Runny stools / sticky bum / overweight

[RH1997]

Hi sorry for the length of this. Just looking for some advice for some issues I’m having with my rabbit recently that I’ve never experienced before so need some help!

Over the past few weeks my rabbit has been producing intermittent runny cecotropes and also on one occasion diarrhea (this hasn’t happened since). He’s been acting, eating and pooping normal but the only issue is that is seems to get stuck to his bum and tail sometimes. Also, usually at night around 8/9pm he would eat his cecosteopes but while he’s been having this problem he hasn’t been producing cecotropes at this time just hard normal poo which he still eats. Then when I see his litter tray in the morning there are a few cecotropes mixed in with his normal poo which he hasn’t eaten so I’m not sure If the time he produces the cecotropes has changed and he’s eating the wrong poo??

I also took him to the vet yesterday for some advice and she told me he is overweight he weights 3.1kg. Could this have anything to do with him getting sticky bum? Or also the fact that he’s not eating all of his cecotropes?

I’ve reduced his amount of pellets significantly so his main food is hay so hoping this helps. But does anyone have any advice on how I can help him loose weight and get his poo back to normal?

Thanks

[sarahthegemini]

Sometimes if a bun is overweight they can have difficulty reaching for the cecals. And if he was having a lot of pellets before and not enough hay, that is likely to be a big factor in the loose stools. I would have advised reducing pellets so he eats more hay but you’re already doing that That should help his stools and he should lose a little weight too. You could also try putting his pellets in a treat ball so he has to move around to get them out or you can sprinkle them around (under/over boxes and tunnels etc) Anything to get him a bit more active.

[jerseygirl]

Yep, ditto. Good advice!

Definitely start with the diet modifications. Make sure no-one in the household is sneaking him treats either!
You could try intoduce a probiotic also. Benebac is commonly used.

ETA: some agility / clicker type training could be useful also. If he likes his pellets, use those to get him to turn in circle, run through tunnel, up and down ramps etc. My sisters family recently had their dog at a training place and they said 10 minutes of training is equivalent to a 30 minute walk – or something like that!. Even if not exactly the case for rabbits, at least you get them moving with that training anyway.

Do you think he is overweight? Or gained recently?  Some breeds can look overweight due to compact body type or they are naturally a bigger, stockier breed.

[RH1997]

Thank you both! I’ll definitley try him with one of the treat balls to get him moving more. And to answer your question jerseygirl I wasn’t actually aware he was overweight until the vet weighed him and said he was 3.1kg and I read online mini lop should be nomore than 3kg.

I’ve reduced his diet over the past few days so hopefully that starts to help his upset tummy and also the weight issue but I can’t help but feeling guilty when he’s sat next to his empty bowl wondering where his pellets are! Just have to remember it’s for his own good hopefully he’s back to normal soon

[sarahthegemini]

Don’t be fooled, all bunnies pretend like they’ve been starved for days when their pellets are gone. It’s all an act lol.

[RH1997]

I forgot to ask.. because I’m trying to get him to eat more hay which he doesn’t eat a lot of usually. Do any of you have any recommendations for getting him to eat more? Or any Timothy hay treats etc?

[Asriel and Bombur]

How far apart are his feeding times and how much of each thing do you feed him? For a bunny that should be weighing around 5-6 pounds, 2tbsp-1/4cup of pellets a day and about 3 cups of greens is a good amount. Do these non-hay feedings every 10-14 hours that way he’s forced to eat only hay for long periods of time. So maybe you want to do 1tbsp pellets with 1.5 cups of greens around 8am, and then again around 8pm offer the same. I do pellet feedings in the am and greens in the pm, but you can definitely mix it up and see what works. Generally though every 10-14 hours gets them hungry enough to eat hay.

You can also switch up the brand or type of hay. My boys prefer orchard hay, but they’ll eat it from any brand. Some bunnies are very particular and will only eat a certain type of a certain brand, so you might need to explore that a bit. You can also sprinkle some dried forage in his hay too, as the yummy forage will encourage him to eat more of it.

[sarahthegemini]

Forage mixed in with hay can encourage them to eat more hay but for some it can have the opposite effect – when I put leaves/flowers in my bunny’s hay, they fish it all out and leave the hay (damn bunnies lol) I don’t mind because 5 to 10 mins later they go back for the hay but if your bun isn’t a good hay eater this could be a problem so just keep an eye on it. I actually don’t give them forage during the day because they don’t eat much hay and they’d eat even less if they had lovely forage to fill them up but during the night they eat tons of hay so it’s okay to put forage down

[RH1997]

I feed him at different points throughout the day so I’ll try and get him into a routine to encourage him to eat more hay when there is no pellets available. The forage sounds good too! I’ve found some Fibre treats online and the ingredients are “Wheat Flour, Locust Bean Flour, Ground Timothy Hay (11%), Ground Lucerne Hay, Ground Dried Peas, Soya Oil“ what do you guys think about them to get abit more fibre in his tummy?

[sarahthegemini]

The more fibre the better! Have you seen FibaFirst sticks? They are essentially a pellet but in stick form and they have 30% fibre. It’s what I give my bunnies.

[RH1997]

No I haven’t they sound great though will give them a try thank you!

[RH1997]

I feel like I’m on this with a new problem everyday haha. I took him to the vet today for his vaccines and just mentioned the sticky bum so she took a look at the genital area and said he looks like he has very mild dermatitis where the skin looks slightly red probably from where the poo has been sticking to his bum. Do any of you have experience with this? She’s recommend some aloe Vera gel to try which I’ve ordered online but don’t have a clue about this he’s never had it before? Any advice would be much appreciated !!

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