greta , our lop eared bunny of six years has started to leave balls of soft stinky clumps of her once famous

coco puffs. we took her to the doc and he found nothing but gave some antibiotics foran irratation.

this has been three weeks ago, and nothing has changed. her diet is good, she eats no problem and we,re 

not feedinv her crap

sorry for the spelling and lack of greater detail, its from my phane

please help me

help!!!!!

Did he check her teeth?

are you sure they're not cecals? those are really small shiny smelly poos that rabbits are supposed to eat. maybe she's not eating them?

hi to both of you,

 

   I'm at a PC now, so i'll be able to answer questions and explain better. As for the exam done by the doctor, he took xrays and checked her out from head to toe, or at least i'm told he did. I'm going to call him up myselft and check.

   The doctor gave some medicine for her anal area where the soft poo was irritating her.

   I believe the teeth were checked, but I'll call and find out.

    The "poo balls" in question are soft balls of not quite formed regular coco puffs, but there is more than one in the ball, like 3 or more.

and they stink. Nothing like she'd regularly do. this has been going on for at least 3 weeks

kevin

It also sounds to me like she's not eating her cecals. Is she overweight, or having any trouble moving, or with her legs?
Sometimes an older bunny can begin to get arthritis in their limbs which makes curling up to get at her own cecals to eat more difficult. She may be leaving them, or just some of them.
Ask if he can tell if they're regular or cecal poos if you brought him some samples of the ones she's leaving around.

This happens to mine too now and then. It usually happens if I have given her too many treats (fruit, dried papaya, etc.). When it happens I give her a butt bath (fill a clean tub with warm water just enough to get that area submerged). Then I take a gloved hand and massage away any of the poo that is stuck in her fur and sit her on an absorbent towel. I also lay off the treats for a while and reduce her pellets.

Good questions are the overweight one and can she move her legs normally... another one might be is she spayed? She is about the age with most female rabbits that are not spayed develop uterine cancer, and will start acting less thrifty, such as getting lazy/sloppy about eating her night feces. If she is NOT spayed, I would take care of that very soon. This kind of cancer can often be cured before it spreads, but only by spaying them.

Hello all:

 

   sorry i've taken so long to respond, I've had a bunch of stuff i had to attend to and just haven't been on the comp much.

To update all, yes, greta is overweight but not by much, 7 1/2lbs  she's been checked out by the vet, and we just had her checked for worms today. She is fixed, has been for 5 1/2 years. Her teeth are good and she has regular pellets, she gets no treats that would harm her, in fact until we figure this out she gets no treats, she also gets the proper greens and timothy hay and a little bit of pellets, it just that she also has the real soft and stinky globs also. If these are the "cecals" should they be soft and gooey and stinky? She seems to get it stuck to her fur and drag it around. Is it possible that since this poo is much bigger and is not able to pass through the grate of her pan that it's sticking to her and she's dragging it out of her pen into the room?

   seems as though it happens once a day.

 

Here is a link about cecals:

 http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/diet/cecals.html

She may be producing too many cecals which can happen when their diet needs adjusting or if there is bacterial imbalance in the gut. 

What is her diet like?

being overweight may cause the 'buttflaps' to prevent normal release of the formed cecals, and as a result they end up being squeezed out like a play-doh not-so-fun factory.

thank you both for replying,

She gets organic greens that are listed here on the site, she gets no treats or fruits. Timothy hay, as much as she wants.

and a 1/2 cup of pellets. And "squeezed out like a play-doh not-so-fun factory is correct.

Hello all:

   After reading up on the links that were given me I believe we've got a handle on it, we're going to give her gobs of fiber/timothy hay, cut back on her greens a bit, buy her a bigger harness and take her out for some exercise. She gets exercise inside but just not enough so outside we go!!

Like I said, reading those articles have lead us to believe that it's a dietary issue, could be because she's older? we'll see, it's got to be everything else has been checked.

I'll keep ya'll informed.

 

thanks heaps to all of you who've given me your thoughts and links  :>)

Good luck with the new diet. Reducing pellets may help as well.