Poop stained fur? – Malformed Cecals

[Azerane]

Today while grooming Luna I noticed that she has some staining and a little bit of matted fur (just tiny bits) around her butt. I feel bad because I don’t think to really check their butts since shortly after I got them when they were both a bit pee stained from having a smaller cage and sitting in litter often. Since they both cleaned up shortly after I just never thought to check. I’m not sure if it’s pee, or whether it’s from cecal poop juices. Ever since I’ve had her, Luna has left small stains on the upstairs fleece, but only at night time so I always assumed it was from cecal poops that she was letting sit on the fleece. There isn’t mushed in poop, it’s just a darkish stain. She eats hay really well, I don’t think it’s their pellets because I have changed brands since I got them and she was leaving the stains on the fleece before I changed. I’m wondering if I should be cutting out veggies for a few days to see if there’s any changes. Thoughts?

I tried to take some pictures, but it’s hard to restrain a bunny, lift up their butt, and take a picture when you only have two hands  By the way, that’s her tail on the right.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but comparing her to Apollo who has a fluffy, glowing white butt, it does concern me a little. Should I be concerned? I know little tufts of matting can easily become large mats.

[Q8bunny]

Hmm… to my mind, cecal juices would have to be quite copious to stain that large an area, but I could be wrong.
Is there any chance the staining is from sitting on pee-moistened litter/hay that’s then transferring colour to her white fur?

[Azerane]

Litter tray pee staining is certainly a valid thought, but if it’s there, then surely I would be seeing it on her feet, or Apollo’s butt or feet. But it’s only around her butt and her feet are fluffy and beautiful

I’ll take a pic of the stained fleece, but we’re currently using dark blue so colour may not be much of a helpful indication of anything.

[Q8bunny]

Oh… then def. not that

[Azerane]

I take back my prior comment, there are some poopy bits but there’s not always, just the paler stains.

ETA: That’s about a week’s worth of stains, the patch is bigger, but you get the idea. Also the hole they chewed

[jerseygirl]

Both Ailis and Rumball get this. Ailis leaves a lot of those stains also.
For Rumball, he has some longer fur down near his privates and the ends get a bit yuck. Ive trimmed them off multiple times.
Im not really certain of the cause or how to avoid, sorry. I’ll read with interest other peoples suggestions.

It could be a little to do with breed shape and ability to clean down there perhaps?

[Azerane]

Hmm, I’m not really sure, but I’m glad she’s not the only one. I know she can reach, because during the day we sometimes see her reaching down there and shortly afterwards nomming away. So gross If anything she should be more flexible now because she’s lost the excess weight since we got her.

She is perfectly healthy otherwise, great hay eater, great pooper etc. But I don’t like that her butt is a little stained and potentially damp, especially going into warmer weather and with flies getting into the house.

[Azerane]

So I changed the fleece out the day I posted this so I could take a better pic of the stains. You can see in the bottom left of the pic it’s little bits of stuck on poo, but the rest is just staining, there’s nothing actually stuck on the surface. This was the morning after. She has been leaving messes during the day too. I gave up the greens for two days to see if it would make a difference but it hasn’t. All the lighter marks on the right aren’t stains, they’re holes in the first layer of fleece.

[Azerane]

My apologies to you all (and Luna) for this next image. Hubby gave me a hand and I held her, while he took a better pic. As you can see it’s not too bad, but it is stained and there is a little bit of matting. Her feet are nice and fuzzy and the grey colour they’re meant to be. Obviously her butt isn’t going to get better in 2 days, but I thought cutting the veggies might show some difference with the fleece staining, which it just hasn’t. So maybe even 2 tablespoons of pellets is a bit much for her? I’m not terribly fussed about the staining on the fleece, it washes out perfectly, I’m just concerned with her having dirty fur around her butt.

JG, do Ailis and Rumball get dirty butts as well, or just leave the stains?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Sorry, can’t help. Zou is whiter than white, Zou is black….

[Gina.Jenny]

Pippi gets something similar , Ive noticed he doesn’t always bother to lift his tail, esp if hes held on awhile.

I trim any easy to trim matted tufts every so often.

