Suck poo and little appetite

[hmcbane]

About 3 weeks ago my husband and I went away for a couple of days and left Sonny bunny home alone with plenty of food, water and hay. When we got back he hadn’t eaten much which was odd but when he was offered his favorite fresh veggies and fruits he went to town. He seemed to no longer be interested in his pellets at all but was eating hay and everything else offered to him. We tried different pellets and still, it was a no go. After doing so research we provided him with a good bunny salad and treats and still offer the pellets just in case (he still ate hay as well and has other chew toys). Everything changed today.

During my lunch break today I came home and gave him salad (we do 3 times a day to ensure he is getting enough) and he gobbled most of it down as normal (the leftovers he usually snacks on until the next meal). When I got home from work this evening and made him his dinner salad he wasn’t interested at all. I wrapped him up in a towel and set him on my desk for brushing (he is terrible about cleaning himself) and discovered a massive size ball of poo stuck to his bottom. It had been a few days since I last brushed him but he hates it when I mess with his tail or bottom area so I don’t normally spend a lot of time checking it out. I took him to the sink and using warm, damp paper towels I removed the offending clump and cleaned up his tushy. The skin was red and irritated and clearly uncomfortable but he was a good bun and let me clean him up. We washed all of his bedding and set him on a nice clean blanket of his (he sleeps in his cage and is in it when we are not home as I don’t trust our dogs to be alone with him – don’t worry the cage is huge). He went over to his salad bowl and nibbled for a bit and then stopped, he didn’t even eat a quarter of what he normally does but he did eat a bit. 

Has anyone else had a bun not want to eat much due to a soiled mess of a bottom and if so how long before it was eating normally again? Any tips to get him eating normally again?

Sonny is a male, about 1.5 years old, is neutered, weighs about 5 pounds or so.

*please note that our nearest vet is over an hour drive and I don’t want to stress him with a car ride if I don’t have to*

[kurottabun]

Hmm…salad 3 times a day might be a bit too much. What kinds of vegetables do you give him and how much at each feeding? Sometimes too much veggies can make their poop mushy due to the water content. Hay is the most important thing so it’s important that he eats a lot of it to keep his guts healthy.

How’s his posture? Is he pressing his tummy on the ground or hunching/grinding his teeth?

[FlemishDad]

More likely he has a digestive problem and that has caused the eating changes, poopy butt, and now anorexia. What’s in his salad? FWIW my bun gets by fine on a diet of mostly greens.

[Sirius&Luna]

It’s not really safe to leave a bunny unattended for days at a time. Rabbits are social animals, and sometimes just loneliness can be enough to cause them to stop eating.

If he suddenly stopped eating pellets then he may have a dental problem. The extra salad could be giving him the poopy butt.

[Author]

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