Gooey Poop

[lucygoosey]

Okay I’ve been trying to research about some home remedies for Lucy’s gooey poops she’s been having. She’ll pretty much get them once a week but she doesn’t act differently, and I’ve been monitoring her really carefully. There has been no change in her diet whatsoever (I give her familar veggies every now and then, but have since ceased since I’ve been afraid that is what is causing it).

Anyhow, I’ve read that uncooked oatmeal (does that just mean dry oatmeal?) is a good thing to get their systems balanced again. However, I also read that oatmeal is a starchy treat that should be limited. I AM CONFUSED! Which is right? So far, we’ve been giving Lucy probiotics but they are 3 months old (in the fridge) and I’m not sure how effective they are. I want to keep it home remedies because she’s doing fine (eating up a storm… she eats her timothy pellets I get from our local rabbit rescue) because going to the vet is extremely expensive here in Canada and unless it is something serious I don’t want to take her.

Thanks for your help in advance!!

Lucy’s Owner

[jerseygirl]

If she seems to be normal otherwise, this is good and you should be able to adjust her diet to sort this problem at home. I know this doesn’t sound very charming, but could you describe her gooey poop? She may be producing excessive cecals which can happen if the diet is too rich.

Do you feed lucy hay? If so, which type? Alfalfa hay can sometimes contribute to excess cecals I believe – if in fact this is the problem. Best if you can give more details about her whole diet and proportions –  and of course the poop!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Poopy bum is very scary for me as I’ve had a rabbit pass away from it. I’d take the bunny in as soon as you can (if money is an issue, most vets take payments, if finding a vet is an issue, let us know approximately where you are and we can help you find a good one) Sometimes loose poops are dietary related but they can also be caused by coccidia so you should get to a vet to rule that out! {{ VIBES}}

[Beka27]

ditto KokaneeandKahlua! i’d suggest you take her in to see the vet. the fact that this is a common occurence is very worrying. if it was a one-time thing, you might be able to readjust the diet, but it seems like home remedying is not working for you.

specifically, what does her daily diet consist of, and in amounts? what type of hay, pellets, veggies are you feeding daily?

a couple of my favorite articles from rabbit expert, Dana Krempels:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html   about diet

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html   about poop

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I’ve read that uncooked oatmeal (does that just mean dry oatmeal?) is a good thing to get their systems balanced again. However, I also read that oatmeal is a starchy treat that should be limited. I AM CONFUSED!

LoL I heard that too. But the majority of the sites I went on, said to limit oatmeal and starch stuff because it is not good for them, so I just went with that. I’d say just feed her more hay, and possibly limit her pellets more. Pellets are rich, and limiting them, could force her to eat more hay and might help a bit.
Read this link on binky bunny, it tells about Baily who always had poopy butt and it tells how Binky Bunny stopped it!

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Diet/tabid/60/Default.aspx

[Scarlet_Rose]

Wunwun, Binky Bunny is the biggest expert here on poopybutt.  I’ve looked an found some preior discussions on it that I think will be really helpful.  Often times the culprit is too much protein or sugar in the diet and it could be that a gradual imbalance happened in her GI tract.  I would cut out any treats from her diet and see if that helps.

Messy Butt/Loose Squishy Stools – aka: PoopyButt:

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=54&forumid=1&postid=18388&view=topic (to learn how to clean poopybutt safely, once you’re in the thread, scroll down to Gravehearted’s post)

[lucygoosey]

Thanks for all the advice guys! The gooey poop has only been going on these past 2 weeks. It doesn’t happen everyday but every now and then. Prior to this the only time she ever got diarreah was after her teeth grinding, possibly a side effect from the anesthesia.

Lucy has really complicated dental problems which prevent her from eating hay. We’ve tried all sorts of methods and about 6 types of hay (softer in texture) all of which she cannot eat. By cannot eat I mean she will chew and chew and chew but it never ever goes in her mouth because her crooked teeth are preventing it from doing so. I’ve been advised by the vet to just keep what works, she hasn’t really had any problems without hay so there’s no use in trying to force it. I will never try to limit her food to force her to eat hay because when we tried that once she ended up with a blockage because she just didn’t eat for a couple of hours.