Latte is the same, but as he is a long haired piggy, I trim the whole area short

[Q8bunny]

Not sure what might help since the Choo is pretty sparkly white down there… but I’ve noticed that for him, one too many sugary treats make his poos wetter – not mushy or in any other way abnormal. Just…. glossier/slicker when they’re fresh. Have your two had craisins or nanners lately? Stab in the dark here…

[Jessica]

I’ve only ever owned angoras, but I’ve always done a sanitary trim on them to keep the fur neat and clean. They get so much fur down there that they just downt have good access to keep themselves clean

[Azerane]

Sorry, delayed response. Thanks for responding

They don’t get very many treats at all. Maybe one tiny piece of dried fruit every 2-3 days.

I suppose it will just be the peepee poopy butt mystery

[Azerane]

I thought I would add onto this thread rather than starting a new one. Today while I was brushing Luna she was doing some squishy yuk poop stuff that I tried cleaning off of her fur without much luck.

Then 5 minutes after I popped her back in the pen, she left this lovely gift. Not quite sure what to think, it’s definitely not a cecal, but it’s not normal either. She does lots of normal poops (not sure if that’s one of hers or his next to it) but then she gets this goopy stuff. I’m not sure that I need to be worried because she’s well otherwise, never had any concerns with her at all but these sorts of poops do worry me. Should I cut out greens for a week? I just bought new stuff at the market today I can’t really cut out pellets because I don’t think she would keep weight on and she only gets around 2 tablespoons a day anyway (if that since Apollo gobbles his first and then helps Luna finish). I suspect these sort of things are the reason for the staining on the fleece, as opposed to cecal juice.

[Q8bunny]

How does it smell? Bunny poop only smells ‘bad’ when there are tummy issues.
What about that little orangey chunk in the top right corner? Do these poos have identifiable chunks in them that could indicate partially digested veg vs fully processed! Just out on a limb here….

[Azerane]

It was smelly

My guess is that the orange chunk is a piece of papaya. They each had a tiny piece of dried papaya last night, maybe the size of the fingernail. They haven’t had anything else orange in the past day or two. I guess I could break it apart some more to have more of a look. Probably dried up a lot by now, but shouldn’t smell as bad, lol

[Azerane]

Well, the outside was drying out but it was still wet and smelly on the inside, lol.

[Q8bunny]

In that case I would cut out fruit to try no-sugar for a while and see if these poops persist. If they do, cut out all fresh food and see if the poops stop. If they stop, slowly reintroduce fresh items one at a time and try to id the poop trigger that way

[Azerane]

I did previously try no greens and treats for a couple of days previously and she still had the sticky goop but it may not have been long enough. They barely get treats as it is, sometimes I go a week without giving them any. Poor Luna, poor Apollo. Guess hubby and I are eating a lot of lettuce this week, lol.

Guessing a whole week for a complete ban on treats and greens?

[Q8bunny]

I would think one to two weeks – it’s like stasis… it can take a fortnight easily for a tum to reset properly

[Azerane]

That’s unfortunate, oh well, best for bunny Thanks for your advice Q8.

I have some more poop pics, lol. I was hand feeding Luna a few choice bits of hay about half an hour ago and she’s just made a deposit of bad and good. 

The goopy poops

and the regular poops that followed. You can see there seems to be a sort of gradient between the two different types of poops. At this point, that piece of papaya was about 15 hours ago, and leafy greens over 24 hours. I don’t quite recall how long food takes to pass through.

[Q8bunny]

Well, mushy poops are not a product of funny food per se, but rather funny food disrupts the GI system, and that imbalance can last long after the food has passed through bun’s system

[Azerane]

Yes, it was more of a curiosity thing since it seemed to be more prevalent right now I had wondered whether something set it off more than usual however many hours ago.

[Azerane]

Day 2 of nothing but hay and pellets. No improvement yet. I think I can see undigested hay in this poop. Hard to tell from this shot but it’s sort of of cluster rather than one big poop like the other one was. She does heaps of normal poops in between.

Also, just excuse me while I visually document Luna’s poop journey, lol.

[Q8bunny]

Hang in there…

[jerseygirl]

Has she been producing these since on the new batch of hay?

Curious to know if she dropped the big mushy poo first then its all normal directly after. I remember a few posts by others where they were noting their rabbits doing that. I don’t think it was determine as to why.

