TRIAL & ERROR	SOLUTION
Pellet TRIAL & ERROR: With my original pellet, my rabbits were gaining too much weight, and one of my rabbits, Bailey, continued to have daily bouts of soft stools. AKA: Poopybutt. I didn’t understand it, the pellets were high in fiber, they didn’t include any nuts, corn or any “rabbit junk food” extras, and I fed no more than the House Rabbit Society’s recommended amounts. Plus, they were getting unlimited hay, and the HRS recommended amount of  greens. So I decided to do a little net researching and asked a couple of vets. The common conclusion: The pellets were alfalfa based, and that is usually too rich for adult rabbits even if it's high in fiber.	Pellet SOLUTION:  I found a Timothy based pellet that was a minimum 25% of crude fiber and no more than 1.50% of crude fat.  I personally chose Oxbow Bunny Basics because it also met all the other HRS nutritional requirements for protein, calcium, etc. I slowly introduced the new pellet with the old, gradually increasing the percentage of the new pellet over a month. At first, they snuffed their noses at it and just left it in the dish. But I knew they wouldn’t starve themselves, and they eventually began eating the healthier pellet.  Minimal Treats (3 x week) - Natural treats are healthiest. This is an "or" list.  Only one of these treats at a time: Very thin sliver of apple A few strands of shredded carrots. 1 – 2  raisins Thin banana slice 1/4 medium sized strawberry Keep amounts small as shown  NOTE: This is based on adult rabbit needs. (1-5 years old) Please check out http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies for your baby, teen or senior bunny's diet requirements.
Bailey, The Chronic PoopyButter Even with the new healthy Timothy hay based pellet,  Bailey often suffered from poopybutt. So I took her and a sample of her messy poop to the vet. The vet tested her icky poop and determined an overgrowth of yeast. But since Bailey's diet was healthy then it was determined that she just has an extremely sensitive digestive system (not uncommon in lops).   The vet suggested less pellets, and more greens. But to make sure there weren't any greens that she was sensitive to, I started out with one kind and added one type each week    One type per week worked well for Bailey because it could take 24-48 hours to get poopybutt from one item, and it could take that long for it to get out of her system.  TRIAL & ERROR WITH GREENS NPB = No PoopyButt      PB! = PoopyButt Week Green Result 1 Dandelion NPB 2 Cilantro PB! 3 Parsley NPB 4 Chicory PB! 5 Brussel Sprout PB! 6 Romaine Lettuce NPB I kept going like this trying most of the greens on the HRS list until I narrowed the greens and veggies down. Most greens caused poopybutt, but I was at least able to find out the few that didn't through this method.  I even went back and tried smaller amounts of some greens and found that some, like chicory, didn't give her poopybutt in more modest servings.  See the final list of acceptable greens for Bailey on the SOLUTIONS side----> NOTE: The vet told me it could take months for her system to get balanced again. So not to get discouraged. Actually, in just a couple of weeks, the mess was less, and it became less frequent. During the time when I was testing out new foods, how did I know what worked and didn't if she could still have poopybutt for months?   There is poopybutt, then there is massivepoopybutt, then there's gas mask poopybutt.   The things that didn't sit well with her system during this testing time just made it even more disgusting then the normal disgusting poo.       STILL RANDOM POOPYBUTT?!! Even though diet really helped prevent daily bouts of poo, she would still get periodic bouts.  I just decided it was part of her makeup and dealt with it since it wasn't everyday.   But then a discovered a new technique that seems to have solve the problem completely so far. --> (cross my fingers)	SOLUTION: More greens, less pellets, very limited treats. NOTE: If your bunny suffers from frequent poopybutt, you should always have a rabbit savvy vet check your bunny and test their poop first.  Poopybutt can be a symptom of illness and infection, so you want to make sure if that is the case, it gets treated right away. Treats: Unfortunately she is one of those rabbits that just can't handle most treats.  Sad. :( She can ONLY handle: 1 raisin 2 times a week. 1 Papaya tablet 3 - 4 times a week. So I give her rosemary and mint as a treat.  She loves them and they don't upset her stomach.                  Rosemary              Mint COUCH CRUMB SCAVENGER ALERT: Those rascally rabbits!  I caught Bailey getting into the habit of running around the couch sniffing, and then I noticed her munching on things I couldn't see.  But as I scrunched my eyes to get a better look, I could see itsy bitsy cracker, bread or chips crumbs.  And I remembered we had lunch sitting on the couch, watching tv.  Even though we bring napkins, crumbs will escape, and she had found it to be the snack goldmine. But for a bunny who can get sludgebutt, it's no fun later. I now have a little hand vaccum to take care of those crumbs. NEW TECHNIQUE!   Via one of our homemade toytests (from BinkyBunny's ToyTest page) , I discovered that giving Bailey much of her portions nestled in lunch bags with holes, that  it took her longer to get her food as she was forced to forage.  And even though she ended up eating everything, it prevented her from gobbling everything up at once. This helped even more in reducing her bouts of poopybutt.