HELP - Bunny producing excessive cecals!

[cheezling]

Hi everyone,
My 3-month-old started producing excess cecals this afternoon.
He does produce them every now and then but this afternoon he seems to be producing ONLY cecals (and not the other kind of droppings).
His poop was fine just this morning. I took him out of the pen for his daily dose of exercise during which he was running around but not eating much hay.
About a week ago, I started switching him over to these pellets - http://www.dubaipetfood.com/shop/care-rabbit-junior-2054p.html
They are intended for young rabbits but it does say they are high in protein.
I've been mixing them with the pellets he was fed at the pet store and just offering them as treats (each time I offer them, he comes running to me. He really loves them).
I removed them from his pen the minute he started producing excess cecals.
He's just eaten some hay but again - no droppings, just cecals!
I am so worried and the rabbit vet is not going to be in until Monday. Is there anything I could do to help?

I am not sure of the breed unfortunately but I've had him since Fen 26th.

 

[cheezling]

I feed him Timothy hay mixed in with meadow hay.

 

[cheezling]

Sorry, what I meant to say is that sometimes I find loose cecals in the cage. I know that all rabbits should produce cecals.

 

[cheezling]

I did take him to the vet (not our usual one though).
She checked him and said there's no bloating and that he looks healthy.
She said that in stasis there would be no expulsion of cecals either - is this true?
Also, she gave him and injection and now he has been pooping and eating hay just like before.
I've been told to stop the pellets for some time and feed him just hay and water.
Any advice would still be appreciated on the production of excess cecals and the possible cause of something like this.

 

[JBun]

Cecals being left behind and not eaten can be caused by excess production, from too rich of a diet. A rabbit not eating it's cecals can also be caused by the rabbit being overweight and not being able to reach down and eat them, and also sometimes young bunnies will leave them behind because of short attention spans, and getting distracted and forgetting to eat them. It could just be the age of your rabbit, or it could be that he was getting too many pellets. How many pellets do you feed him each day, and what is his weight?

And yes, when a rabbit is in stasis, it won't be pooping at all.

 

[molly]

Here's a good article on the production of excessive/soft cecotrophes: http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

My old man can no longer tolerate carbs - anything more than a .5 cm slice of carrot or a teaspoon of apple will cause him to produce way to many cecotrophes. When he has issues now (I think it's usually caused by him getting a hold of rat food that falls out of the cage :/), I usually give him Benebac and it helps a lot.

 

[cheezling]

Thank you so much for the replies.
I've been feeding him about half a cup of pellets and mixing the new ones with the old ones for a few days. He LOVES the new ones and I think I might have given him too many because I'd also get a couple every now and then to hand feed him (he'd always run to me and binky from excitement).
He's about 3 months old so our previous vet told us that I shouldn't be too stingy with the pellets right now as he's still growing and needs more calories.
I was worried because for a number of hours he was only producing cecals and not the harder round droppings. I'm not sure if I've panicked but in the end I'm glad I ended up going to the vet's.
What do you suggest I do about the pellets?
I'm not going to feed them to him for a few days but now I'm paranoid to be ever feeding them to him.

 

[JBun]

Just cause he's a baby still, he may always leave a few behind, and growing rabbits do need more pellets and more protein, but if you feel it is causing way too many uneaten cecals, you could decrease the pellet amount by a little to see if that helps. Maybe try a 1/3 cup a day. If he is a smaller breed bunny, then that amount should still be ok. Another thing you could do is gradually switch him back to the other pellets, as long as they were a decent quality plain rabbit food, as they didn't seem to be causing him any problems. I wouldn't have him off pellets too long though, as it may cause him problems when you suddenly start feeding them to him again. If his poops go back to normal after one day of not feeding pellets, and only hay, then it would probably be fine to start feeding them again, but in a decreased amout. But he does need some pellets, to be getting the proper nutrition, especially for a growing bunny, but it may just be that these new pellets are going to cause him problems. Try reducing the amount with these ones, or switching back to the old ones, or try a different one altogether. Just make sure to always make the pellet transition gradual over a couple weeks, to minimize digestive upset.

 

[ladysown]

too high of protein amounts can cause too many cecals being formed. Sounds like he is having trouble adjusting to the higher protein amount.

feed more timothy hay to help him cope better with the excess protein.

