Poopy Bunny

[SesameBun]

Hey, first time poster just really looking for help. My bunny sesame has always had a problem with diarrhea. He’ll get big globs of poop stuck to his fur around his bum sometimes 10x a day, other times not for a week. His diet is pretty consistent. He has access to a extrusion pellet, Timothy hay all day, and gets a dinner of kale and dandelions with a small amount of a treat like carrots. He doesn’t eat much Timothy hay and the extrusion does have wheat in it. We’ve tried a few medications but it’s impossible to get him to eat them and it didn’t seem to help much. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you

[Bam]

First if all, this isn’t diarrhea but intermittent soft cecotropes ISC. That’s very good. Diarrhea is rare in rabbits and often lethal. A bunny that has diarrhea produces no round “pill” poop, just runny mucousy diarrhea.
You could start by excluding carrots altogether. Contrary to popular beliefs, carrots are not the best food for a bun. It’s rather tough to digest and has lots of sugar.
You could try a probiotic if you haven’t. In the USA there’s Benebac for small pets, in Europe there’s Profibre rabbit. ISC is caused by a disruption in the GI microbiota.
The root of his problem is probably that he doesn’t eat enough hay. Hay is so important for bunny guy health. It doesn’t have to be Timothy, there are other types that are just as good -orchard, fescue, meadow, oat hay f ex. Buns can be very picky about hay.
Sometimes if a bunny won’t eat hay there’s dental issues behind it. Many bunnies develop molar spurs because their teeth grow all their lives and absolutely have to be worn down by chewing tough food like hay or fresh grass. If they don’t get enough wear, pointed spurs can develop and cause pain in the tongue or gums. Molar spurs can be burred down by a vet.
ISC is very common in bunnies. It can take some time to sort it out since it’s about getting the whole GI flora balanced. So you might have to try a variety of things until you get it right.

[SesameBun]

Ok. We’ll try that. Thank you ? The poops though aren’t the cecotropes. It will just be a thick paste that comes out. And will make one big ball of poop. He occasionally has cecotropes but these aren’t the problem 

[Azerane]

How many pellets does he get, or are they just available all day for him to eat as he wants? If so I’d recommend cutting back the amount 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight. Given that he’s not eating much hay I’d bet that he’s eating too many pellets, so reducing them will help with the mucky poop and also encourage him to eat more hay, which will also help with the poop issue.

With continued dietary issues like this, the best thing to do is simply reduce and eliminate things (except for hay) until you find the cause, so cutting out carrot is a good idea, sounds like you may have to do so for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference. If not, then cut out the next thing.

[Bam]

Here’s an article from the House Rabbit Society on ISC. I couldn’t link to it from my phone but here it is:

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

I still think it is about unformed cecotropes, they don’t look like they should (like clusters of grapes) but they have the characteristic pungent smell.
Anyway, the article is from an approved source and it might be of use to you.

I for one has a rabbit who can’t have carrots or he gets “sticky poop” or “poopy butt” as this condition is also called. Recently we had another member with this same problem, it was resolved by cutting back quite a lot on the pellets. So there’s no telling really what will help, it’s more or less about trial and error. And patience.

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