Intermittent Soft Stools?

[bunnymommy32]

In the week leading up to the New Year Benjamin started decreasing his timothy hay intake. I bought him several different bags of Kaytee Timothy from different stores thinking that maybe the bag he had was just a bad batch. Unfortunately he didn’t take to any of them and by New Year’s Eve at noon he completely stopped eating timothy hay. He was still willing to eat veggies and definitely interested in treats. Around 5 in the afternoon he pooped three really  really mushy…blobs. We figured that the best we could do until my parents got home would be to offer him free access to oat hay (We don’t usually because we’ve heard it’s fattening. Not sure if that’s true or not). He went to town on it and his poops were back to normal by 10 pm that night. I woke up the next morning at 6 am and checked out his ltter box – there was a mix of normal poop and some cecotropes, but he seemed happy and he was still munching away on his oat hay so we figured that maybe he’d just had a bad bout of gas. Because we gave him some celery on Sunday morning and took him to the vet Monday morning we didn’t noticed that the problem was recurring at the same time everyday. We figured it was our fault. I’m in the middle of my winter break so I can observe Benji all day and what I found was this – Benji will binky and race around his enclosure nonstop in the morning (really unusual for him). At exactly 9-9:30 Benji lays down for a long time, marking the start of his sluggish period. During this period he will sleep a lot and have a general look of being uncomfortable. His droppings consist of abrnormal cecotropes and poop blobs. He eats (but only fresh hay) and doesn’t drink at all. At 1:30 he gets up, stretches, starts to eat, drinks water, and overall just seems more alert. By 2 pm he is pooping normal, perfect poops. The rest of the afternoon is uneventful as he continues to eat hay, drink water, and just binky/race all over the place. I did some research and found this article on Veterinary Partner on Intermittent Soft Cecotropes (http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3012) and it seems to be exactly what he has so I took away all veggies and pellets starting last Friday. He did well on the weekend, no cecotropes in the morning and the usual 5 hour sluggish period. Monday we took him to the vet again to get the results of his fecal test and to get his blood drawn. Nothing showed up in either test. It’s been a week and I haven’t found cecotropes in the morning except for today and he is still having his sluggish period. I’m being pretty strict – no veggies or starches at all. He still won’t eat his timothy hay willingly and it’s becoming really difficult to find oat hay around here (my mom’s headed to Virginia today to buy some) so I sprinkled a little Oxbow Botanical Hay on some of his timothy hay last night. Could this be the cause?  I’ve never had a rabbit before so ISS is totally new to me and I don’t know what positive or negative signs to look for. On one hand he’s starting to get up earlier from his sluggish period (~12:30 he takes his first drink and by 1:30 there are perfect poops), his coat is actually looking fuller and shinier than it was before, and he binkys/races more often now than ever. But on the other hand, the reappearance of cecatropes and the fact that the runny stool period is still happening is confusing and demoralizing. If he was getting better should the period not be happening at all? Should I keep up the no veggie/pellet routine for another week? My vet also wants to put him on trimebutine, which I’ve never heard of, so I’d also like your take on that? I’d really appreciate all the help I can get.

[Sarita]

How old is Benjamin?

[bunnymommy32]

We think he’s about 4. We’re not exactly sure because he’s a rescue. I can post a picture if it helps.

[Sarita]

It is possible at his age that this is due to dental problems. Did the vet check his teeth?

[bunnymommy32]

Yes, he looked at them twice. Do you think I should go to a different vet and get a scan?

[Sarita]

It wouldn’t hurt. Sometimes the vet may have to anesthestize him to see those back molars. Sometimes too their tongue can get in the way to hide any spurs.

[bunnymommy32]

This is Benji

 

Also, I just took this about 5 minutes ago…could this be a sign of a UTI? It kind of looks like he peed while pooping. Straining to urinate?

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