Irregular bunny poo

[Ronniethelop]

Hi guys I’m new to the forums but have been hovering on here for a while now, I have a 5 & 1/2 year old French lop called Ron.
Ten days ago I noticed Rons behaviour had changed, I chalked this down to me moving his pen to the living room for the day from his usual place in our bedroom.

After placing him back in the bedroom I left him for a couple hours to let him settle but after discovering he had not eaten/poo/drank I began to panic and gave him recovery care & fibreplex in hope to get things moving. This worked and he gradually began acting as normal with the exception of him loafing more, no longer pooing as frequently and shaking his head/ears frequently.

After a couple of days of having a routine of increasing his exercise and only giving him hay and water he got in the habit of pooping a fairly usual amount but only around the house, mostly on our bed. To the extent he would only leave possibly one or two poos in his toilet & pen. The poos in question would always start of small and dark in colour but gradually turn to the correct size and light brown colour after 20-30 minutes. This was becoming and still is a daily occurrence, usually only once a day but some times twice and three times a day which seems like I’m in a way rebooting his digestive system.

I had managed to get him to the vets the following Friday ( not the best rabbit vets from previous trips ) however wasn’t many options with the current lockdown situation here in the uk, the vet was fairly good however couldn’t give many answers, was told there was no blockages or swelling and couldn’t hear any gas, teeth fine. However he said Ron was tender around the bladder ( and possibly the area in general )but couldn’t feel any stones etc either. He believed it was possibly due to him eating something he shouldn’t have.

He prescribed him 10ml of metacam 1.5mg/ml to be given at 0.9ml daily by syringe and gave him an injection of the same stuff I believe there and then. As well as replenishing my stock of recovery care however he told me that I shouldn’t give him that if he’s eating & drinking on his own. I see the difference 1-2 hours after the metacam as he becomes more perky and playful as well as his digestive system behaving normal.

I have seen slight improvement since then but not much has really changed, I am still having to encourage him to poo on a daily basis. He’s Constantly eating hay and drinking, I’ve gave him maybe 5-10 nuggets as treats on days that he has been best, where he will rush them out of my hand and then beg for more. I can see he’s not him self as his eyes are frequently half closed and he wants to lye down in his loaf position more often than not.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated as I’m not sure what else I can and should be doing for him.

[Bam]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>This is a bit tricky. Something is up, but it gets better with metacam. Metacam doesnt really help the gut, it’s an anti-inflammatory painkiller, so it’s a bit surprising that you are seeing improved poop with the metacam. It seems to help though, which means he is in some sort of pain.</p>
Pain alone, regardless of its source, can very well cause inappetence in a bun. Once the bun stops eating, the tummy becomes upset and that can take a while to get right again. You did exactly right with the recovery formula and Fibreplex. If he eats by himself now, you can stop the recovery formula as the vet said, but you need to make sure he isnt losing weight. Unless Ronnie is a very big bun, it’s fairly easy to weigh a bun in a bowl on normal kitchen scales. Keep a chart of his weight. If he loses weight, give more nuggets or recovery formula on a plate if he likes that. It’s dangerous for rabbits to lose a lot of weight in a short time.

Hopefully his tummy will go back to normal with plenty of hay, it can take a while, but hay is, as you know, the best thing. The underlying issue could still be there though, and it’s possible he’ll start to deteriorate once he’s off the metacam. Do you ever see him strain to pee? Is he drinking like he normally does?

There is a possibility of joint pain, even if hes not a senior quite yet. There could also be a bladder issue  in which case he could need a course of antibiotics. I dont suppose your vet took blood samples or you would’ve said so. Blood analysis is a very good diagnostic tool for rabbits, because they are so annoyingly good at hiding illness.

I do understand that this is a difficult time and that vet services arent as readily available just now. I think you will just have to do as best you can, you seem to have a good grip. Keep a close eye, be patient, supplement him with extra food if he needs it, ask your vet for more metacam if he seems to deteriorate when the metacam you have runs out. You could perhaps also ask for zantac (ranitidine), which is a mild gut stimulant and a stomach protecting drug.

Please keep us posted on how you and Ronnie do.

[Ronniethelop]

Thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, I greatly appreciate it. It’s really an odd one that I can’t seem to wrap my brain around.
Like I mentioned in my first post I do see a slight improvement in him, not sure wether I’m just expecting to much to soon though? Last time he wasn’t well he was only a baby and I feel like his down time was half of what it has been so far.
The vet didn’t take a blood sample unfortunately no, I had to wait outside but I’m presuming he would of told me to be able to collect results if he had done.

In terms of joint pain how good would be at hiding this? as he frequently makes some very large jumps around the house usually up onto the bed and couches however now that you mention it he does seem reluctant to jump down from these places recently where as he usually would.
In terms of urinating & drinking I don’t think I’ve seen a difference or change, only thing that’s different is he seems to be getting more urine on his bum and fur recently but that might be due to there being a big bulk of fur around his bottom thats in the process of molting at the minute, he drinks a lot especially after he’s been running around I’d say he drinks usually around 500ml sometimes a little more so, but he’s always drank as much.

Brielfy rang the vets earlier to speak to them on the phone, was a different vet this time however he mentioned similar to what you have also just said one thing he’s told me todo is continue with the fibreplex which we hadn’t gave him since Friday. His metacam would be due to run out on Tuesday, would there be any harm for him to continue on it further than that?

again thankyou so much for your response and all the knowledge and advice you’ve gave me. Greatly appreciate it.

[Bam]

Hi again!

Is Ronnie a big bun? A rabbit should drink about 100 ml water per day and kilo body weight. That is if the diet is mostly hay and some pellets, if the bun eats lots of fresh greens, it will drink considerably less.

There should not be pee residue on the back end and thighs, since rabbits like to clean themselves meticulously. It is a problem if the fur is wet all the time, because it can result in urine scald/urine burns. Another reason for wet fur is urine incontinence, in which case a UTI could be the cause. The vet didnt say anything about a suspected UTI? UTIs are not uncommon in rabbits.

A bun with osteoarthrosis/joint pain often can’t clean itself properly and cant reach to eat its cecals as it’s supposed to. Have you seen any sticky poop residue around the anal area?

Rabbits can be on metacam long term. It’s commonly prescribed long term for rabbits that have osteoarthritic pain. You start out with a bigger dose to quench the acute inflammation, then you taper down the dose until you find the smallest effective dose and give that as a maintenance dose. For flare-ups, the dose can be temporarily increased. Metacam is often combined with ranitidine to protect the gut. (This is the same for humans on human NSAIDs, we often get prescribed omeprazole to prevent gastric irritation, which is a side effect of NSAIDs).

If he has joint pain, it’s very good that he’s moving around, exercise is very important, but jumping from higher positions can of course be harmful due to the impact when he lands. There are  portable steps for small dogs that have trouble getting in and out of furniture, or you could perhaps make sth yourself with a box or just a pillow to soften the landing.

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