Rabbit still eating and behaves normally but not pooping…

[Sarahsoofee]

Hello BinkyBunny members,

My rabbit, Beatrice, is not pooping! But she eats and behaves normally. Usually she eats fresh veggies cause she’s used to that as the breeder I got her from feeds her that but now she prefers to eat more hay, which I found unusual. Oh yes, I have also started to feed her alfalfa hay but the one I got had lots of stalks than like grass. She’s 2 month old. So for the past three days, I have noticed that she is not pooping like she normally does. Usually I would have to clean her room three times a day cause she poops a lot. I’ve only got her for a month now. The weird thing is she doesn’t show any signs of pain, no gas and no lumps in her belly. Her belly feels soft and doughy, her ear temp is normal. I am out of my wits end wondering what could be the problem. I did give her pineapple juice the past three days and she pooped normally afterwards. She just only poops at night now but not as much as before. 

But when I let her out for playtime before this all happened, I saw her eating a sunflower seed shell that I managed to stop her from eating the whole thing. After that she just hasn’t pooped. Could it be an obstruction in her belly? And also now she’s started to eat dust and cobwebs so I’m scared to bring her out for playtime since I don’t have an X pen or any of that sort. I am taking her to the vet tomorrow but where I’m from, there aren’t any rabbit savvy vets that I know of. Please help!

[Bam]

I doubt it’s the sunflower seed, while it’s not exactly good for bunnies (too fat), many buns are fed sunflower seeds that still have the shells on them.

But it is something that has made her gut slow down, and it is serious especially seeing that she’s so young. I think you should contact your vet. She might just need sub Q fluids to soften up her stomach contents, or she might need a gut motility drug too. It’s good that you’ve felt her tummy and that she’s let you do that (you always need to be very gentle when you feel a bunny tummy, but you probably know that).

Not pooping generally means onset of stasis. Here’s a good article by Dana Krempels on this medical problem:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

[Author]

Messages