Dirty Bum V Weather

I'm a bit puzzled, does the weather/time of year affect bunnies digestive system?

The only reason I ask is the last couple of weeks Florence has had a couple of cases of uneaten cecals/dirty bottom. Yesterday she was very dirty and had to have a half hour bum wash and trim. I think it was worse than it looked, as she is very fluffy around there and is moulting, so I think it has just all clumped together a bit. Although when I picked her up to begin with she wriggled and splatted some on the wall

I've put them back on permanent Pro-C but it got me thinking, it was this time last year that Florence had the same issue and was first put on permanent Pro-C. I took them off when Dougal moved in, purely because they were drinking so much it was costing a fortune. But now I'm not bothered about that because its happening frequently again.

Now, is it just a coincidence that it has happened at the same time of year, or is it connected? They don't get many veggies anymore, only a couple of times a week, although I read somewhere online yesterday that you should give them a small amount everyday rather than every few days. Is that true?

I'm at a bit of a loss, she's fine in herself, playful, grumpy, stroppy Florence, and it isn't affecting Dougal, but obviously I want to get to the reason if I can.

I wonder if it is something else seasonal rather than the actual weather.

Are you able to relate Florence's dirty bottom to being the day after veg day?

What veggies do they get? I wonder if one of the veggies is coming from a different location - e.g. something that would be from the UK through the summer is now coming in from abroad - and has been treated / sprayed with something to help preserve it. We all had a few days of excess caecals simply because the hu-parents had bought a huge head of broccoli and we got it more often than we usually would.

Are they on really low pellet rations?

Their pellets have been cut down, but that's been since about June. I'm racking my brains to remember when it was, but Dougal had a check up and I was told his back teeth were long, so I cut down pellets and upped hay and readigrass. But nothings changed with their pellets since this has been happening. It's literally been three times in about a month/just over a month. The first time was a lot of uneaten cecals, the second was uneaten cecals but not as much, and they were being scattered as the small bits not in a clump, and then yesterday.

Veggies they get are: broccoli, celery, cucumber, spinach, cabbage (sometimes), carrot - think that's it. They haven't had herbs in a while as I'm growing them on for the lovely pair. Their general food is pellets in the morning, dried herbs before bed, then on veg days its veg about 5pmish, and then they get hay, readigrass and fibafirst (a supreme thing which is long sticks - good for teeth apparent) throughout the day when I'm working at home. If it's an office day they'll get two before work and one afterwards.

Oddly, Florence stole a prawn cracker off of my lap a few weeks ago and that didn't cause her to have a dirty bum

We have had a runny bum from Charlie the last couple of days too - I have no idea why though x

Sparky brings up a good point about additives being added to the greens to preserve them. There are a number of preservatives that are added to preserve freshness when the veggies and fruits are transported from the southern regions of the world.

All I can suggest, other than exclusively feeding Florence on prawn crackers is that you keep a food diary for her and see if you can isolate it to one thing...

icedancer wrote:

Oddly, Florence stole a prawn cracker off of my lap a few weeks ago and that didn't cause her to have a dirty bum

She is a girl who loves a crispy snack!!!

I've got a video of it on my phone! If I can work out how to transfer it to my computer (I've got Windows 8 and I can't find anything!!!) I'll post it.

She's dreadful, she stole a cashew nut the other night too. Anything I have she wants

Food diary is a very good idea Sparky

Video on photoshoots!!