Intermittent Soft Stools and Diet

[snowballsmomma]

Hi binky forum!  Hoping someone can give some advice and maybe someone can coach me if they’ve been through this before 🙂

I have been foster mom to a super cute 9-month old rabbit named Snowball for the past 3 months.  Right before I got him, he had surgery to remove his two front teeth, but otherwise, was healthy.  When I took him in, I fed him the following daily diet: unlimited timothy hay, 1/4 cup juvenile/alfalfa pellets, 1/4 cup veggies (little kale, cilantro, lettuce, raddichio), and tiny tiny bits of banana/apple.

Unfortunately, a few weeks in, Snowball seemed to get what I think is called Intermittent Soft Stools (ISS).  Essentially, his poops were still fully formed but some of them (at one point, 30% of them) were moist and looked more like a brown pudding blob.  It looked similar to the picture of the bottom of this thread (https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/intermittent-soft-stoolsae/) with some even more moist/doughy than that.  I assumed maybe I gave him a bit too many veggies too quickly.  Otherwise, Snowball acted 100% normal and seemed healthy, still zooming around a bit every day.

I contacted the shelter vet and he suggested the following: changing the pellets to adult pellets, reducing the amount of pellets to 1/8 pellets,  cutting out all treats, and limiting veggies for now.  So I did everything he suggested, slowly changing the pellets (did a month-long slow transition) and even cut out all veggies because it seemed they were making the problem worse.

Ove the next week or two, it seemed to get better, and was reduced to 1-2 moist poops a day.  Great.  I started reintroducing veggies, one at a time, and while kale and cilantro seeemed fine, it seemed his moist poops came back once I started with the lettuce (only red/green leaf or romaine was fed).  OK fine, at least now I know not to feed lettuce anymore.  So I cut out veggies again, and went back to just pellets and hay to get ahold of the moist poops back to normal.  During that time, I brought Snowball in to the vet so they could check his teeth, I mentioned the moist poops again, and they just said don’t feed kale, but cilantro and parsley would be good.  The vet didn’t see any issues with Snowball’s teeth.

So now it’s been about 3 weeks with just pellets and hay and he’s still having a few moist poops a day.  But it’s not 100% going away.  I’m just lost – I am worried about not giving him veggies for so long since he’s missing nutrients, but at the same time, he’s still having the moist poops and it seems any veggies make it a little worse so I’m reluctant to start.  I’ve also read in a few articles that say you should ONLY give hay until everything is normal, but I guess I’m a bit worried he’ll starve (lol) because he already eats hay 80% of the day (he might eat slower because of the no front teeth), and because the vet never explicitly told me to do this so I feel like I’m doing something wrong.  I also feel a bit reluctant to write the vet again because he doesn’t seem too worried and I’ve already brought up the problem to him twice.  Snowball SEEMS relatively healthy, so I doubt it is something like parasites etc., but this is my first bun so maybe I’m missing something.

Here’s an article I’ve read on the topic.  Any advice would be so very much appreciated!!! 🙂

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952892

[Bam]

Some buns are prone to sticky poop. Why this is, isn’t fully known, but chances are there’s some sort of hereditary component. The problem can be in the innervation of the gut, or it can be about an imbalance in the gut microbiota. Very often its a combination of several things.

Hay actually has good nutrients, even though it doesn’t look like it does. The hay must of course be good quality, and it’s good to vary the hay types. All grass hays are good for rabbits, not just timothy. A healthy adult rabbit could live very well on hay only.

Most of us choose to give a small amount of pellets though, to ensure the rabbit gets absolutely everything it needs. Greens are more important as enrichment than as a substantial source of nutrients. So if your Snowball can’t tolerate greens, you can cut them out. If Snowball is a good weight, you can cut back on pellets to 1 tablespoon per day, but do keep an eye on his weight.

Hay is the best prebiotic there is, meaning it is the best food for all the microbes that we want the rabbit gut to be populated by. You can add a probiotic to his diet, for example Benebac. A rabbit probiotic should ideally contain enterococchus faecium and/or saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast).

The “good” thing about sticky poop is that it doesn’t seem to affect the bun’s general health. It is however troublesome for the bun owner, and the bun may need pretty frequent butt baths (or, if possible, corn starch “baths”). You need to keep an extra eye during the warm season because the risk of flystrike is elevated.

