Inch long droppings normal?

[Jadeo09]

Hi

My rabbit has had a long boutof stasis and been bloated most days sometimes for 12hours or more.

She seems much better, eating normally except when she’s bloated

She’s doing 200 poops a day now lost of them are normal. Once a day they come out strung together by brown mucus.

She is doing rather large droppings one of them today was an inch long. What does that mean?

 

[Wick & Fable]

I know your rabbit has been going through a lot and I haven’t been able to catch up on the topics, so I’ll offer my typical thought until I get the details!

The most straightforward possiblity when this is seen in a healthy rabbit is that there’s fur encased in the poops. Anything like that seem possible?

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Jadeo09]

[Danny]

Those are really dark poops, what does her diet look like? And what’s the consistency – soft, crumbly, hard etc.?

[Jadeo09]

Hi Wick thanks so much for the input, yes she has been going through it at the moment. We’ve been struggling since the 7th..

Do you mean fur can cause long poos or strung together poos?

Her poos aren’t strung together by fur (I’ve seen that before) it’s definitely mucus. Could fur cause the mucus?

Could fur cause the long poos? When I crumble them it’s not fur inside that I can tell.

 

 

[Jadeo09]

Wick, she does seem to be shedding fur so I will give her another more thorough brush when she wakes up. She had been excessive grooming when she was in pain the other day. Maybe she was trying to get rid of the fur now I look back. I’ll get on top of that so I can rule it out if it happens again. Thank you so much.

[Jadeo09]

Hi Danny

Thanks very much for helping too.

Her poos are darker at the moment than usual but not by much.

She poos lighter when I use standard lighter looking meadow hay in her litter tray rather than green hay that I’m using at the moment.

She’s also on timothy hay, oat hay, dreid dandelion and dried plantain. One small pinch of dried parsely when I’ve given her her medication.

The consistency is more unusual. On the outside moist, spongy maybe but once the surface is broken it looks OK, dry hay inside. Not mushy or anything.

[JackRabbit]

Jade those poops are a mix of cecotrophs and regular poop.  Mucus is a sign of irritation in the intestines.  The shape and length suggests that your bun is having intermittent gut slow down.  What breed and color is your bun?  Can you post a pic please?

[Bam]

JackRabbit could be on to sth here  I think. It does look like fecal poop clad in a layer of cecal poop. Cecal poop has a very sticky film of mucus around it.

The fine-tuned assortment process in the bunny gun, where the material that’s going to become cecotropes is actually sent backwards for bit, can sometimes malfunction in a rabbit. The suggested treatment is a diet very, very high in fiber. Rabbits of a certain color pattern can be extra prone to this for genetic reasons, but the problem can also be acquired.

 

[JackRabbit]

Bam, exactly what I going.  Moshi has “acquired wet gut megacolon” (he clearly isn’t genetic EnEn lol; as messy and stinky as it can be at times, I’ll take the wet gut over dry gut any day!).  Unfortunately, what works has to fine tuned for each individual bun.  For Mosh, the solution has definitely been mega fiber!  The diet that works for him is Sherwood pellets, high fiber timothy hay and oat hay, and absolutely no fruits or greens.  I hate to mention megacolon because people usually start googling the word and find scary things (more info out there on the dry gut and genetic versions).

Since an intermittent slow down can be caused by other things, it takes a process of elimination and that process has to start with a vet visit with a fresh poop sample to rule out the presence of a parasite and any identifiable physical issues.  Pain can also cause weird poop things and we know how well buns hide pain!  (Moshi also had a long standing ear infection that went undetected for a long time because he had none of the normal outward signs). Beyond that, troubleshooting bun’s diet is key.

[Jadeo09]

We do believe she has intermittent slowdown as she poos very well and then at other times of the day she goes badly.

I took a sample of the poo to the vets and he was pleased with the poos, no infection, parasites, they were overall generally normal shape and size according to him. She done 250+ yesterday.

She isn’t having a mucky bum so I assumed her cecotropes have always been normal, especially as they look normal whenever I have seen them the past few weeks.

 

[Jadeo09]

How long would I need to feed her this very very high fiber diet for the gas to stop? She’s been on it for weeks now with no improvement

 

[Jadeo09]

After taking her the vets today she stopped eating. Probably sure to her going the vets, hours drive away, during her nap time. So she’s slept all day. This is the poos once she did them eventually. She seems to feel much better bow she’s pooped.

 

They were all different shapes and sizes strung together by a yellow and brown mucus.

Her bloating seems to have improved tho since stopping cisapride

[Jadeo09]

This is a much clearer photo

[JackRabbit]

She’s definitely got something irritating her gut.  Did the vet mention a hay only diet temporarily as a gut “reset”?

[Jadeo09]

Hi Jack rabbit

 

I have very good news. I told the vet on Friday her bloating seemed to coincide with the starting of the cisapride and would explain the intermittent episodes of gas.  So we changed over to domperidone and since we stopped the cisapride on Friday all the bloating has stopped her mucus has almost gone and she is eating without encouragement all day and night.  The cisapride was definitely caused it and I’m shocked by how quickly she has returned to her usual self since stopping it. She improved almost the instant it was out of her system. I can’t believe how drastic the change in her behaviour was since stopping it.

She’s running round jumping on the couch, running over looking for food and cuddles. I’d say she’s back to her usual self or very close to it.

Thanks for all your help. I would have been lost without it.

[DanaNM]

Great news!

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[JackRabbit]

That is good news!

[Jadeo09]

I’m thinking of taking her off the domperidone slowly now she’s doing so well. She eat all by herself yesterday woth no encouragement and did 288 poops. All uniform in shape and color. You can even see all the yellow from the oat hay in them from the outside so they don’t seem coated.

She was jumping all over me in the night for food and cuddles. She’s definatley back to her usual self. So thank you all for your help, and suggestions. We couldn’t have coped without all the help, tips and wealth of information on here already about stasis.

 

[Bam]

Wonderful news! 😃

[Author]

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