Pellets and cecal dysbiosis

[pinkiemarie]

Has anyone here with a cecal dysbiosis bun had any luck feeding pellets? My guy had some issues when he was eating Oxbow Essentials but I didn’t realize yet what the issue was. I changed to Oxbow Garden Select for other reasons. I ended up doing hay and romaine only for a bit and got him feeling better and now we have some poopy butt again. I had been trying little various treats also to see what he can tolerate so I’m not positive that the pellets are an issue but of course I’m open to suggestions if anyone knows of one that’s high in hay with basically no sugar! I’m in the US since that probably matters in terms of what brands I can get.

[Cinnamon Bun]

I’m still struggling with Binkie, and this cecal dysbiosis thing. She’s been on a hay diet for over two weeks (nearly three?), and I don’t think anything has changed. If it’s diet related, wouldn’t her mushy cecotropes be clearing up now? As for the problem with the pellets, I haven’t been feeding them to my bun, and she still has ceco problems… All she’s been eating is a ton of orchard grass hay, and drinking lots of water. I don’t know what’s causing it. I’ve also been trying small pieces of various treats to work with her, but I can’t really figure out what she can’t tolerate. It’s confusing! Wishing all the best for you and your bun, @pinkiemarie. We’ll get through this ♥

[Cinnamon Bun]

Also, maybe small pet select has pellets that his tummy will agree with? I’m pretty sure their pellets are hay-based… I’m thinking of ordering my bun’s pellets from there.

[pinkiemarie]

Oh I haven’t tried those. The ones he eats now are hay based but they do have a lot of other ingredients. And the Oxbow Essentials that he was eating actually have some molasses if I remember correctly. I’m surprised that her problem hasn’t cleared up. Usually it should be much better within 2 weeks. Wally had nice firm cecotropes after one week so I’ve been experimenting with adding back pellets and various flavors of hay based treats and whatnot.

 

I know it isn’t an absolute must to even feed them pellets but I would prefer to have them eating small amounts like they do now for a vitamin basically. Hay and romaine lettuce must be lacking in some nutrition.

 

Have you tried mixing in another type of hay? I don’t know if it’s possible for them to actually be sensitive to orchard grass although that’s usually one of the more recommended types of grass hay to feed, but mine eat Timothy hay which is why I ask.

[pinkiemarie]

Ok so the less expensive Small Pet Select option has a lot of soy and also molasses but the soy free option doesn’t appear to have added sugars. I’ll need to look up a couple of ingredients to verify that but I’ll try it if nobody has a different recommendation that has worked well for their dysbiosis bunny!

[LBJ10]

Sherwood makes a timothy pellet that is gluten, grain, and soy-free.

[pinkiemarie]

Oh thank you I’ll look into that one also!

[LBJ10]

I don’t think it has molasses in it either (since you were concerned about that).

[pinkiemarie]

Yes you’re right, nothing in that one that looks like sugar either!

[pinkiemarie]

I’m reviewing the ingredients in Garden Select and it looks like it might have more vitamins and minerals but it also has tomato pomace which looks like it’s about 25% sugar, so I’m considering that this ingredient could be contributing to his problems. Unfortunately I don’t know what percentage of the pellets are made of this so it could be an incredibly small amount. The Sherwood has much higher fiber than the Small Pet Select so I’m leaning towards that, but since I have a bunch of garden select here I was thinking I might try feeding half as much once a day and see how that works. And eliminate all of the other little things I was testing on him until I see how the pellets make him feel.

[LBJ10]

It doesn’t hurt to try cutting down on what he’s currently eating.

[pinkiemarie]

So in case anyone else stumbles on this while looking for advice, I talked to the vet this morning and she is an exotics specialist. She told me that there are actually Timothy pellets with no other added ingredients at all and that’s what she recommended I feed him. I did manage to find one called Exotic Nutrition Timothy Pellets that I’m going to try. It looks like it’s significantly less expensive if you buy directly from the manufacturer vs a reseller.

[Cinnamon Bun]

Ooooh, thanks, @pinkiemarie. I might look into those for my bun. That’s a good point actually, although I’m not sure it’s the orchard hay that’s causing problems, because it was the exact same with timothy for her. It wasn’t real good quality timothy, though. It was kind of brown and dusty and had short strands, and it was REALLY EXPENSIVE. Pet store rip-offs. I don’t know what to do. I’m probably going to have to take her back into the vet, again.

Are soy and molasses bad for buns?

[pinkiemarie]

I’m not sure about soy but molasses is basically just sugar so a cecal dysbiosis rabbit should definitely not eat it!

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