You are doing great, you are doing all the right things, but I do know it is frustrating. I had a poopy butt-prone rabbit for many years, and it kind of makes you feel like a bad owner. My other buns have not had poopy butt problems despite living in the same environment and getting the same diet, so I think my Bam was just “prone”.

What helped best for my bun was a diet mainly consisting of fresh grass. Fresh grass is however problematic right now if you’re in the USA, since you sadly are afflicted by the RVHD2-virus in many areas and the vaccine is not (yet, I hope!) available everywhere.

[JackRabbit]

What brand of pellets are you feeding?  Some buns can’t handle the sugars and fillers in the common brands of pellets and feeding pellets that are grain-free and soy-free can make a big difference with those buns.

[lopbunnymom]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. I second what JackRabbit said about the pellets. I would also try mixing up the hay. Timothy and Orchard Grass are the most common, but there are different cuts. My buns are use to “farm” hay, which is a lot stalker than bag store hay. This spring was very wet and I had to use store hay for 2 weeks and I could tell the difference.

[snowballsmomma]

Hi all,

I REALLY appreciate everybody’s replies and comments as this definitely has been worrying me for the past 2 months.

Bam – Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply.  It definitely looks like I may need to cut out greens if the greens keep causing Snowball’s poops to go moist.  Snowball is relatively good weight (definitely not overweight), so I will keep that in mind re. the pellets!  Also, that’s very interesting that there are rabbit probiotics to consider – I will definitely think about that as well.  I’m willing to try a few things, whatever can help!

I am hopeful that the sticky poop is not an indication of the rabbit’s health.  I have seen some that say moist poop COULD be indicative of parasites, kidney problems, cancer, but because my vet doesn’t seem concerned (at least the last time I checked) and since Snowball is still acting fairly well, I am assuming his health is fine.  Thank you for bringing up the risk of flystrike.  I do try to check his bum daily but am not always consistent so good reminder to do so frequently.

I think you also hit it right on the head.  I do feel like a bad owner because this is my first rabbit to take care of and I’m convinced I’m doing something totally wrong.  So I really truly appreciate hearing that someone else had this as well and it’s just the way it is.

I’m in Canada (Toronto) so we don’t have any cases I believe as of now, but still a bit nervous to feed fresh grass.  My family also used fertilizer (months ago) but I don’t know if that’s long enough ago to feed grass?

Jackrabbit – I am currently feeding “Martin little friends™ Timothy Adult Rabbit Food”.   These pellets definitely don’t look soy-free….  Initially, the soft poops started when he was on alfalfa pellets, so I know that these adult pellets aren’t what started this, but I do think its possible that the pellets may be perpetuating the problem since they won’t go away now and I’m only feeding pellets and hay.

Lopbunnymom – Thank you for the advice 🙂  I currently only feed timothy hay (the shelter actually provides the hay for all their pets being fostered), but I’m open to buying different hay to mix in if that will help!  I tried to find a place nearby that sold farm hay since I heard that was the best, but I couldn’t seem to find any place unfortunately 🙁

(Edited by Wick – link removed; inserted full rabbit food brand name and additional info below)

INGREDIENTS
Timothy Meal, Wheat, Soybean Hulls, Soybeans, Barley, Dicalcium Phosphate, Soya Oil (preserved with Rosemary Extract, Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Wheat Germ, Lignin Sulfonate, Brewers Yeast, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Rice Hulls, DL-Methionine, Mannan OligoSaccharide, Dried Dandelion, Antioxidant (Reg. #982389), Ascorbic Acid (a source of Vitamin C), Choline Chloride, Dried Chamomile Flowers, Iron Sulphate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Niacinamide, Mineral Oil, Copper Sulphate, Folic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin A, Biotin, Selenium, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin D3, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Sulphate.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein (min.) 12.5%
Crude Fat (min.) 3.5%
Crude Fibre (min) 17.0%
Crude Fibre (max.) 24.0%
Moisture (max) 10.0%
Sodium (actual) 0.20%
Calcium (actual) 0.6%
Phosphorus (act) 0.5%
Vitamin A (min) 17,250 I.U./kg
Vitamin D3 (min) 2,150 I.U./kg
Vitamin E (min) 54 I.U./kg
Calories per 8oz cup (250 ml): 171

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