Also, I think GJ was seeing some odd poo with Podge and was able to get them normalise with diet and probiotics, I believe. I’ll look for that thread…

[jerseygirl]

Here it is: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/146095/Default.aspx
You’ll appreciate she also documented it in poo photos.
Not nearly as mushy as Luna is producing lately, but he was certainly producing some odd ones.

You mentioned also about her keeping on weight now? Could she have some teeth issues brewing perhaps?

[Azerane]

Thanks JG for the link. Podge did have some funny poops, he seemed to have more consistently odd poops though. Luna has perfect poops, and then just a couple of times a day these mushy ones that kind of look like they want to be cecals, but aren’t really

In regards to her weight, I can’t imagine any teeth issues. It’s been like that since I got her, well after she lost her excess weight I found that she dropped below where she should be. I increased her burgess pellet amount a little but after I switched to Vetafarm pellets instead I found she held her weight better, but I suspect if I took pellets away her weight would drop like a stone (guessing, then again she only gets 2 tablespoons anyway). Apollo on the other hand has no trouble keeping a good weight.

I forgot to add it yesterday, but here’s yesterday’s poop offering. I think shortly after lunch time she did these clustered mushy poops, they’re kind of almost cecals but too big and not properly formed. The regular poop is in the shot for sizing

Then around 5:30pm yesterday she did these mushy poops leading into normal poops, there seems to be a graduation in the change. Is that normal? I’ve never noticed it with any other rabbit.

TODAY: Shortly after I got home from work, she went down to the litter tray, left these cecals and nothing else, then went back upstairs to relax. I can’t help but wonder if those large mushy clustered poops from prior days were meant to be cecals and her cecal poops have just been deformed all this time? I don’t know, just speculation. She’s obviously not eating these, so I’m wondering whether she’s over producing. She definitely does others that she eats because I see the stains on the upstairs fleece where she sits. And I see her reaching down to nom

While writing this post she’s just jumped back into the box so I’m just reading some info and waiting while she goes about her business I found these two interesting pages on the HRS website about cecal disorders:

http://rabbit.org/disorders-of-the-cecum/

http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

The things I’m taking from both of those is that I should have cut her back only to hay, I’m just concerned about her weight. I wonder whether it would be worth a vet visit before dropping only to hay, or whether after a week or no greens if I then cut down to only hay for a week and if that’s not working then a vet visit. I’m not sure there’s much to be done about it though, everything I’m reading about abnormal cecal motility doesn’t seem to offer strict diagnosis methods, unless the rabbit is also visibly very unwell, which Luna is not. Most commonly caused by incorrect diet/lack of dietary fibre. But Luna eats lots of hay. I know that gut flora can take time to correct itself though, and perhaps it just didn’t get that chance after I first brought them home. They were on a litter which was actually chicken feed pellets (terrible I know), so in the likely scenario that she’d been eating that (Apollo had been, it’s why he was so fat, lol) I suspect it’s probably just a roll on from all that. I paid lots of attention to their fecal poops back then, but didn’t really look at cecals, I should have.

Still, I suppose it’s only been 4 days or something since dropping greens. Her poops just now were normal fecals with about 2 that were darker and more moist like the other “transition poops”. 

Hmm… just looking through pics of her, I wonder if her yoga pose is a discomfort pose. She’s just done it every so often since I brought her home, so I figured it was just one of her quirks.

Sigh, Apollo is sitting on the hay rack again. He jumped in it yesterday with his bum hanging over the edge and was just sitting there munching with poops dropping out, lol. Too lazy to jump in the tray, but he’ll sit in the hay rack.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Thanks again for advice and help. JG that thread with Podges poops really helped because it’s helped make it more clear that this is about cecal poops, and not fecals at all.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Henry does yoga stretches just like that everytime he gets up from laying down.

He even sticks his bum in the air right up and then walks forward with his back legs to catch up with the rest of his body. lol.
ou does not do that at all, but they both have such different shapes (Henry such long hind legs, Zou hardly any ‘leg length) at all.

Just seen this thread – soz – but wouldn’t have had anything interesting to add…

[Q8bunny]

Oh wow! Due to their size, it never even occurred to me that they might be cecals…

[jerseygirl]

I wonder if it the cecum not emptying out completely or something?. Then when she in the fecal poo phase, she empties out the rest then? 

  I found these two interesting pages on the HRS website about cecal disorders:

Haha Snap!  i had that 1st one opened in a different tab.

