Small, orange/yellow jelly specks in rabbits litterbox?

[Peri and Poe]

Hi everyone.

I have recently got a new bunny Pandora (1 year old doe) to bond to my male bunny Poe. We got her spayed 2 weeks ago and about a week after her spay we noticed these really small, orange specks all over her litterbox (there were loads scattered). It would not be obvious just looking at the litterbox but since I use black rubber gloves and they are jelly like in texture, they stick to the glove and you can see them quite well (I have put a pic of them against a tissue below).

We had another follow up appointment after her spay and did ask about it to the vets, they asked us to send a picture. After they looked at the picture, they also asked for a urine sample (waiting on the results) so I am not sure if they can tell us what it is at the moment.

We are not sure if it could be to do with the stress from spaying or because she has a poor diet (she was on a pellet only diet before coming to us and we are trying really hard to get her to eat more hay) or something else. She is otherwise acting completely fine: she eats, drinks and is really active as always.

I thought I would post it here, to see if anyone else has experienced something similar because when I tried to search online, I couldn’t find anything similar except for one post where they said it cleared up in a few days and their vets didn’t know what it was. I will hopefully be able to post an update with what our vets say (they are rabbit savvy vets, with the best exotic team in London).

I mainly posted this to help anyone else in the same situation and hopefully be able to know the cause.

 

[DanaNM]

Were her poops looking normal?

I’ve seen weird jelly with poops before in a bun that was having GI issues. Sometimes there can be mucous in the poop with intestinal irritation.

But, given the spay, I think it’s wise for the vet to the urine sample and see if it could be from some sort of infection. Does her spay incision look OK?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Wick & Fable]

Do you know if this is coming out of urination or poop? It’s tough because there aren’t many documented cases online, but I know of at least one case where orange mucousy/foamy poop has been associated with high levels of giardia parasite: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rabbits/comments/pssdxt/any_experience_with_giardia_parasite/ … foam is different than weird jelly, but who knows.

Giardia is actually naturally occurring in rabbit GI systems, but some rabbits are sensitive to it. The most common symptom is diarrhea I believe, but orange has come up at least one for this. I believe the fecal test for giardia is fairly simple, so it wouldn’t hurt to try and see if there is an abnormal(?) amount present. It is rare, but worth a shot?

 

 

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Peri and Poe]

Hi, thank you so much for the replies.

The vets have said that the incision from her spay has healed (at the 12-day appointment).

My feeling is that it is related to gut issues. Unfortunately, I have seen the weird, jelly poop with our late bunny, Peri. She had dental disease and in a particularly GI stasis episode, she produced both yellow/orange jelly and white jelly. This looks quite similar (which is why we are worried) except it’s a lot smaller and scattered.

When we brought her home, as well as after her spay, she had really tiny poops so I was worried about GI stasis. But we were syringe feeding her and giving her fiber supplements and now her poops look normal. Which is why it is confusing that this is happening now and not then, perhaps its an after effect?

[LBJ10]

Bunnies can have weird poop following surgery. It’s been awhile since her spay though, so you wouldn’t think it was from that. If they do have issues, it usually resolves within a few days.

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