Runny poop!!

[lillian]

Well, my bun seemed a little off today. Nothing was major at first. He just seemed a little lazy, which is sometimes common with him anyway.
I let him out around 8pm to play and i noticed he barely ate any food from his bowl and i saw a number of small hard mishapen poops. I got out the critical care, deciding it would be better to be safe if i could catch any problems early, and gave him about half a dose as he began fighting so much.
He definitely got his energy back for a few hours. About 10pm, i noticed a very mushy poop, as well as a string of mushy poop all together. It wasnt like the cecotrope poops, as the slightest touch. Even from a napkin, would move it.
I quickly cleaned the mess and put him in his bin, loading his cage with fresh hay.
He very happily dug into the new hay, eating it like crazy, so he still has his appetite.

Im stuck in a bad situation right now with the holiday weekend and all the vets i know are closed. I will continue to monitor his eating, drinking, and pooping, but im not sure what is best to do. Is it good that he still has his appetite? Is it maybe just a case of an upset stomach?

His regular diet: he usually gets 1 of the yogurt drop treats in the morning when i get home from work around 5am which has never seemed to effect him. He also gets unlimited hay and pellet mix food.

Other notes:
–we think its possible he got 2 treats today. Would that possibly cause this?
–he actually turned his head to us this evening when trying to give him a small piece of fruit to see if he would respond to it. He did eat hay after this though
–we have attempted many times to feed him veggies but he never really responded to them

[Bam]

It’s excellent that he still has an appetite. It’s also excellent that he chooses to eat hay. It’s also excellent that he fights you hard when you feed him – it’s not fun, but a fighting spirit means he’s got strenght.

Keep up the CC if he doesn’t eat like he should. You can give baby gas drops (simethicone) if you suspect a tummy upset (gas can be very painful for a bunny, gas drops can help a lot by breking up big gas bubbles, and it’s not known to cause any adverse effects in buns). Also encourage him to move around, that helps the tummy too.

What has caused this is very difficult to say, of course. If he’s shedding, that could be it. Yoghurt drops are not good for bunnies even if they are sold for bunnies in pet-stores, but whether they’ve caused this is of course not possible to say. I’d cut them out though, there are other more suitable treats that a bunny can have.

The most important food for a bunny is hay. Good hay and plenty of it should be the mainstay of their diet. So that he’s a big hay-eater is great!

Keep an eye on his poop – if you start to see watery stools or loose stools with mucus and NONE of the normal poop, it’s an emergency.

[lillian]

Yea i will probably give him another round of the care in about an hour then lay down and just try to watch him and keep an alarm for every hour.
With the baby gas drops, is it like a liquid? How much can i safely give him?

[Bam]

Baby gas drops is a liquid. There are varying strenghts from 20 mg/ml to 100 mg/ml, you can give 0,5 ml to 1 ml every hour for three hours, then 0,5 ml every 2-3 hours until you see improvement. You often see improvement within the hour though.

It’s a safe med because it’s not absorbed by the body, it works locally in the GI canal and comes out with the poop.

Also make sure he’s properly hydrated, you can syringe him some water or just make the CC mix extra runny when you give it to him.

[lillian]

I usually make a little more cc than the vet originally perscribed, and make it more runny to make sure there is plenty of water.

Update on his status: he had his second cc and ill be doing a third in about an hour. I just woke to check on him and he was again eating hay, seemed a little tired (it is 2:30am haha). I pushed his little butt out of the way to check for poops. There werent many but they are finally getting harder. I do see a couple strung together by what seems like fur, so im assuming that is the main issue, but i will continue to monitor him.
And surprisingly he is still eating a decent ammount of hay even with the meds (I guess he has to do something to get the taste out of his mouth!)

[Bam]

He’s such a good boy for eating his hay! Glad to hear his poops is getting harder. Shedding is often accompanied by stomach upset, and “necklace poop” is often seen when a bunny is shedding.

[Author]

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