They were on a litter which was actually chicken feed pellets (terrible I know), so in the likely scenario that she’d been eating that (Apollo had been, it’s why he was so fat, lol) I suspect it’s probably just a roll on from all that. I paid lots of attention to their fecal poops back then, but didn’t really look at cecals, I should have.

Can’t imagine that gives odour control! Did you happen to notice the brand or was it too long ago? Some animals are purposely fed chicken pellets because of the antibiotics and anti-coccidial stuff in them.The low dosing can keep infection under control but not irradicate it,

[Azerane]

Thanks Vienna, she’s never seemed in pain to me so I think you’re right it’s just her stretching pose.

Q8, I didn’t think of it originally either. They were just so large and unusual, but once the clustering became more obvious with all those normal fecal poops, what else can it be.

JG, I can’t imagine it did either. I don’t know whether the rescue was buying it because it was cheap or whether it had been donated. I’ve no idea on the brand, never saw a bag for it, just saw a bit of it in the tray and I imagine the different brands look quite similar.

[Azerane]

I missed yesterday’s offering due to being busy, but here’s today. Not much has changed really, still producing cecals at times during the fecal poop cycle and there’s the typical gradient. I suspect she may have done a separate cecal poop earlier as in previous days, but I may have missed it when I cleaned out the tray.

I think today is day 6.

ETA: I’ve been trying to feed Apollo greens on the sly. It’s not working, Luna picks up on it and then goes on a humping frenzy when there’s none for her. I’ve tried bringing Apollo onto the couch for greens with lap time, but he just digs and angrily throws the greens around and only eats a tiny bit.

ETA #2: Just read something that said when the cecum isn’t working properly, the rabbit can’t get all the nutrients they need, so therefore they can get skinny. Perhaps that’s why I’ve had trouble with Luna’s weight. If her cecum only partially empties, she’s not renewing all the contents, only some of them so only getting some of what she needs. Going to give it a day or two more without greens, and then drop the pellets as well I think (she’s going to be so, so sad, her begging face is the cutest). Then if a week (maybe two if weights are good) of hay only doesn’t work, we might have to see the vet just to suss out what’s going on. I hope it fixes itself, I don’t want to pay for an x-ray etc

[jerseygirl]

The fusus coli is the part of the intestinal tract that is important in the timing of the fecal and cecal phase. And where the poop shape is formed. It is hormonally controlled and has a lot of nerves.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=yZV5AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=fusus+coli&source=bl&ots=kyaboSsiBP&sig=C1DHondj1r2RLJyyn20qmktXsuc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiutsvStfPRAhXIwLwKHWA3BuoQ6AEIXjAO#v=onepage&q=fusus%20coli&f=false

I also found these videos about the rabbit GI tract really good – if anyone is interested in viewing them. There are 4 parts.
I’ve linked this one in part way through it as it is more about what happens after food has passed through the stomach. But I really recommend viewing them all in full at some point.
http://youtu.be/hlWnXKTUKTc?t=5m54s

[Azerane]

Thanks for the link to that book, it’s a pity that one page is blanked out, probably lots of handy information in there.

Just watching that first segment of video now, super informative. Very good explanation of how it works, I didn’t realise it worked quite like that with the matter entering the colon before going back to the cecum. Organs/the body are amazing. I’ll have to watch through the rest after hubby’s done watching the Simpsons

Also, I realise I didn’t answer your earlier question about the new hay causing the change. I don’t think so. She’s always left the drips on the fleece, but I’m honestly not sure whether she had weird midday cecals like this before or not. I can’t imagine not having noticed them, but at the same time I don’t see how a new bale of hay could cause it either. Unless it was already building and just reached a certain point. Maybe a delayed reaction to the change to Vetafarm pellets? But I did change to those a while ago. Oh well, a couple more days of poop pictures and I’ll cut her back to hay only. I’ll have to sneak Apollo away for pellets.

ETA: I’m an idiot. I was telling hubby about Luna’s poop problems while he was sitting in the bunny pen petting Apollo, and he said “here Apollo, chew the pinecone” and tossed one of the two small pinecones to him. All I could think was how much of an idiot I was for not removing those, and I see Luna chew on them.  Not saying it’s the problem, but a bit of a stupid oversight on my part. They’ve been in there since just before Christmas when I decked out their cage for it.

