, so I’m worried about starving my poor little girl.

I’m also worried about what causes her sudden sensitivity to it in the first place. Why would this happen all of a sudden after reading Oxbow her entire life?

I’m picking up some Benebac powder in a few minutes. How much should I give her and how many times a day? Should I give it along with the pellets or at another time?

[Binkles]

Hmm, I also caught her eating a few poops. Not cecals, fully formed fecals. What does that mean?

[Binkles]

I’m very confused about this Benebac Plus powder for small animals.

1. The dosage chart says that everything above 1lb gets one teaspoon, while everything below that gets a dosage proportionate to their weight. Why would you give a 3lb animal the same dose as a 1lb animal?

2. It says to only give a dose once a week!? Everything I’ve ever been told about how probiotics work says that you have to take them religiously over and over again in order for the beneficial bacteria to colonize. How can the bacteria in Benebac colonize on just one dose?

[Bam]

It’s common for rabbits to have tummy trouble when they are shedding. Shedding puts a strain on the body and the most sensitive part of the bun is the tummy.

She might have difficulty absorbing the nutrients in the pellets. That would mean they don’t get ingested. In horses, fecal-eating is a sign of the horse not getting all the nutrients it needs (in dogs, it’s not). That said, some buns will eat the occasional fecal pellets sometimes, it’s not really worrisome.

Dosage of benebac is not super-exact. Most of the beneficial bacteria will die in the stomach from the strong stomach acid. That’s why Medirabbit says it won’t harm, but it might help. It might have no effect at all. I don’t know why you should only give it once a week, the types of probiotics for buns available here (pro fiber and fibre plex) should be given daily until the bun’s tum is ok again.

As we age our gut microbiota changes and very often we develop a sensitivity to stuff we’ve always been able to eat without a problem. Then there are food allergies, and they can develop at any one point in time during your life. A rabbit can even become allergic to timothy grass, and most pellets are timothy-based. With food allergies, you need to do an elimination diet. This can be tricky since it often takes a long time, and I’d recommend you to do it under the supervision of a rabbit-savvy vet, if she has a tendency to loose weight/have difficulty keeping weight on.

It can also be a dental issue, that she can’t chew her food (esp hard or tough food) properly because of molar spurs. Molar spurs are common in adult bunnies. They can be ground down by a vet.

[Binkles]

Well I decided to back off the pellets for two more days to get a clean slate. As expected, her poop returned to normal and she’s been much less gassy/ bloaty and more energetic. She’s eating her hay ravenously too. I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s definitely related to the pellets -or maybe just carbohydrates in general?

I just dosed her with her first dosage of Benebac. (And I reported the dosage erroneously earlier: once weekly is the maintenance dosage, once on day 1, 3, and then 7 is the starting dosage.) I mixed it up with a *tiny* bit of Critical Care instead of pellets, hoping that maybe that will wreak a little less havoc on her tummy. I hope this helps, fingers crossed.

If it’s a malobsorption problem, how can that be fixed? Would the Benebac help if it’s malobsorption problem?

[LBJ10]

I also wanted to add that perhaps this has been going on for longer than you thought and her former companion was eating the extra cecals.

[Binkles]

Omg, she has a little bit of Nystagmus now. It’s barely noticeable, but it’s there. Ugh, I can’t believe it. Why? She hasn’t had Nystagmus since she had an ear infection as a 3 week old baby. Could this all be related somehow?

I guess she’s off to the vet on Monday. God, I’ve barely even been able to process Peter’s death and now this mess. Pulling my hair out. I really hope it’s just an ear infection. Hemorrhaging money. Don’t have the funds.

[Binkles]

Reading that sometimes nystagmus can be caused by nutritional deficiency? It’s it possible that it’s related to the fact that I restricted her to a hay only diet for a week and a half?

[Bam]

Ear infection is the most likely cause for nystagmus. A week on hay only wouldn’t cause any deficiencies nutrition-wise. Has she lost a lot of weight since you started her on hay?

Sometimes when a bun gets a tummy problem, it triggers other dormant things. Like a normal amount of normal pasteurella bacteria always present in the nasal cavity of a bunny can suddenly get the opportunity to multiply. Or a common parasite like e cuniculi can become active. Not to scare you, but a vet trip is of need when they open on Monday if she’s showing signs of nystagmus.

Benebac can help with malabsorption. Bunnies are dependant on bacteria and other beneficial microbes to extract the vitamins and other nutrients from their food. A lot of this takes place in the cecum. If the cecal flora gets back to normal, the bun can eat her cecals (they can’t eat the really sticky poop), and the cecals will have the essential nutrients (vitamin Bs f ex) in absorbable form. (As you know that’s why they eat their cecals, part of the food needs to get processed twice, it’s a form of rumination).

A cecum out of whack is very often due to excess carbohydrates like simple sugars in the diet (carbs from grain f ex). Too much simple carbs that can’t be processed correctly starts a vicious circle. And this really can happen to any bun in any life-stage, so it’s not sth you’ve done wrong. It’s just a problem that needs to be addressed.

[BlacknWhite]

You could try switching food. I use Sherwood Naturals, they also have a vitamin that helped when my chinchilla holland lop got messy, and she is fine now!

[Binkles]

Well her nystagmus seems to have disappeared, weirdly enough. Do I still need to take her to the vet?

Additionally…I think the Benebac is doing a lot of good! She’s been tolerating the Critical Care perfectly and even better, her poops have turned into BIG healthy golden poops! Even despite my traumatizing her night before last by trimming her nails and cutting the quick…blood everywhere. Ugh. Traumatized me too..

[Bam]

If the nystagmus is all gone and her poop is much better, I don’t think you need to rush her off to the vet.

I have had problems with my Bam’s tummy lately, so I started him on a probiotic last week. At first he actually got worse. I got a vet appt for him, but when we went there yesterday, his tummy and appetite and general behavior was already all back to normal, or normal +, actually, so they didn’t think he needed anything done. His double vaccine (we’re in Europe) was just about due though, so the trip wasn’t a total loss =)

I hope your bun keeps her healthy pooping up!

It really feels awful when you cut into the quick, but all pet-owners will do that at some point in time. My buns’ nails are easy enough, but my dog’s – I dread cutting her black nails =(

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