 

[Imbrium]

also keep in mind that a few hours (I assume you mean like 3-5?) without really producing any normal poops isn't particularly abnormal - sometimes rabbits will go a little without pooping and then poop out a whole pile at once, lol. as long as the bunny's appetite is totally normal and he's not showing signs of discomfort (laying down only to get right back up repeatedly, etc.) like his stomach is bothering him, it's really only around the 8-12h mark where lack of poops becomes cause for significant concern.

while not pooping is a common symptom of stasis, I find that a reduced appetite or sudden lack of appetite almost always presents *before* a reduced poop output is noticed if the lack of poop is indeed caused by stasis (in other words, they poop less because they suddenly start eating less)... failing that, the lack of poop would still be accompanied by subtle signs that the rabbit wasn't feeling good (lethargic, signs that they've got a tummy ache, etc.) if it was a stasis issue.

basically, if it seems like it's been a while since your rabbit has pooped, there's no need to rush to the vet asap unless it continues for 8-12h and/or is accompanied by other symptoms.

by the way, at 3 months, you can start *gradually* introducing leafy green veggies - one at a time in small amounts with a few days in between each new veggie so that if something doesn't agree with him, you'll know what it was. I would wait for him to be totally back to normal first, but then you can try slowly introducing veggies. things like cilantro and any lettuce other than iceberg are healthy, tummy-friendly greens that are good to start out with. once you introduce veggies and get to the point where you're feeding a significant amount, you can decrease pellets a bit more if you'd like

 

[cheezling]

Thank you for the tips.
I've very new to rabbits and he's my first pet bunny, hence I tend to panic a lot.
Another question that I have is do rabbits usually sleep through the night? I always sweep his droppings before I go to sleep (at around 1 or 2 am - yes, I sleep late), and then when I come to check on him in the morning to change his water (7 or 8 am), there's usually no poop in the pen either (or very little of it). I am not sure because throughout the day he seems to just take short naps of a few minutes at a time and then wonder around the pen or my room.
He seems to be pooping fine today and he's eating A LOT of hay (probably because he's off pellets for today.

 

[Imbrium]

they're most active at dusk and dawn... they sleep in naps/bursts at night just like during the day. mine are often wide awake and bouncing off the walls at 3 am, lol.

it's totally normal to be a paranoid bunny-momma/daddy in the beginning and worry about every little thing - I did that too

 

[cheezling]

Now, I am worried again.
He's been acting a bit lethargic today. I don't know if it might be because of the stress from yesterday (vet visit, long car ride, excess cecals that he hasn't eaten, etc.). He wasn't even too keen on leaving his pen and didn't binky or run around as much as he usually does (he did a few laps around my room but he's been lying down a lot more than usual). Should I just give him his space and let him be or should I encourage him to come out to play? Could it be the withdrawal of pellets that's causing him to be more tired?
I've seen him eat his cecals today a number of times (he'd pull them out of his bottom), but he didn't leave any loose ones around. He pooped a lot in the morning, but I feel that once again, it's afternoon and he's not pooping as much as he normally would.
I'm so scared but I don't want to take him to the vet YET again and stress him out even more.
Sorry to ramble on, I'm just really worried. One of my friends had a bunny some years back and he just died on her unexpectedly (he was only a baby), hence I think I'm extra paranoid.
I'm considering offering some pellets in case he's not getting enough calories and is tired. Please help.

UPDATE: He just ate a lot of hay and pooped quite a bit. I managed to get him out of the pen but he jumped back in after about 2 minutes. It's like he doesn't want to be out. He's once again lying down now - legs stretched out ears upright. I've read that this is supposed to indicate that he's feeling relaxed.

 

[JBun]

Being off pellets for one day, shouldn't have that much of an effect on energy, him not wanting to play might just be he's tired and wants to rest, especially if it's the middle of the day, and rabbits aren't necessarily constant with their pooping. The will usually have certain parts of the day where they poop a lot more than others. Like one of my rabbits hardly poops at all during the middle of the day, but poops a ton in the evening. Rabbits will also have some days where they are really active, and other days where they don't hardly do anything at all besides eating, drinking, and pooping. There are somethings that you can look out for that can be warning signs that your rabbit is having some sort of digestive or medical problem. When you go to feed it for the day at the usual time, it doesn't come running like it usually would and won't eat very much, or it stops eating altogether. Often the first sign of trouble is a change in your rabbits fecal pellets. If your rabbits poops are smaller or larger than normal, irregular, or mushy, or they stop altogether, this can indicate a digestive problem, or a medical problem causing a digestive problem. Also look for changes in behavior such as sitting hunched up in a corner for a long period of time(not their usual bunny loafing), grinding teeth, laying down with the butt pushed up and the belly pressed to the ground and also may be squinting from pain(this isn't just the usual laying down, the butt will be pushed up in order to press the belly down), or changing postiion frequently like laying down and immediately getting back up, repeatedly, trying to find a position of comfort. It's also a lot of just getting to know what your rabbits normal behavior is, so that when the behavior changes, you notice it. Digestive problems seem to be a pretty common difficulty with rabbits. Here's some info that you might find helpful in understanding your rabbit better.

http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Bunny_201.pdf
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html