[Aaron]

My Sebastian sometimea gets those malformed mushy poops, but not that wet. Try no greens or treats, and if it persists, head to the vet

[Azerane]

Posted By Aaron on 2/03/2017 6:00 AM

My Sebastian sometimea gets those malformed mushy poops, but not that wet. Try no greens or treats, and if it persists, head to the vet

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 6 days.

[Azerane]

Well, I can’t say I’m impressed with Luna’s progress (or lack of), so from today they’re not getting pellets anymore. They already had their breakfast pellets, but they won’t be getting dinner ones. I’m going to have some sad/grumpy bunnies. I weighed them yesterday (as I do Friday every week) but I think I might weigh halfway through the week just to make sure she’s not losing a huge amount of weight.

I mean, what even is this? Cecal mush, that’s what…

[Q8bunny]

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

[Azerane]

I don’t quite understand the reference, but definitely something rotten

Today’s poops, we got a weird peanut in shell shaped one today Out of the camera flash, these poops are very dark. But I’m wondering the flash makes parks of the poop look kind of reddish (the left hand side of the long peanut shaped one), and I’m wondering what the chances are that it’s blood. I don’t have any hydrogen peroxide on hand to test, will have to pick some up in a little bit. ETA. After testing and it foaming like crazy, and me worrying so trying a perfectly normal fecal poop from Apollo, and that foaming too, I then read online that the test doesn’t work with poop, because there’s other things that cause it to foam, lol. Nevermind. Now I have some hydrogen peroxide.

I zoomed in some more and lightened the image to show you what I mean.

[Krista]

Bilbo got poop that looked like the ones on page 2 whenever he would get cilantro or parsley. I assumed they were cecal pellets and that he was just over producing them and so I took him off the cilantro and parsley. This was at 2 separate times about a month apart. When I took him off them the weird poops went away. Boy did they smell and stick to his butt. He had some weird ones, but like I said they went away no more than 2 days after I removed the cilantro and parsley. Though your buns poops are oddly not changing. I would think it would have to be something she is still eating. Is there anything she chews on in her play area? Like a wooden chew or something? I wouldn’t think it would be her food because you’ve taken her off the veggies before and stopped with the treats.

[Azerane]

Thanks for the input

She’s been completely off of all greens and treats for at least 8 days, and on hay only since yesterday. I did realise a couple of days ago that I had left pinecone chews in the cage which Luna chews on occasionally. But they’ve been in since Christmas and there’s still plenty left on them so it’s not like she’s had a lot. I removed those when I realised. Otherwise there’s nothing left in there that they chew on apart from hay. I’m really hoping that they improve having removed the pellets from her diet, if they don’t then I’m going to be very worried.

She seems completely well otherwise, eats, pees, poops, drinks well and runs around, doesn’t act in pain etc.

[Q8bunny]

I wonder if she has a bunny version of irritable bowel syndrome, triggered by non-food stimuli??

fyi, the quotation is from Hamlet

[Vienna Blue in France]

I wondered if I saw red on your previous photo, the one with the half moon shaped cecal mush. On the right hand side it looks very red but I thought maybe it was a funny shadow from the photo.
There is defintely a red sheen, on the photos atleast….

[Vienna Blue in France]

In any case, the photos you’ve been showing over the past week certainly don’t look as if the poops are getting any firmer…. time for that vet visit ?

[Azerane]

I would have thought that if she had IBS or whatever the bun equivalent is, that her fecals would be messed up too, but maybe not.

Vienna, I’ll admit I can’t see the red in the half moon mush, but there’s definitely two different colours in the one from yesterday with the red. I don’t really know what blood in cecal poop would look like. Would it be red? Or a different colour because it’s partially digested? A vet visit is certainly crossing my mind more and more often. I did want to try and wait out the week of hay only first.

Today so far. She also left some more cecals upstairs. Sometimes her cecals look better, other times they don’t. This was about an hour ago. Interestingly enough, she just also did some fecal poops, and there were no transition poops. As in it didn’t blend from cecal to fecal poop. It was just fecals. Not holding my breath any time soon however

[jerseygirl]

The red area on that bigger poo (second to last pic) looks more to be in the mucus covering. That also looks more like fecal material but covering in the glossy cecal mucus… I guess it would be hard to discern what colour the cecal coating normally is given it covers dark brown cecal matter. I had assumed it would be clear but it’s possible it mixes with some of the more liquid cecal matter when the cecal shape is being formed and coated.

