Diarrhea/super loose cecotrophs

[Chelsea]

Hello,

I’m helping someone with experience with this can help me out. I took Silas to the vet this morning because he had three massive (baseball diameter) masses of stool that looked like runny chocolate pudding. I’ve seen plenty of soft mushy cecotrophs come from him over the years but nothing like this. Unfortunately, the only semi-experienced rabbit vet I’ve been able to find in the area is on vacation and gone for the next week and a half. The back-up vet checked his teeth, weighed him, and pronounced him normal other than a bit dehydrated. She gave him injected fluids and told us to give him peptobismal twice a day. She said I could bring in a stool sample for testing if I wanted, but she thought he was probably fine.

I’m concerned. First off, I’ve never heard of giving peptobismal to a rabbit. Second off, he is most definitely not his normal active self. He’s eating a bit, but not much. Third, if I am to believe the weight they told us, he’s dropped from 6.2 lbs to 5.8 lbs in the last 4 months even though his belly looks extremely (almost disproportionately) round. I gave him gas drops and benebac this morning. 

Silas is the greatest pet, and an awesome house rabbit, but the digestive issues with him have been non-stop. It’s so frustrating.

Thank you!

[jerseygirl]

How frustrating about the vets!

Do you think the poop was unformed cecals?

Is he good about eating hay? Keeping him on just hay for the time being could help. This is pretty informative about cecal disorders. http://rabbit.org/disorders-of-the-cecum/
This too: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

I feel as helpless as you must be feeling. It’s hard to suggest much else other then revisiting with a rabbit-savvy vet when you can.
Im not sure about pepto-bismal but a vet suggested Buscopan to me one time.

One of the links above suggest to use imodium in young rabbits with true diarrhoea.

Im sorry I can’t be more helpful.

Sending many {{{{{vibes}}}}} for Silas !

[Chelsea]

Thank you jerseygirl!

Since this morning, all of his poops are soft, but more formed and grape sized or smaller. He’s currently chowing down on hay. I’m hoping that he just ate something that did not agree with him during a visit outside and being confined indoors on a limited diet of mostly hay will help. I’m crossing my fingers that at the very least he doesn’t get sicker while his vet is still on vacation.

[DanaNM]

Hi Chelsea, 

So scary! When I was taking care of Pippen (I think you commented on my journal about his GI issues), he would get VERY soft poops (like a pile or a splat), and they seemed to not have a clear trigger. The splat/diarrhea would often be followed by periods of intense gas and near stasis. So he would basically oscillate between mostly solid, but soft and irregular, then back to more normal, then to almost stasis. 

Hopefully Silas did just eat something that disagreed with him, but since you mentioned his appetite was a bit low, and he has a history of issues, you might want to proactively give some critical care to help keep him hydrated and nourished, and be on the lookout for gas. 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Bam]

I’m glad he seems to be doing better. I looked up pepto bismol for rabbits, and there has been a study on rabbits where the pepto-bismol was found to reduce enzymatic injury to the oesophagus. This doesn’t say anything about your Silas’ condition, but it does imply that rabbits tolerate pepto bismol.

I hope he’ll keep improving now. ((((Silas))))

[LittlePuffyTail]

Can you get some Benebac? It’s a probiotic. My boy was getting a lot of squishy poop and my vet suggested I try some. Seems to have helped. Although, it will depend on what your buns’ issue is, but I don’t think it would hurt to try it.

When you say the vet checked his teeth, did she check his back molars with an otoscope? Those are difficult to see and my bun, Bindi, often gets mushy poops when he needs his molar spurs filed down.

((((Silas))))

[Chelsea]

He’s on benebac, and seems a bit better this morning. Phew.

Do you think it is worth submitting a poop sample to check for some kind of parasite? Or just a waste of time and money? I’m now sure it was just really liquidy cecals, and part of his vacillating stomach issues. It seems every 6-12 months he goes from tiny hard poops to excess cecals. Each time it peaks we fight stasis. This is his 4th major episode, and he’s 5 years old.

[Bam]

I think I’d try the Benebac 1-2 weeks first. I gave my poopy-butt-prone bunny Bam the same type of probiotic bacteria that Benebac has when he had a particularly bad bout of sticky poop with a couple of almost ping pong ball-sized. The probiotics seemed to help. Since then I’ve been giving him a dose or two when I’ve seen tendency to poopy butt.

If the problems persist despite Benebac + a simplified diet with mostly hay, then I’d consider a fecal test for intestinal parasites.

Did your vet suggest a fecal sample loosely, or did they recommend it? Parasitic pressure varies between geographical areas and also depends on time of year. A bun that’s housed outside with grazing opportunity should be dewormed regularly.

[Chelsea]

She just said it was an option if we wanted. He’s an indoor rabbit, but on nice days we let him go outside in our front yard that is fully fenced. We live in the US in the pacific NW and have much fewer insect and parasite diseases than other areas, but they do occasionally happen. There is a litter of wild cotton tails living under our deck at the moment. They completely ignore/run from each other. They are a different species than European rabbits, and thus can’t interbreed or transmit diseases as easily as wild rabbits in Europe.and Australia. That said, he does get revolution every month to control fleas and mites that I’m sure he picked up outside. I haven’t heard of anyone locally having to treat animals for internal parasites, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

[Chelsea]

This morning he’s back to tiny super hard poops and untouched pellets. Sigh. I’m thinking I need to put him back on his metaclopramide.

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