Diarrhea or Loose Cecotropes?

[Luna]

Luna was eating her cecals and when she was done, my dad hand-fed her some pellets. Not 10 seconds later, Luna hopped away and left mushy-looking poop (size of a quarter). When I picked it up with a paper towel, it was still kind of solid – not mucousy or watery – but very soft. Either it was a) cecals that Luna didn’t eat because she was in the middle of eating pellets and she squished it when she sat on it, or b) diarrhea. Could this have been diarrhea or is diarrhea always liquid? Also can buns have normal poops one day, then diarrhea, then normal poops the next day? What should I look out for?

Immediately afterward I topped off her feeder with some fresh hay, which she ate. And there have been no changes in diet, and she hasn’t had a fruit-treat in a week.

[Bam]

This doesn’t sound at all like true diarrhea. It sounds like typical ISC, intermittent soft cecotropes aka poopy butt/sticky poop. Some buns are prone. My Bam is. If he gets too much of anything (except hay) he gets poopy butt. But he can also get poopy but “for no reason” – meaning I havent been able to find the reason. This has been going on for as long as I’ve had him, regardless of dietary regimens, so I think he has a proneness. I give him a probiotic powder when it happens. That seems to clear it up, but maybe it would’ve anyway, that’s not possible to say.

A diet high in fiber is the standard recommendation. Here is an article about ISC, intermittent soft cecotropes:
http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

This article is good too:
http://rabbit.org/the-mystery-of-rabbit-poop/

ETA: Just yesterday there was a big blob of poop stuck to his rear, I felt it when I lifted him up for our routine morning cuddle. I removed the blob of and put it in the litter box, thinking I’d throw it out after I’d wiped his butt. But I forgot, and as soon as I put him back down, he jumped into the box and gobbled up the blob. Yum-yum-yum. 

[Luna]

Thanks Bam. I’ll definitely pick up some probiotics, good idea! (I know when Bam ate the blob he still did it in a cute way )

[Author]

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