Fiver and his cecals

[MimzMum]

Well, I’ve tried everything I can think of, so maybe someone here has a suggestion I’ve either forgotten or haven’t thought of yet.

Fiver has been leaving too many cecals. These get stepped on (or just ground into his bedding) and all over his poor little feets.

He’s already got the customary callouses you see on your basic mini-rex (thankfully not infected…yet!) and while cleaning him up the other night, my daughter accidentally pulled off a little more fur and now I’m sure the bare spot is bigger. She apologised, it was an accident.

I have tried limiting pellets, treats, greens, different greens, feeding more hay, feeding different types of hay, adding chew sticks, removing chew sticks, etc. Outside of putting him on a timothy hay (which he hates) and water diet for the rest of his life (how I’m going to get him to not eat pellets and treats without getting very testy is a mystery) what else can I do? I am thinking (since he needs a nail trim still…can’t get him to hardly hold still for a foot washing and I’m afraid I’ll break a foot or toe on him if I restrain him too hard) my next step is going to the vet to see if he has some kind of intestinal bug that is causing this.

Cecals from him are no more or less stinky than either of the other bunnies (oddly I never see Mimzy’s, he is very good about cleaning himself) and he has lost enough weight I guess that he can angle himself around again to reach them, but he’s gotten so used to leaving them and then turning around to eat them (causing the smears of cecals on his feet) that he doesn’t just take them straight from his bum much anymore.

Other than this, he seems in general good health, eats, poops, drinks, sleeps and plays like he normally does.

His tummy does gurgle more than the other bunnies’, but he doesn’t seem in distress. This is why I’m thinking infection or bacteria.

I hate to see him get all dirty and I know that can’t be good for his skin. HALP!

[bunnytowne]

ohh that doesnt sound good

i know some people dont feed pellets at all in these cases.  could it be 1 of the veggies causing this?

i think bb may have a suggestion she had a similar problem w/Bailey

[Sarita]

How much pellets do you feed him?

[MimzMum]

Well, he’s about 4-5 pounds and I’ve cut him down to less than 1/4 cup. I tried limiting pellets for Pip as well, and wound up just having to take them out of her diet altogether. My guess is, I’ll have to do this with Fiver also. But since his greens are so limited, I am unsure that just having hay is going to be enough nutrition for him.
I have an appointment for him on Monday to be seen for his toenail clipping and to be sure there’s not anything untoward going on with his stomach. I need a new weight on him also, anyway.

[Sarita]

Can you increase his veggies? How is his hay consumption.

Really a 1/4 cup of pellets a day is quite a bit for a rabbit that weight in my opinion.

[MimzMum]

Fiver wound up not only getting his nails clipped (they were terribly long) but he apparently had a yeast infection in his ears! (Most likely because he couldn’t scratch them properly with those nails.) I’ve also been given probiotic to try to control his cecal problem. (Then we screwed up and left the capsules in the car on a relatively warm day for a few hours, so I’m not sure they’ll work anymore.) I have to claim ignorance on the ears, I hadn’t noticed him scratching at them and our house is too dark to really see anything properly, but there was a decent amount of waxy buildup in them that she took to look at under the microscope.

She prescribed Ketoconazloe (?), 4 drops in each ear once per day for the next 14 days. (Thank God Mimzy gets his last shot on Wednesday…now more meds for bunnies! Oy!)

I wonder how the heck he got a yeast infection? Pellets? (I got a hamster crock for him and I’m measuring less now than he was getting before) Treats? (he gets half a barley biscuit or APD cookie twice per day at each cleaning) I keep his habitat so clean, I don’t get it.

What causes yeast infections in rabbit ears?

[Barbie]

Well… I don’t have too much experience with yeast infections in rabbit ears, but my parents’ dog, Teddy, gets them ALL the time, poor thing. I know that part of the problem is just too much moisture in his ears – we have to be very careful to clean and then dry his ears after he gets a bath or goes swimming because those yeastie beasties just love dark moist places. I think you said Fiver is a mini rex, so this might not apply, but I’ve heard lops are prone to ear infections because the flopped over ears that make them so cute also trap moisture much better than the uppy ears, which makes sense, since Teddy’s ears are also the flopped down kind (he’s a labrador). I think you’re right about Fiver’s nails contributing to the problem, if he couldn’t clean his ears properly, all those yeastie beasties had ample opportunity to just start having a party in there.

I don’t know if reducing his pellets will help, since it’s pretty much all just timothy, right? But I know avoiding anything like bread and sugar should help. One of my human friends has to go on a no sugar, no bread diet every so often because she gets yeast infections on her tongue and skin (yes, it’s very weird) and avoiding anything really sugary or any food with yeast in it helps control that, since she’s not “adding fuel to the fire.”

As for the probiotics… I don’t know if leaving them in the hot car would kill the microrganisms or not, but I’m pretty sure they have to be alive to be any help with the digestive tract. I’d call and ask your vet on that one.

i went and tried to find some articles for you online, but wasn’t able to find anything particularly helpful, maybe you’ll have better luck than me. Good luck with treating his ears and his cecal problem!

[MimzMum]

Thanks Barbie! He was doing a lot better in the bathroom department last night, but today had a little trouble. So I tried putting together a pellet slurry to feed him his probiotic (instead of the banana I used yesterday that he was not sure about) and he’s been snubbing it all day, but he’s gotten some down. Picky little thing.
Not looking forward to the wrestling match over the ears today though. >.< lolz….

[Beka27]

Poor lil Fiver! Wow, a yeast infection in the ears… if it’s not one thing, it’s another…

What else did the vet say about his cecal problems? Did she recommend a change in diet, or just the probiotics? I would still try and cut back those pellets more…

[RabbitPam]

Sigh. {{{{{{{Group bunny health}}}}}}}}}}}}

I’m thinking that you might switch from the barley treats to a fruit treat, at least while he’s on the meds. Barbie’s description sounds very possible, and if it’s aggravated by bread type foods, then the barley may not be helping. But just keep it normal for him if you can while adding the meds routine.

It will all be over with soon, and hopefully you’ll have a houseful of healthy bunnies once again.

[Barbie]

(((((Healthy Vibes!))))

[Sarita]

Well, the problem with the fruit treats is that it is probably high in sugar which is a carb which would not be good for a yeast infection or for the cecal problem if you are trying to control them through diet.

Most of my rabbits have loved Benebac and it’s not ever been a problem to give this to them – not sure why. It may or may not help the cecal problem since there is not scientific proof out there that probiotics help at all for rabbits. They certainly don’t hurt though. I give my rabbits acidopholous tablets I’m pretty sure they don’t help but it makes a great treat anyway.

[MimzMum]

I was just looking at my Benebac last night and thinking I should try that on him. Good call, Sarita.

You know Pam, I wonder if it wasn’t those barley biscuits? It has to be either that or the orchard grass I’ve been giving them, because I’ve run out of the biscuits and have put a hold on the grass for a bit and taken them all back to timothy hay and Fiver is still really doing much better. I didn’t think about the barley being a grain (which was stupid of me) because bunnies eat stuff with grains in it all the time, right? But yeah, I know I can’t eat raised breads because it messes with my stomach…sooo…..

A lot of good things to think about folks. I am trying anything and everything to get him back to normal and he does look like he feels a lot better already.

[Author]

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