So this week it’s hay only, no pellets, no veg? I definitely think it’s worth trialling no pellets. I would be tempted to re introduce some “safe greens” but im too soft! That could possible interfere… Poor you! Lucky they like their hay. Hopefully you’ll only have to do it for a few days to see a positive result. Fingers crossed.

[Azerane]

I didn’t consider the red area to be a coating, but that’s a good suggestion. If I see another like that I’ll open it up to see if the red goes through or is just on the outside. It’s interesting because on the clusters in that same image, some of the poops in the cluster are the normal colour, and a squished one in the middle is red.

I have no idea what colour cecal mucus is normally, not something I ever thought to look at, lol.

Yes, this week is hay only, nothing else. The poor things. To be hones they gave up on getting pellets pretty quick, but Apollo looks at me every now and then, like he’s hoping I have something. You have no idea how much I want to give them greens or just anything. But I can’t. And when Luna can smell something yummy that Apollo has had, she has to mount him so that he remembers to save some for her next time

I really hope it fixes itself, next month is no trouble for a vet visit, this month is a pain. Oh well, bunnies be bunnies. I’m also thinking that not only does the poop shape/consistency need to improve, but she needs to be doing far less cecals, she drops them all through the day.

[jerseygirl]

I’m also thinking that not only does the poop shape/consistency need to improve, but she needs to be doing far less cecals, she drops them all through the day.

Just lately or ever since you’ve had her?

 

Also, is she moulting or coming into a moult?  Strange qu, I know. Nothing to do with fur coming through tract or anything like that. I was just wondering what hormones might be involved in rabbits moulting.  And moulting can affect rabbits in strange ways.  So Im just curious! : )

[jerseygirl]

p.s. you’re going to have to start a new instagram account just for her poopie pics alone!

[Gina.Jenny]

Garden grown forage (weeds to a gardener!) and probiotics seemed to improve Podge’s poops. The dandelion stalks were the best, followed by fresh clover and the goose grass also was good. Vibes for a happier tum x

[Azerane]

Lol, JG @TheDailyBunnyPoop I’m definitely way past crazy bunny lady status.

I’m pretty sure she’s doing more cecals in the past couple of weeks that this has been going on than she usually does. She always seemed to do a fair amount anyway, more than Apollo, but there’s definitely more at the moment. And yes, both of them are shedding like there’s no tomorrow.

GJ, most of their greens when I was still feeding them) are garden forage greens anyway. I tend to buy a lettuce, and maybe one other thing and then bulk it up with fresh grass, dandelion greens and flowers, orchard grass, sow thistle, catsear, plantain, herbs, whatever else I can find. I’m really hoping I can feed greens again

[jerseygirl]

Mmm, it really makes me wonder if there is some hormonal involvement that’s throwing of the fecal/cecal timing mechanism for her. And the area where these are both shaped. Im speculating…

As to forage, do you still have dried willow? That may please them but also have some affect in correcting the poops.

[Azerane]

I have a whole tub full of dried willow still I’m reluctant to give anything else, because if it doesn’t sort itself out I won’t know if the willow was the reason for that or if it could have sorted itself out with just hay  Silly bunnies.

[Aaron]

How is her poop today? (Strange Question)

[Azerane]

I think she’s doing better on hay only

This is the only stuff I’ve seen during the day today so far, and usually there’s quite a bit by this time of day. You can’t really tell what it looks like because it’s completely covered in fur (so much moulting). But the stitching on the fleece should give you an idea of just how tiny these cecals are I’m calling this improvement

[Vienna Blue in France]

Yay-hay!

[Azerane]

Yes! Except now it most likely means I have to try and sell an open 6kg bag of pellets Of which I’ve used less than 1/2 kg. Someone might take it, can’t afford to give it away to a rescue unfortunately.

I wonder whether eventually I should try them on oxbow, or whether a hay and greens diet would be best for Luna.

[Vienna Blue in France]

I would not get ‘excited’ just yet – I would wait a week or so of constant pooping… then reintroduce a little bit of pellets… and see what happens.
It may not have been the pellets…. you’ll have to find out or you’ll never know.

And anyhoo, does poor Apollo not eat them or has he got to go on a diet too…..?

