Can any of you guys help?

I'm sure one of you hoppers will be able to help me - what with all your knowledge and expertise!

I am now 99% sure it is Mojo with the sticky bottom. It seems to go as quickly as it comes and I just don't know what is causing it. He is still a very active, happy little bun who eats and drinks very well and seems to be really enjoying life, so I'm not worried that he is ill as such, just puzzled as to what could be causing this

I have decided to switch them from the Burgess Excel pellets onto the Science Selective pellets, as although my Willow did very well on the Excel, I have heard of them giving some buns a sticky bottom - especially since the eggshells were added to the ingredients. They had a few SS pellets each last night and again this morning I came in to find lots of sticky poops, and lots of good ones (presumably Willow's or a mixture of both).

Now I am wondering whether he is just overproducing caecotrophs and not eating all of them - but I know there is normally a reason for this, most commonly dietary. My bunnies get ad lib hay - as much as they can eat! - and have just been moved to the Ings stuff which as you know is very good quality. They get a little pinch of Readigrass or dried herbs a few times a week although this has been cut out lately in order to try and work out why Mo's tum is playing up. A small dish of pellets each night, again stopped for the time being although have just started them on SS but don't want to put anymore Burgess Excel into him in case they're the culprit, and not an overly excessive amount of varied veggies which they haven't had for a good two weeks since this started (and he never reacted to the pellets or veg before). Treats wise they have Bitesize Shredded Wheat, Fenugreek Crunchies, Carrotys, Wagg Apple/Carrot Bakes, Carrot Crunchies, 'Nana Chips - only two of these a day mind! But they're all healthy, no nuts, seeds etc.

So what do you guys think? I just feel bad for my Willow as she is so wound up at the prospect of a bowl of pellets that she accidently bit my finger this morning just from walking in with something other than hay, and I bet she is wondering where on earth her veg has got to. The only treats they're having at the moment are the shredded wheat and Fenugreek Crunchies - as I didn't know if other stuff was a good idea right now...

On the plus side, I have asked Mojo's homechecker if she has a use for all those pellets - so hopefully she does and they will go to some needy foster buns and not in the bin!

I sound like a broken record sometimes, but have you tried pro-c? It was an absolute god send when Thumper was having the same problem.

We went from having to give her a bum bath every other day to only having to do it on a rare occasion.

try to cut out the shredded wheat and see if it makes any difference plus i agree with thumper try the pro-c.
it could be he has a bit of gastro has he been checked by vet? i ask because my bluebell gets it quite often some buns can be funny like that
hope mojo is ok i'm sure it's not willow too

We had the same problems with a lot of our bunnies when they were on Burgess Excel and we changed them to SS and the dirty bottoms stopped and we eventually took them off pellets altogether.

Excel can be a little bit oily/greasy unless Burgess have changed the recipe nowadays and it's that what causes sticky bottoms in some rabbits.

I think you need to give the SS more of a chance. And add in the pro-C.

Thanks guys. I will see about getting some Pro-C.

My closer pet shop sells something similar, it's called "Tummy Care" and I think it's by Johnsons. Am I better driving a bit further to get the Pro-C by Pets at Home instead?

The tummy care is quite high in sugar I think. I have never used it, but I always have some Pro-C in just in case.

I would stick with the pro-c too. Purely because I know what I'm getting

Oki dokey guys, will get them some Pro C and hopefully that will help a bit. He seems a lot better already since he's off the Burgess though, so I think that was the culprit!

Marley had the same problem for a while. The dried herbs and readygrass give him excess cecals, so he gets these very occasionally. Not even once a week.

As they are now indoors ive cut their pellets right down to them having about 5 each (not that i count them!). They now eat a lot more hay. I also used the Pro C for a whle as thumper suggseted. For Marley, it seems keeping things relatively basic helps.

It took Hector a week or so after he'd been fully changed over to the SS pellets to stop over-producing caecotrophs, he still gets smelly poo's every now and then though, that remains a mystery

how quickly did you swap their pellets? that may have been a small bit of the problems, at the time of changing them over.

The pellets are being swapped very, very gradually. I haven't done the mixing in with the Burgess Excel as it seems these were the problem and I thought it would probably do him more harm than good to keep putting them into his system. So we're starting with tiny amounts of SS and slowly building it up

How are the bottoms today?
Are they going through a moult? My two had an awful moult last month and had sticky bums during.

The bums are almost 100% back to normal now - I'm pretty convinced it was the Burgess Excel nuggets that were the problem

Willow is almost always going through a moult(!), but I think the sticky bum belonged to little Mojo who isn't moulting I don't think.

Jeeves almost always goes through a moult too but sometimes Tigger will have an upset tummy, runny bum or stringy poo because she grooms Jeeves. That's something to remember, because they are bonded they will groom each other and swallow the other ones fur!

Good point which I hadn't thought about - thank you Dotdot!

Hi, I've found this post really useful because patch and daisy are both doing sticky poo so I'm going to reduce the excel pellets more. And reduce their readigrass.

Thankfully it isn't sticking to them yet.

Poops are 100% back to normal - hooray!

paullp - I'm totally convinced the Burgess Excel was the problem. Maybe try switching to Science Selective? I think they're pretty comparable price-wise, and Mojo is SO much better for it

I am so pleased hun.

Hugs

JO xx

Yay!