Wet bunny droppings.

Hi.
We're owners of Splash (f) and Radar(m).
Splash is 2/3 months old and generally speaking, her excrement has been typical up until the last couple of days. Bob did give her a small piece of cabbage a few days ago but after she had a little bit of wet poo, he stopped. She has been drinking and eating very little too. Normally she scoffs down and drinks like a fish. Any ideas or just leave it as it is?

Anna and Bob.

Buns do 2 types of poo, normal pellet type droppings and wetter caecotrophes. These latter ones are quite squidgy but not as wet a diarrhoea. They are normally reingested by the buns. The rabbits digestive system is set up to convert rubbishy food into goodness and it does this by processing everything twice. It can be that if you give them something a bit rich their digestive system has a bit of a moment and produced too many caecotrophes which you then see about the cage. When buns are young the are particularly susceptible to that happening. It is best to introduce new veg slowly one at a time and building up the amounts. It is best to start with herbs, especially those with digestive properties such as mint, dill, parsley etc as they are less likely to upset splash's tummy. Also make sure she is having enough hay - the recommended diet for a bun is as much hay as they can eat, a small amount of veg and a mini amount (about and eggcup full) of pelleted food. This should ensure you see nice plump dry poos only. You will soon learn that we are obsessed with bunny poos here!

It is however slightly worrying that she is not eating/drinking. Have you had a feel of her belly? If it feels swollen and hard you need to get her to a vet immediately. Rabbits also suffer from something called GI stasis. There is an excellent piece on it in the information section here. GI stasis is very seriousl indeed. It can be caused by a build up of gasses in the belly or a blockage or sometimes if a bun has not been eating properly due to teeth issues or even if they are feeling a bit stressed. If you feel Splash is being overly withdrawn as and immobile as well as not being interested in her food and drink it could well be stasis.

Here is the link for the information

https://happyhoppers.forumotion.co.uk/t14490-gastro-intestinal-stasis-causes-symptoms-treatment

Excellent advice above

I've always had a bit of a delicate tummy. Having Pro-C in my water has really helped and made me drink more because it is yummy. (You can get it from P@H).

My Humum is also very careful what veggies she lets me eat. I'm only allowed tiny bits of broccoli or any sort of cabbage, including spring greens. I do get lots of parsley and coriander though, and a little carrot and cauliflower.

As above, try her on something gentle on her tummy, and very slowly - tiny amounts and increase over the course of a week or so. If she's fine on that, introduce her to something else as well.

Also as above, if you have any suspicion that she could be in GI Statis, get her to the vet.

If she is not drinking and eating that is a worry, the first thing you need to do is get some slightly warm water into her. If she dehydrates she could go into stasis and this is really serious.

Is she eating anything at all? how does her tummy feel? is it hard or soft??

magnum had wet poos not long back. I took all foods from him apart from his hay.....he had plenty of meadow hay and oat hay. I also gave him a bowl and bottle of water with a pro-biotic bought from pets@home. I gave him the option of both as he is a bit fussy with his bottle I left him with that for just a day and a half until his poos had gone back to normal. Then slowly reintroduced his pellets and other greens.....

But however if she is not eating or drinking at all i would make a trip to the vets to have her checked out....it could just be the new house move and trying to make friends that has upset her belly.....i am learning rabbits are very fragile creatures! Hope she feels better soon...keep us updated

(Oh hell, I'm sure I'd replied to this, it's been deleted again!)
Well, since the previous post she's gone back to eating and drinking normally. It seems to have been an over night thing. She feels as squidgy as she always did. She's fairly petite at the moment too, so we'd notice immediately.
Tonight I'll take away most of her pellets and leave her with the Hay to see if this helps.
The herbs is a new one to us, I'd never thought of it! A trip to asda tonight mi thinks!
What's this Pro-c/Pro-biotic stuff then?

It's a powder you can put in their water or sprinkle on their food. It is the good bacteria that helps to support buns when their gut is out of balance. It is always useful to have around just in case. Unlike doctors, vets have bought into the concept of probiotics and will often give them in conjucntion with treatment for rabbits. Pro-c is a everyday strength probiotic, if your bun is more seriously unwell there are vet strength ones for short term use called Bio-Lapis and Avipro-plus.

As above!

I have a pro-c which i bought from pets@home and it cost next to nothing. When magnum was ill i used it for a few days in his waters....it tells you how much to use etc...i dont know if it was the hay diet or the pro-c but it soon sorted him out!

Now the little monkey wont drink his water without it ....so i put a 1/4 of the scoop in daily. Must taste better than plain old water!

I can't praise Pro-C enough. My bun is somewhere between 10 and a half and 11 years old. With age, she has developed a sensitive tum, to the point where I was having to bath her every second day.

Our fellow hoppers recommended Pro-C to me and it has massively improved things, she hasn't had a bath for ages

bobtek85 wrote:(Oh hell, I'm sure I'd replied to this, it's been deleted again!)
Well, since the previous post she's gone back to eating and drinking normally. It seems to have been an over night thing. She feels as squidgy as she always did. She's fairly petite at the moment too, so we'd notice immediately.
Tonight I'll take away most of her pellets and leave her with the Hay to see if this helps.
The herbs is a new one to us, I'd never thought of it! A trip to asda tonight mi thinks!

It simply means that the problem has sorted itself. Blockages can be caused by slow gut motility, but can pass through, or not - it's when they don't that you have to be vigilant.

I would be giving her herbs at the mo, and leave the veg for a couple more weeks.
Basil, Corriander, mint, parsley (in small amounts) are all fine, and wild buns eat a lot of herbs.
You could give her blackberry leaves, dandelion (if you can find any) and small amounts of grass at the mo.

I'd also have a good read through that article - it contains pretty much everything you need to know about digestive health.

The most important thing is that a rabbit can eat fairly rubbish diet, but it needs huge amounts of cride fibre - ie hay, herbs, some veg and wild grasses/leaves. Hay should make up 70-90% of her diet.

Glad she's ok

Please give her a cuddle from me; I have tummy troubles too and I know how miserable it can be.

Hugs

Jo xx

All tummy troubles seem to have vanished.
She had a night on Hay alone. Then we followed it up with hay, dried herbs and a few pellets. And last night she had equal pellets and dried herbs, lots of hay & a carrot top. Not only has poo started coming out normally, but she's also only doing it in her cage now, instead of on the carpet.