[Azerane]

Hubby said I should try reintroducing the pellets to see if it was them as well. The problem with that if it was the pellets, is that it took more than a month for the problem to appear. Like she tolerated them for a bit and then it got too much for her system. So I just feel like I’m better off skipping the pellets (at least this brand) altogether.

Apollo would love to eat them, but poor Apollo is also on a diet. I was bringing him onto the couch for lap time for food, but half the time he would be grumpy and not eat, and the other half the time, when I put him back, Luna would smell the food on him and hump him because she didn’t get any… I thought it was best to just avoid that, haha.

[Q8bunny]

If it is the pellets, you could always try intermittent feedings with them. The thing is, while I get that domesticated buns do sometimes have pellet free diets, I always worry about whether the greens and hay I’m feeding (some of which are obviously not foraged) meet the bun’s nutritional needs in the long run. Especially for buns who live primarily indoors.

[Azerane]

I know, I certainly understand that and it really is the main reason I feed pellets, to make sure that they are getting all that they need since I assume that I simply can’t provide enough variety to possibly give them everything.

To be honest, I’m not sure how she’s been doing the past couple of days, with the extreme heat I haven’t been keeping an eye on poop (except to make sure they’re pooping), and I’ve been giving them bits of romaine lettuce throughout the day to try and keep them cool and hydrated. That was more important to me than the risk of a soft cecal or two. On Thursday I didn’t change the litter tray because it was just too hot to go outside once I got home from work so I wasn’t on top of what was going on there either.

But at the end of it all, I might stay off the pellets for a while, I might reintroduce a few greens and see how we go for a month or so, and after that I’ll probably look at reintroducing pellets, but another brand. Either Oxbow or Burgess.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Az – I was just googling Cat Litter (Clumping vs non-clumping litter) and came across this (USA)…  thought you’d be interested bearing in mind yours came from chicken feed litter (it was yours wasn’t it? I haven’t gone back up to search &nbsp

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I have had good results with Yesterday’s News. And Yesterday’s News doesn’t track like most litters. When the cats urinate on the pellets, they just become soggy, and they don’t track outside the box usually. With feline pine, the pellets break down into sawdust and track everywhere. I also never had odor issues with Yesterday’s News but I always bought the one with baking soda in it – there was no scent, but there was baking soda in the pellets which helped with odor control.

If you’re considering World’s Best or SweatScoop, you might as well buy chicken feed instead. It’s practically the same thing, but at a much lower cost. See this thread for more comments on it: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68079
It’s also much better for the environment than litter than has a whole bunch of chemicals in it and you can re-use the soiled chicken feed as fertilizer in your backyard. And chicken feed clumps naturally, faster than clay clumping litter, and I’ve never had a problem with it sticking to the sides or bottom of the box.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

So there, it’s a common thing apparently…. 

[Azerane]

Yes it was mine Well for cats, no problem. They’re not going to be interested in eating it are they, they’re obligate carnivores! But certainly explains why someone would have thought to use it for bunnies in the first place. If only bunnies weren’t so greedy.

[Azerane]

Just wanted to give a quick update on Luna. She seems to be doing well. She’s still leaving cecal stains on the upstairs fleece. But she doesn’t seem to be doing those large malformed cecals anymore. She still seems to be producing a few that she’s not eating, but much less than before, and they’re the right size and shape now.

I’m thinking I’ll start reintroducing greens this weekend.

[Gina.Jenny]

yay for Luna

[Vienna Blue in France]

Yay for good poops !!!

[Q8bunny]

fingers crossed keep up the good work, Luna

[Azerane]

Bunny digestive systems are frustrating. 2 days ago I started some greens: a few blades of grass, then yesterday it was a few blades of grass and a tiny tiny piece of cos/romaine each. 2 days and Luna is already producing excess cecals again and they’re a tiny bit larger today  It’s so frustrating. Maybe I gave too much grass, but it really wasn’t much. Going to leave it a couple days and then start again, ridiculously slowly. Literally 1 blade of grass each to start with. I chose grass because I figured it would be the easiest thing to start with.

[Q8bunny]

rule of thumb for reintroduction to dicky gi system is generally the slowe the better… so sound plan with one blade

[Azerane]

I know, I guess I just got excited about being able to give them greens again.

[Author]

Messages