Diet question for 4 month old bunny?

[Ali925]

I tried underlining some key points since I know this is a bit long, sorry…

Blu is about 4 months old now, which under all the HRS guidelines would say give him unlimited pellets as well as alfalfa hay.  However I’m not sure if this is the best for him based on his recent poop habits.  He had been doing fine for a while, no messes or anything, great litterbox habits with the exception of some territorial poops which I know should improve in time (he was neutered about a month ago).. But recently this week and last week, about once maybe twice a day I’ll find what seems to be mooshed or still intact cecotropes on the floor of his pen.  Not much, but the occurrence has been almost daily for over a week…And it seems to be after sleeping, he lounges on the wood floor a lot.  Of course I’m not happy for my floor, but I’m obviously more concerned because it’s not healthy for him.  Although he seems fine otherwise, litterbox has lots of normal poop. 

The last time this happened, he was eating alfalfa pellets, and I concluded it was too rich a pellet for him.  I switched him to a timothy pellet around 2.5 months old or so?  and after that he was doing so much better (I had the same issue with my other bun but switched her much later).  He eats about 1/4 cup a day, and he’s not very big, ~2lbs so he shouldn’t need much more (I figured out how much he consumed in a day if unlimited and just give him that much.)  He has unlimited timothy hay and occasional botanical hay/orchard grass and I know he is a good hay eater. 

In summary, his diet currently consists of a salad in the morning and at night (maybe 2 cups total for the day? I measure it out on my scale, it’s about 1.5 oz each serving, but the volume obviously varies with the type of green), 1/4 cup timothy pellets and unlimited hay.  The only occasional treat is a baby carrot (1-2 times a week)…he’s not big on sweets, I had to try carrots with him several times before he dared to touch it! 

Here are my thoughts, let me know what your take is on this,

1) I haven’t really given him much different as far as greens go, but perhaps he’s getting too many greens that he’s not eating enough hay? Or he’s extra sensitive to certain greens, I’ll start with giving just romaine for a few days and see how he does.  I know he tolerated that fine.

or, 2)  I may have been giving more alfalfa than he could handle, so I think I’ll stop offering it every day and maybe give it 1-2 times a week?  or is it crucial for him to have the calcium and protein at 4 months old?

or 3)  even the timothy pellets are too much for him?  in conjunction with the greens he’s getting?  And perhaps I should scale back on the pellets?

If you got this far, thank you for taking the time to read…  I’m always guilty of too many details…

~Ali

[Beka27]

If it’s an isolated thing, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but since it’s happening everyday, I think something is going on. My first thought is to reduce the number of pellets slightly. He had a coccidia test, when he was having some other issues, right?

[Ali925]

So it’s ok to limit even though he’s still growing? He used to have trouble finishing between an 1/8 and 1/4 cup and now he’s finishing the 1/4 cup no problem, so it might just be too much now. Should I still give him a little alfalfa hay?

Yes he had a coccidia test when I was concerned he wasn’t gaining enough weight. But I had that was a possibility too, since there’s always a chance that it just wasn’t detected at that age and size?

Again, I know it helped my other bunny’s poop issues when I decreased her pellet intake as well. They both seem to be sensitive to rich foods.

[Elrohwen]

I wouldn’t give alfalfa hay – that would probably make the issue worse. I would stick with timmy and other grasses.

What quantity of greens is he getting? Have you given him any new greens lately? Some bunnies are sensitive to certain things.

It doesn’t sound like he’s eating that many pellets, so I would maybe reduce his veggies and start over with one at a time to see if you can isolate any particular veggie that is causing the excess cecals.

[Ali925]

Thanks Elrohwen, I have stopped giving him the alfalfa altogether … I didn’t give him much to start since I knew he didn’t handle the pellets well.

As far as greens go, I would say a little over 2 cups a day, half in the AM and half in the PM. I measure them out on a scale, but I transferred to measuring cups to get an approximate to answer your question… As far as anything different, I don’t usually get red leaf lettuce much and he did get that last week, but I’ve stopped any variety since then (just giving romaine and parsley for now)…

I also decided to split up his pellets, half in the AM half in the PM, so that if he were wanting to eat, it would encourage him to have more hay. He seems to be eating plenty of hay as far as I can see, but I think this split is helping.

However, even with the changes, he’s still having a little mess here and there. Like I said, it’s not a lot of it, but it’s there once a day or less at this point. It seems to have lessened though since I made the changes. Now it’s more like once a day or every other day. I used to have this problem with my other bunny too, while she was sleeping she’d leave a little poop where she was lying, and they’d be smooshed from her laying there. But it seemed like it sort of stopped out of nowhere after maybe 6 weeks or so following her spay? This could have been from that or more likely the fact that I decreased her pellets around this time. That’s why I thought for Blu it was pellets.

I haven’t decreased his greens yet, but I think I’ll try that next just to see if it makes a difference. I do know that I’ve been increasing it over the past few weeks and that could possibly be the cause. I know I can give my other bun Oreo plateful after plateful of greens and she’s fine, so I just mistakenly assumed. But he’s also half her size…

[Elrohwen]

Otto had mushy poops as a baby too, but they stopped by the time he was a few months old.

It could be that he just can’t handle that many greens yet. There are some bunnies that are just sensitive to things like that.

Are you changing his pellets at all? Or has he been on just one pellet for a while? Otto took a few bites of Kaytee Timmy Complete once, while I was switching Hannah from that to Oxbow, and he had poopy butt, so if you’re making any changes in his pellets that could be it.

[Ali925]

That’s definitely a possibility with too many greens, and I think I already mentioned, but he’s only 4 months old. I keep forgetting he’s as young as he is because his neuter was so much earlier than Oreo’s spay (obvious reasons), so I’m not remembering he’s still pretty young.

His pellets have been the same, Oxbow Bunny basics T, he’s been on them for over a month at this point so he should be adjusted. I took him off alfalfa pellets really early on because of all the poop issues…

I’ll try giving fewer greens. I had it in my mind to give as many greens as they’ll eat (my vet’s advice, he doesn’t believe in pellets being used at all…) but you’re probably right he can’t handle the amount right now. Maybe if he wasn’t getting pellets in addition.

Thanks again!

[Ali925]

Oh and I guess I didn’t need to remind you of his age…it’s in the subject line. I have my moments. haha

[Elrohwen]

Reducing the veggies could help. Once he’s a few months older you can probably increase them again and see if he’s grown out of it, but some bunnies are always sensitive. I think BinkyBunny had an article at one time about how she went through things trying to find out the cause of Bailey’ poopy butt and it seems a lot of specific veggies were one of the causes.

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