Exact Rainbow…making green sludge–switched to Bunny Basics! YAY!

[Denise12]

 Buster has been off veggies for 2 weeks now. She has been eating only hay and the Exact Rainbow Pellets. She doesnt really eat the red ones (they are green, red and beige) She had a bout of GI stasis or a cow poop bunny, we’re not sure. She has peeing green here and there on the carpet. She NEVER pees on the carpet. It seems she to not be able to hold it in a leaks a tiny bit of it. It’s not in her litter box at all….just a few drops here and there and I only noticed it twice in two weeks.

Is there something really serious about that? Or is it that she’s eating hay & pellets and pretty much only green (and a little beige) things.
 

[Elrohwen]

That doesn’t sound normal at all – my bunnies eat only green foods between pellets, hay, and veggies and their pee is perfectly yellow or orange. I don’t know what it could be, but personally I would take her to the vet. Maybe someone else will have a better idea of what is causing this.

[Denise12]

well, she’s picking out only mostly the green pellets, so i’m thinking its an overflow of whatever mineral that is.
She’s eating fine, and drinking water and acting normal. A bunch of stomach gurgles though….Its strange. Will call the vet tomorrow.

[Monkeybun]

looking at the ingredient list.. who knows what it could be. Theres no much… crap in that stuff lol. And its alfalfa based…. have you tried switching her to timothy pellets at all? Ones with less coloring added?

[KatnipCrzy]

I don’t think there is any benefit at all to multi colored pellets- and I would think that they are green as a result of artificial coloring more so than a particular ingredient or vitamin/mineral.
I find it concerning that her urine is green- bladder infections can discolor the urine- but as to actually making to green as opposed to orange, red, cloudy, etc- I had not heard that. Infections can also make the smell of urine more pungent.
I would call your vet and ask what they think about the relation to that particular food to making the urine green. It takes A LOT, and I mean A LOT of extra food coloring to actually not be filtered out by the kidneys and to switch over into the urine. I have seen food coloring expressed thru poo- but that is direct- stomach, GI tract- output. Urine is more complicated and not as direct.

[jerseygirl]

Some hays can be dyed green too so keep a watch out for that.

I agree that it would be unusal for any colouring to come out in the urine unless in huge amounts. If she’s been on these pellets a long time and you’re only just seeing this then I would think it’s from something else. The colour and her peeing on th carpet indicates infection as Katnip said. Is she still on meds from her stasis though? Maybe they have something to do with it.

How green are you talking? Could it be that you’re not used to seeing the normal colour of her pee but as she’s done it out of the box you’re seeing it fresh.

[Denise12]

no, she’s not on meds any more. Ugh. i can’t take all these issues anymore. It was dark bright green i didnt see any in her litter box and she just took her treat ok this AM (raisin). She’s eating orchard grass.

[Sarita]

All the kaytee rainbow pellets are made exactly from the same thing but I’ve heard some rabbits have a peculiar habit of picking out certain colors but it is just a dye not any particular mineral.

I definitely would call the vet about a bladder or urine infection though.

[Denise12]

Hi and thanks!
I called the vet and relayed the message. They called me back and said as long as she’s eating and acting normal, then the vet isn’t too concerned.
Hmmmmm. But they will definitely be following up and I will do the same if anything changes.

[Sarita]

Well, eating and acting normal doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have a problem as far as a UTI especially if you feel she’s “leaking” on the carpet because that’s not really acting normal.

What I’ve found with my rabbits with UTI’s and bladder sludge is that they will still eat but that doesn’t mean that they are totally comfortable with a UTI. I think we are so accustomed to thinking that the only time they don’t feel well is if they stop eating and that’s not really the case.

[Denise12]

Thank you, and I agree Sarita. I will monitor her tonight and see what happens.
What normally happens w/a UTI?

[Denise12]

Ok, I spoke to the Dr. and she said that it wasn’t pee. It was probably part of leaky poo….as bunnies that have cow poop syndrome (she thinks she has it) will get this.
She also mentioned that her rabbit also goes after only the green and beige pellets and leaves out the red ones and that they’re definitely different than each other!
Now I have to research cow poop bunnies and see what I can find. She said she’s not sure what to do for her, but she’s open to anything I can think of to try on her. Who are the bunnies that had that syndrome here?
Thanks everyone!

[Sarita]

Email Katnip – she is the one that I sent you the link about that wrote to Dana Krempels.

Interesting you should say that about those pellets because Kaytee swears they are all the same – I’ve read discussions about this from other rabbit people who have emailed Kaytee because like your rabbit they pick certain colors so who knows the truth since the pet food companies will only tell us what they want too.

[Beka27]

What kind of pellets were you feeding before, timothy or alfalfa? Which brands have you tried?

[Denise12]

Um….i’m not sure. I think it was timothy…Kaytee, plain beige with the orange ‘treats’ in them.

[Beka27]

Have you explored other brands? Maybe the Kaytee isn’t agreeing with her. She really needs just a basic timothy-based pellet.

[Sarita]

Have you talked to the vet about taking her completely off the pellets perhaps?

[Beka27]

^^^… Or no pellets. Why is she off of veggies? Did you already say, I might have missed this.

[KatnipCrzy]

I would consider slowly switching her to a different pellet other than Kaytee to see if that helps.  When I was researching pellets- the 3 timothy choices I found in my area were Oxbow, Zupreem and Kaytee TImothy.  The Kaytee has a preservative in it that most parrot owners avoid (I also own parrot)- plus I personally do not like all the products that Kaytee makes that are not healthy at all and are marketed to be healthy (pet peeve of mine).  So then I was left considering the other 2 brands- I looked at the ingredients- thought of any questions I might have and emailed the company- Oxbow emailed back promptly and answered my question- Zupreem emailed me back and refered me to a link on their website that listed the same information I was questioning- so they were not at all helpful.

So I picked based on quality and customer service.

Many pellets have all the “extra” that bunnies do not need- and are not healthy.  The foods are developed so consumers will buy them and feel good that their rabbit is eating a lot of the pellets- but they are usually eating a lot of pellets because the pellets are tasty because they are not the healthiest option.  So the company makes a customer happy and sells more pellets- a win-win for them.

[angie-la]

I give my buns oxbow pellets [in limited amounts of course]. I read that they are the best out there since it’s the most natural and what not, and the buns have a very healthy bathroom cycle haha.

[Denise12]

She’s off the veggies b/c she has 2 bouts of GI stasis recently, and I thought it was from veggies. Now they are saying she may have Cow Poop syndrome, BUT I notice when I give her veggies, THATS when she has cow poop like poops, so they agreed to keep her off of them
She loves veggies so much and I feel so bad. So Katnip: What brands of pellets should I get? Oxbow, or Timothy? Any specific ones you all can recommend? Are the rainbow exact not timothy? I dont even know this.

[Sarita]

Oxbow Bunny Basics is their Timothy one and you can purchase this at Petsmart. Rainbow exact are alfalfa.

I would encourage her to eat lots of hay!

[Denise12]

Thank you. I’m going to Petsmart today! She is eating lots of hay (orchard grass) she loves it
Thank you!

[Sarita]

Your welcome – keep us update on how she is doing.

[Denise12]

I got her the Oxbow Bunny basics today and she can’t stop eating it!!!!!! YAY!! She loves it! Plain ol’ pellets!

[Monkeybun]

My 3 adore their Oxbow pellets, they can’t get enough of em. Glad Buster agrees!

[Author]

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