Sudden changes! Help!

[brianamonster]

 Hi everyone! This is Briana, formerly Pongothebunny928. I changed my username 

 

Okay, Pongo….I don’t even know where to start. For the majority of his 2 and a half year life he has suffered from chronic poopy butt. We(my mother and I) have tried everything we can to fix or minimize this problem. Normally, he has unlimited hay & some oxbow pellets, but we concluded that the pellets were causing the problem. So, about 2 or 3 weeks ago I decided to take him off of the pellets and just feed him his hay. As far as his poopy butt goes, I haven’t seen any problems; however, about a week after changing his diet he started acting very odd.

He is litter box trained, so I have one cat litter box in his cage & also a flat pan litter box that sits under his hay ball. Since feeding him only hay, he has been consuming 2 to 3 times more water. I wasn’t surprised by this since he is eating a lot of grasses. But then he started peeing on his flat litter pan(which he used to NEVER do!). It got to a point where he was peeing all over his hay, so obviously I’ve had to clean that out on a daily basis. Since then it has gotten progressively worse. He still uses his litter box, but he is peeing large amounts on his flat litter pan all over his hay and then just sitting on it. When I let him out of his cage his little back feet are wet with pee, and if he sat on the blanket for even just a couple seconds, there would be a damp spot when he hopped away. Now, not only is he peeing on his flat litter pan and in his litter box, but also just on the floor of the cage. He’s peeing everywhere! Also, since changing his diet, I’ve noticed that his tummy has been gurgling very loudly. I understand that this is normal but if he did do it before it must have been awfully quiet.

I’m completely lost as to what I should do. My mom and I decided last night to start giving him an eighth of a cup of pellets a day and seeing how it goes, hopefully working him back up to a normal amount. As of right now his entire cage floor is covered in newspaper to help absorb anything. I can’t think of anything that would have caused this other than his diet change. 

I’m in college, so it’s pretty stressful having my classes and not being able to keep up with what’s going on with my bun! Any advice as to why this is happening and any way I can fix it would be incredibly helpful! Thank you all!

[RabbitPam]

I’m sorry he’s having trouble. I know this is our standard recommendation, but I would urge you to take him to the vet.
He obviously is getting worse, and it’s either diet, behavior, or more likely – a problem in his digestive tract that needs attention.
Is he already neutered? If not, that may help, and you can arrange that with the vet as well.

He isn’t getting any fresh greens, so that may be a change in diet you can eventually undertake. But considering the symptoms of frequent uncontrolled peeing, I think he should be seen by a dr.

[Beka27]

I agree that he needs to see a vet. Any changes in “the norm” are a cause for concern. Did you gradually reduce the pellets, feeding a little bit less everyday, or you just eliminated them immediately? It may be an infection, something entirely unrelated to the diet, and it just happened to coincide with the diet changes. I don’t remember your entire story. What has the vet said regarding his poopy butt in the past? Did he ever have a parasite during this time? Was the vet the one who recommended he be removed from pellets?

[Sarita]

I agree – see a vet about all of the problems, the poopy butt, the change in diet, and the urinary problems.

[brianamonster]

Okay, to clear some things up, yes he is neutered. I did gradually reduce the pellet intake.
Well..we’ve never actually seen the vet for his poopy butt issues; however, every time he has been to the vet he has said that he doesn’t see anything wrong & that he is healthy. I suppose I should have called it self proclaimed chronic poopy butt. Therefore, it was not the vets decision, it was ours. It did significantly help the poopy butt issue, but then all of this other stuff started happening.

I’m going to talk to my mom about getting him to the vet if he isn’t better soon. As I said, we’ve began feeding him pellets again, hoping for a miracle! The first thing that popped in my head when this all started happening was an infection. So lets all wish for the best and send good bunny vibes to Pongo!! Thanks everyone!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’m sorry your having issues.

I would urge you to see the vet sooner rather then later. Also, does he get any veggies? Those are important too.

[jerseygirl]

Vet time I think. It may be just a problem that it now showing up because of the increased water intake. Perhaps his bladder is unaccoustomed to it or has a weakness. Is his hay only in the hay ball or elsewhere? I had thought also that he could be putting pressure on his bladder when eating from the suspended hay ball. It’s really good the hay only diet cleared up the poopy butt. Be a pity to have that again. How is he going on the very limited pellets and hay? Maybe you can find a workable combination.

If veggies do not trigger poopy butt, they may actually give him some of the fibre and fluid he needs and lessen his need to drink water.

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