Poop troubles…

[StachesMommy]

My bunny has had watery diarrhea yesterday.  It was quite scary as I know the dangers of true diarrhea in rabbits.  She is almost back to normal.  She has her appetite back and has been eating her hay.  She just started wanting her pellets again.  She was doing great this whole week and then all of a sudden it just happened yesterday morning.  Could it have been the red romaine?  She was doing fine with it so on the 7th day I started giving her a bit more than the testing 2 inch piece.  I started gradually increasing the amount and she couldn’t of had more than 2 tablespoons at most.  I started noticing her doing random small poops.  Round, softish, normal color… only just half the size of her regular poops.  She did it along with her normal ones so I wasn’t too alarmed then out of nowhere she started having watery diarrhea.  I cut out all veggies and monitored her. She seemed miserable but luckily a few hours later things started getting back to normal.  Her poops are solid now but some are still small.  Some are normal and she does random ones here and there that are tiny.  What could cause this?  Is it the fresh produce?  I have stopped giving her veggies and upped her hay.  Is there a vegetable that all bunnies universally do well on?  Thanks!

[StachesMommy]

*UPDATE* : She was doing fine this morning. Ate some pellets and loads of hay. She did a mound of normal poops and now there’s that watery diarrhea again. No idea… The vets are closed.

[Bam]

True diarrhea is rare in rabbits, but does occur in very young buns due to a parasite (coccidia) or a not yet fully developed gastro-intestinal microbiota that gets challenged by sth like stress or an abrupt change of food, and in buns that are on antibiotics. Antibiotics can kill off too many of the beneficial bacteria in the gut, leaving the field open for really nasty (but naturally occuring) bacteria to proliferate.

If she’s eating and drinking and has some normal poop, it’s soon Monday and you can call your vet.

There’s no universally tolerated veggie, and there are buns that just can’t have fresh vegs. Vegs that are often tolerated by rabbits with digestive issues are f ex mint (not in large quantities) and fennel. Buns can get allergic to certain foods like humans and dogs can. It could also be that her GI microbiota isn’t ready for veggies. To establish a healthy, sturdy GI flora, you generally give only hay for a longer period (plus pellets if that’s tolerated), about 3 months. Then you reintroduce greens like you would with a baby bunny.

[StachesMommy]

Thanks Bam. She is back to doing binky marathons and normal poos. She has massive poopy butt though. She’s been trying to groom herself to get it all clean. I took away her pellets for now. She wanted timothy hay which she hates…it’s odd. I did give her timothy, oat, and alfalfa. She’s been nibbling on and off and drinking water. I felt some bubbling in her tummy so gave her a stomach massage and she pooped her normal round pellets. Could it be a cecum issue? It wasn’t as watery as yesterday but it wasn’t like the other cecal issues she had when she was much younger. Now I’m hearing from the answering services at the vets that the exotic vet may not be in until Wed!!! As long as she is eating and drinking, she would be fine until then?

[Bam]

As ling as she’s eating and pooping normal poop + sticky poop she’s not in any immediate danger. This is of course sth you need to look into, but the management will most likely be through the diet. According to Medirabbit it’s no use and no advantage to try and eradicate less good gut bacteria with antibiotics, healthy bacteria will recolonize the gut if you find the right dietary measures to take.
This is due to a not-super-serious disruption of the normal flora in the cecum. I can’t see if I’ve given you the link to the HRS article about ISC, intermittent soft cecitropes in some earlier thread, because I’m on my phone now. If I haven’t, please google it, it has good info (can’t link from phone.)
So glad to hear she’s doing binkies

[Azerane]

The main thing to make sure of with runny/sticky poop issues is that she doesn’t become dehydrated. Because runny poops, especially diarrhea can cause dehydration very quickly. If you suspect she isn’t getting enough fluid you can always syringe some water into the side of her mouth just to ensure she’s keeping hydrated. It’s just likely that that particular green just doesn’t sit well with her.

I’ve been told, though I’m not sure how accurate it is, that coriander/cilantro is actually a good starting green because it has a tendency to cause fewer issues than many other greens when introduced. So perhaps after she’s better try introducing that.

[StachesMommy]

Thank you Bam and Azerane. I really appreciate your advice. I actually grow Cilantro so I have easy access to them! That’s actually perfect. The craziest part is that she adores Timothy hay now. Once the watery stools started happening she is off her alfalfa and prefers timothy hay. Seems to be helping with the stools as well. Found many nice ones this morning she did over night. I did read a bunch of stuff about ISC actually… when she had poopy butt when she was younger the vet couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her and had given me a lot of info about it but I wasn’t sure if that could cause actual true diarrhea. She seems totally fine so I’m thinking it was the fresh greens. I guess I will just have to wait a while longer and try cilantro. Thanks a bunch!!

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