Now because of this, we feed her the best (and most expensive haha) bunny pellets we can find. Currently she gets 1/3 cup of Timothy Pellets (the adult mix) every day. She only gets veggies once in a while (usually a combo of parsley and cilantro sometimes romaine lettuce). On top of that the only treats we give her is the dry papaya tablets to help with her fur ingestion. Because her teeth are bad she’s prone to stringy poopies (from ingesting too much fur) and she gets rolled with a lint roller at least once every day.

Her diet has not changed at all these past few weeks so we are very confused. Currently we are just trying probiotic powder (from the vet) mixed with banana baby food every night. I was just wondering if there are any additional precautions I can take.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Oh that is sad the hay thing. Sorry, I did not know. Is she a free roam bunny? If so she could be munching on something that is disagreeing with her. Someone else on Binky Bunny has a bunny with crooked teeth.. I forgot who…. and they cut up the hay for their bun. You could try that. It MIGHT work, but it does seem as though something weird has happened recently. Any new stressing things happening in your home?

[jerseygirl]

I jumped to conclusions about excess cecals and didn’t even think of poopy butt! I feel a bit irresponsible! So I will encourage you to heed what the more experienced members have suggested and follow up at the vet. Did you have the stools tested at all? Was the probiotics prescribed by the vet?

[MooBunnay]

Could you describe the “gooey poop” a little bit more? For a bunny that is not able to eat hay, I would find it pretty normal for the bunny to have somewhat mushy poops since there is not any hay providing structure to the poops. However, if the poops are more looking like they have mucus around them, that could be more of an indication of a more serious problem.

Since your bun can’t have any hay – does she have anything that she munches on throughout the day? Does she seem very hungry by the time she gets her pellets? I am wondering if the fact that she doesn’t have anything that she eats throughout the day could be slowing down her digestive system. I think there was someone else online that had a bunny that had trouble eating hay, and I think her owner cut the hay into little pieces – could that possibly help Lucy? Have you tried feeding her cut up hay? I would imagine that if she could eat pellets she could eat the cut up hay.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’ll ditto that, get a little gross and tell us all about the squishy poops-color, size, if they are mucuos covered, stinky, clumped together…? Take some pics too if you can!!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Aha, the anesthesia would cause this.  Also with Lucky have you tried to supplement her diet iwth other high-fiber foods like pumpkin? 

Here are a few recipes for diet-challenged rabbits that you might want to take a look at:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/recipes.html

http://www.coloradohrs.com/articles/medical_Angels-mush.asp

Here are some pellet comparisons too:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/pellet-info.html

Food  Pellet Comparisons (Calories):

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=54&forumid=1&view=topic&postid=25575

Does Lucky have any trouble gaining weight?  The probiotics should help if an imalance in the GI tract is an issue but am wondering if not enough fiber might be part of the problem and the gut isn’t getting sweeped out like it should so the bad bacteria is collecting and well, if she had surgery she would not eat as much and that might be all it took for that to happen.  I also ditto the question about the fecal float test, did the vet do the test?

Here is an article called “The Mystery of Poop” I think would be helpful as well:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

 

[Beka27]

can you increase her veggies if she cannot eat hay? that would at least provide some fiber and help to hydrate her system. it’s recommended that rabbits get unlimited hay (which she can’t eat) and 2-4 cups of veggies PER DAY. if she can eat the veggies, i think that should be the main part of her diet. a third cup of pellets and no daily veggies or hay does not sound like it would be enough to sustain a rabbit.

also, try to cut up the hay like others have recommended.

has the vet mentioned the possibility of removing the front teeth? i think in some cases that is the best long-term solution.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Doesn’t critical care have extra fibre in it for bunnies? Could she feed that once a day since the bun can’t have hay?

[Sarita]

What’s the sugar content of the baby food? Perhaps that is the reason for this. It’s true anaesthesia can cause odd shaped poops but that was over 2 weeks ago.

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