Uneaten cecals

[Chelsea]

It’s been a stressful month for my 3 year old mini-lop Silas, who has always had a sensitive stomach. We recently got a second rabbit, and the last couple of days we’ve had major storm systems with thunder and lightening very close to our house. We’re supposed to get another storm tonight that may cause widespread power outages. In the last couple of days, we’ve been finding lots of clumps of sticky cecals on the floor. I know any fruit at all will make this happen, and brassicas will as well. But he hasn’t gotten anything like that recently. Should I just wait it out and see if it passes, reduce either his pellets (he is 6 lbs and gets 1/6 cup per day) or his veggies (about 3 cups of lettuce and herbs per day), or call the vet? Thanks!

[Bam]

You can reduce either pellets or veg depending on what you know about your bun’s sensitivities. My Bam does best with a reduction of pellets when these things happen, but some buns are more veg-sensitive. It’s always good to encourage hay-eating though. It doesn’t have to be timothy as long as it’s grass hay.

You can also try a probiotic like Benebac, stress changes the composition of gut microorganisms in a bunny.

[Chelsea]

Probiotics are a good idea, although they wouldn’t be here for a few days if I order it. He always has unlimited access to timothy hay in his litterbox and a rack above it. I’m honestly not sure whether he is more sensitive to the pellets or veggies. We did figure out this happens if he eats too much kale, which is why I’m not sure sure it’s the pellets. I just don’t want to cause other health problems by restricting greens too much. I think I’ll try restricting both a bit for a couple of days to force him to eat more hay and see how it goes.

[Bam]

A couple of days shouldn’t lead to any form of malnutrition. If he gets a variety of vegs, you can cut out one veg at a time just to see if it’s one in particular he’s reacting to. And you can offer oat hay or orchard as well as Timothy just to entice him to eat more hay.

[Gina.Jenny]

Where the kale comes from, and how it has been treated can be a factor. I have six buns, three of them can get upset tums. I find they do best on home-grown kale, but they also do better on local market kale than the bagged stuff from the supermarkets. Podge has the most sensitive tum and he does best given forage between portions of kale. Dandelion stalks are great to settle his tum, but the leaves are good, as are home grown giant daisies, goose grass and clover. Some herbs can be good, also dried out dandelions and daisies help.

Podge also has probiotics, but doesn’t need them daily any more if he gets enough forage

[Bam]

Mint can be good too, and fennel tops and dull. Those are herbs traditionally used for stomach upset in humans. I give my Bam a “digestive aid” pellet that has mint and fennel among the ingredients.

[Gina.Jenny]

Different pellets might help, though a new brand needs a slow introduction. Our buns get Harringtons for one portion each day, and select science for the other. Select science is good for bunny tums as it is higher in fibre than most other brands, and it is also nice to crunch, so doubles up as a supper time treat!

[Chelsea]

Great suggestions, thank you! Silas currently gets Oxbow adult rabbit pellets and 2 oxbow digestive tablets per day. We have three different varieties of kale growing in our garden and I’ve never tried seeing if it was one particular variety. We also have lots of mint, oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, lettuce, arugula, celery and plenty of dandelions, clover and wild grasses that grow on our property. I’ve always tried to give him a variety. With the weather so nasty though, he’s mostly been getting romaine and parsley the last couple of days. I fear that this weather will probably be the end for the year of most of our garden.

In general, he has a lot more odd shaped poops than I would like. Even though the vet checked out his teeth, I’ve always been concerned that maybe he’s not eating enough hay because of a subtle or easily missed tooth problem. He really likes fresh thick bladed grass, so I try to give him lots of that when it is available. I’ve been torn about whether or not to pursue this more aggressively or not by demanding a new x-ray or doing an elimination diet. He seems healthy and happy aside from the frequent odd poops. He never chews anything though, and is not a big binkier which may or may not be a sign something is wrong.

[Chelsea]

Gina.Jenny, is this the food you mean?

Small Pet select

or

Science selective rabbit

I hadn’t thought about trying to find a higher fiber pellet, but that certainly seems like it might help. I’d like to find something that I can buy locally if possible though.

[Gina.Jenny]

Its the science select rabbit one I mean, its 25% fibre. I buy mine from Amazon UK

BTW, our first bun was a rescue and we called her Chelsey and your bun in your avatar looks like he (Silas?) or she could be our Chelsey’s double!

[Chelsea]

That’s too funny.

The oxbow essentials food he is currently on is 25% fiber, but after doing a lot of research and reading online I decided to order him a bag of Sherwood forest rabbit food. I can get the Science Selective you get here in the US from Petco, but the ingredients are virtually identical to oxbow. The Sherwood forest doesn’t have soy in it and theoretically is safe for them to eat more of to replace hay. I’m not about to give him unlimited pellets, but I’m hoping maybe it will help.

His poops look better today, but comparing them to our other new rabbit’s poop there is no doubt that they are slightly abnormally shaped.

[Gina.Jenny]

Podge’s are always abnormally shaped, his vet said to see what is normal for him and watch for deviations from that, rather than comparing his poops to everybun else’s

[Author]

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