NEWBIE QUESTION…Rabbit Poo???

[ramsey]

Hi all, am new to this, 2 months ago we acquired a 6month old flop-eared rabbit. (not sure what he is)  Do not know anything about rabbits, have never had one or held one until 2 months ago.  Ramsey has settled in well, built him a new cage, he is an indoor rabbit, only goes outside during nice weather for some fresh air.  he came to us fully toilet trained, does it in cat litter tray.  Recently have notice that he is starting to poo in opposite corner of his cage, sometimes this is soft and lots of small pieces, instead of his normal dry round pellet type poo, he is lying in this mess and getting it all over his legs, really hard to clean. any ideas as to why he might be doing it in the corner and not in his tray, he also sometimes moves his tray out of the way and does his business in the corner.  help much appreciated as my husband wants to get rid of him because he does not want him running around house covered in poo.  I do not want to get rid of him cause my 6 year old loves him to pieces.   sorry this is a bit long, couple more questions:

he molts quite a lot of fur – is this normal?

if we are bare-legged he runs around our feet biting our ankles (nothing vicious)- has been neutured & chipped.

would appreciate any help, thank you.

[Beka27]

welcome here!

have there been any changes in his diet recently? what is his diet exactly… what kind of pellets, how much? what kind of hay, and does he eat a lot of it? what kind of veggies and what amounts?

i don’t blame your husband, poopy bunny running around the house is NOT a good thing. can you confine him to an xpen for his exercise while this gets under control?

as far as shedding, bunnies shed four times a year, twice heavy, twice light. he is probably going thru his springtime heavy shed right now. try to brush him often.

the ankle biting is puberty behavior. even tho he’s neutered, seems like he is still experiencing some adolescent-type behavior. this might last up to a year old. did you have him neutered or was he when you got him?

[babybunsmum]

yes, i think you would benefit from confining him to a penned excercise area so that you don’t have poop all over your house.  like beka suggests you can set up an xpen or make a fence out of nic cubes (see pic below… i use them to block off non bunny areas). 

the smaller squishy poos are cecal pellets and – gross as it sounds – buns are supposed to eat them for nutritional reasons.  when they start leaving some behind it usually means that the diet needs to be adjusted.  checkout binkybunny’s diet page under buny info for a great guide.  if you’re pretty much already following that, then ramsey likely needs to be encouraged to eat more hay.  lessening pellets slightly, setting out small batches of hay more frequently during the day and putting hay in the litter box are all tricks to help.

one of my buns is just (finally) finishing a good molt & whoooo boy it was a lot of fur!  i’ve been constantly pulling loose tufts off of her & brushing her for the last 2 weeks at least!

the running around your feet nipping is ramsey telling you he’s in love with you   he’ll likely settle down a bit with age and if his neuter was recent then it may be a month or so before his hormones die down.

do you have any pics to share with us?

162524447871.jpg

[skunklionshow]

Just a further cecal discription:  sometimes they look like a wet cluster of grapes or even wet mulberries!  How big is his cage?  Is he generally confined to a cage most of the time or is he free-range most of the time.  Did his previous owners explain that bunnies choose their potty spots, we don’t choose them for them?  W/ that what might be the most convenient obvious place for you might not be so for him.  I got an awesome big litterbox and one of the rabbits still preferred a rather incovenient, former cage corner instead (I had to take out the cage wall to build my addition).  So I had to add another box for that original spot. 

I too would double check his diet.  If it changed, even the pellet or hay brand, it could address the cecal issue.  It’s my understanding that even though he’s been w/ you for 2 months, he might still be experience moving related stress.  Has this behavior been occurring since he came into your home?

Yes….pictures please!!!!!!!!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hello and Welcome! We’ll need to know about his diet (as they said) so we can help you figure out the problem. To me, it sounds like he’s either ‘over-producing cecotropes’ from an overly rich diet; Or he may have “poopy bum’ which can be quite serious.

[ramsey]

Thanks for replies, he eats a lot of grass from the garden, eats a handful of mixed rabbit food each day usually half in morning and half in evening, some hay but very little, has broccolli, spinach, apples, carrots various types of veg every other day, usually just one piece. cage is very large as we built it ourselves, he is locked in cage from 9am-1pm as we are at work but on our return he goes into the garden where he has a very large run, if its dry he stays their until 8ish then comes in, runs around house then is locked in cage at about 10ish until next morning. neutured just after we had him, poo has only been like this about 2 weeks, also could you let me know how to add a picture as i have never done this before.

thank you

[jerseygirl]

Hello!

No wonder your rabbit’s giving you love bites – so much freedom outdoors!!  My bunny loves this too! Is the rabbit mix you have a pellet and grain mix?  If so, you’ll need to start there and give only a good brand pellet.  The grains and dried fruits put waaay to much carbs and calories in the diet that can lead to problems.  Also, apple and carrot should be giving only sparingly for the same reasons but most green leafy veg is great.

That he’s lying in the mess could be concerning.  Is he lethargic after this?  If not, and it is just too many cecotrophs then a diet adjustment should help.  The bunnies are also really good at cleaning themselves and as mentioned before, they’re meant to ingest these cecotrophs.

Have you got a vet with rabbit knowledge? Maybe you could phone and ask for advice.

For pictures, click on browse button after “message attachment” line below the text box.  This should give you options where to locate photos on your computer.  Once you found the one you want, double click and the pathway for it should show in the message attachment box.  If this doesn’t make sense, there is a technical section in the forum topics that may help.

Hope you can sort out the buns issue soon – so goodluck!

[MooBunnay]

Hi Ramsey – welcome to BinkyBunny!

In order to fix those messy poops you must get your bunny on the correct diet. Messy or soft poops indicates an unhealthy diet, and is SO easy to fix by following the correct rabbit diet. If he is eating little to no hay, there is nothing in his diet to provide the dry structure to the poops. To get him to eat more hay, offer less vegetables, and less pellets and provide unlimited hay. Unlimited hay is the #1 key to a healthy bunny.

The hay should be about 90% of his diet – this must be a timothy hay or other grass hay and NOT alfalfa (alfalfa will cause the messy poops). Your bunny should always have hay available, as this is what provides the structure to those round poops that are healthy for a bunny.

Veg is definitely causing those soft poops too. Cut out the apples and carrots completely, those have a LOT of sugar for bunnies, and if you feed apple or carrots you should only feed on teeeny piece at MOST 3 times per week. High sugar content foods like apples and carrots are guaranteed to cause messy poops if they are fed every day. The veg you should stick to is dark leafy greens, and cut down to around 2 cups per day. Select veg like romaine, parsley, and red leaf lettuce.

The pellets should be timothy based (alfalfa based causes soft poops) and should be pellets only, no corn, seeds, or any other treat type things (those contain sugar, which, once again, causes messy poops!)

Good luck, and let us know if you have any trouble tracking down the correct hay and pellets.

[Author]

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