Poop ?

I gave my 10 yr old Giant Flemish some spinach tonight. She had formed poop, but tonight she also had a huge cluster of poop that had no odor and was about 2" long. It did not stick to her fur, I was lucky. She is eating and drinking good. Do I need to be concerned. My husband died Feb this year (2/17/14) . I don't want my rabbit to die. She was to the vet today and he said she was in good health, great coloring, teeth are good, lung are good. I dont know what to think. Was it the spinach?

Sounds like a cecotrope. Is the poop clustered together, or is it one long poop? If there are any clustered poops in it, it is a cecotrope. Cecotropes are special poops rabbits produce to eat. They contain all the vitamins and minerals the rabbit didn't process correctly on the first time through. If your rabbit is not eating his cecotropes, he probably needs more hay. Sometimes, however, they just forget to eat an occasional cecotrope.

It could be that her stomac is not used to the spinach. So she got a mild diarrhea (the cluster).

Some of ours tolerate veggies better than others, so the amount they get varies. Our largest bunny gets half of what I give two other smaller buns--that way I don't have to do cleanup. I'd keep an eye on it.

I believe she was not use to spinach. I have not given her spinach today. One leaf of Kale, one leaf of Romain. She eats her timothy hay and will only drink Pedialyte. She is pretty happy and healthy given her age. She has arthritis in both hind legs, making it impossible to groom herself below. She mainly scoots around. I have her in the day time on an old piece of clean rug. I have several. I can take them outside and wash them down with soap and water and let them dry in our nice hot Texas sun. She stays out all day on the carpet. She can get up on her back legs somewhat, but she prefers just to scoot around. She is happy, so I am happy. She only had a very small cluster tonight. She does not eat them. I have a spray bottle with water and a bit of vinegar that I keep her hind legs and bottom cleaned off. At night I put her in her cage. I have the bottom of the cage lined in disposable baby diapers that pulls the moisture of the urine away from her. She has never attempted to eat the disposables. She maybe handicapped but so am I. I also have two blind/deaf 17yr old cats, and 2 blind/deaf 12yr old female dogs. So I am no stranger to handicapped pets. Husband died in Feb this year so I have a lot of time on my hands. DOnt mind taking care of the little handicapped pets. They dont put us down when we are handicapped. I was wondering what else in the fresh greens would she be able to eat? Thank You for all your help. It is greatly appreciated and needed. Thanx!

I'm so sorry about your husband.

At her age I wouldn't introduce many new veggies that she hasn't had before, but in general herbs such as basil and cilantro are well-tolerated by most rabbits.

whiskylollipop said:

I'm so sorry about your husband.

At her age I wouldn't introduce many new veggies that she hasn't had before, but in general herbs such as basil and cilantro are well-tolerated by most rabbits.

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Thank you for the tips on the basil and cilantro. She has started to tolerate the Romaine Lettuce. I did give her just a taste of green cabbage tonight. This is great for stomach's. I will know by morning if she tolerates it. She could not handle the spinach at all. I have not given her any pellets, instead I give her timothy hay. She loves the pedialyte. She does move her back feet. I have the raw spots on her legs treated with triple antibiotic ointment and ace bandaged since yesterday. I do believe once the raw spots are healed she may regain mobility in the hind legs. The right leg moves better than her left. She is on antibiocts right now from the vet. I rescued her from my daughter. She was not caring for her right. She has really improved in the last week. She is happy, peeing and pooping up a storm. Tonight she pooped a cluster of poop balls all stuck together, which y'all are telling me is a good sign. It did not stick to her fur. I hope I did not undo her progress by giving her a taste of cabbage. I am limiting the fresh veggies. One leaf a day. Today one small leaf of Romaine and a small taste of cabbage. Mainly eating timothy hay and drinking unflavored pedialyte. I have her lined under neath her with pampers. She has made no attempt to even eat or pull at the.. It keeps her peepee away from her fur. Learned this tip from a breeder that shows rabbits. Even if she does not regain full use of her legs, she is happy. I have 3 old scraps of carpet. I place a clean one under her with a pad made for kids beds at night. I lay ontop of that a diaper opened wide. She does move around, or scoots around like a baby just learning to crawl. So she is getting healthier every day. I am giving her a probiotic pill crushed up with a hint of liquid baby vitamins and feed it to her with an eye dropper. Time to put her to bed. Thank you for the tip.

Update: Rhea took her first steps tonight. It was about six steps. She cant get up from laying down to a walking position on her own yet. But my daughter said she has not walked in a year. I took the rabbit away from her. I gave her a bath, check up at the vet, flea powdered her with diatomaceous earth. Vet said that was smart. It is food grade and non toxic. Fleas cant get use to it like commerical flea powders. If she grooms herself, it is nutritional. I even take 2 tablespoons daily for my health, mixed up in cold green tea every night. When I took her to the vet, he did revolution on the back of the neck. I did not know when I took her to the vet that she had not walked in a year. Talked to vet, he encouraged me to put her down. They dont put people down, she was on the mend, eating , drinking, happy. She is getting stronger every day. At night she goes into her cage, lined with disposable diapers. She has her timothy hay and pedialyte (unflavored) next to her. Have stopped giving her pellets. Her poop is normal now and no further gooey poop. She tolerates one leave of Romaine, and a small piece of cabbage. I mix liquid baby vitamin/minerals (1cc) with one pill of acidphilus, and a bit of pedialye and feed it to her, and 1cc of antibiotics the vet gave me. She is getting stronger. I think her stomach is doing better. It has only been 7 days. Lots of work, but I dont care. She is a fighter, and so am I. I think she is going to beat this yet. I was happy that her poop was normal. Just when I thought Rhea could not surprise me anymore, she did, by walking. Any comments and suggestions or tips would be greatly apprecialted. I did not know a giant flemish could make weird noices either. She kind of grunted today at the cat that wanted to cuddle and sleep with her. Was weird sound. When the cat still laid down next to her, she stopped and laid down with the cat and both went to sleep. I never leave Rhea unattended. My cat is 15 yrs old with blind and deaf. So Newby probably thought she was cuddling by 17 yrs old male siamese T2. It is my secret, I wont tell her. She is new at being blind :hbunnysmell:.:hbunnysmell:

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful thing for this bun. That's great that the poop problem is clearing up. Diet often makes a big difference in a rabbits health. I'm sure it was wonderful to see her take those steps. It sounds like she has the capability of possibly regaining some mobility back. Has your vet prescribed anything to help with your buns arthritis?

A rabbit with a disability doesn't mean it should be put down automatically, so I'm glad you decided against it. As long as she isn't suffering and is happy in herself, with the proper care she can still enjoy her life. You may want to check out these sites for disabled buns(if you haven't already). They have some good info on how to care for buns with disabilities. I know that some rabbit owners have devised slings for their buns with hind limb weakness, to support them so that they can help the bun walk and build those muscles back up. May be something to look into.
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/
http://www.hopperhome.com/Disabled%20Rabbit.htm
http://www.catsandrabbitsandmore.com/disabled_rabbits

The grunting was just a warning as your bun was probably just unsure about your cat, but was fine once she realized your cat just wanted to snuggle. They may even become best buddies. I've read of other buns bonding with cats, so not unheard of

Here is one good veggie list for rabbits.
http://www.lagomorphs.com/salad.pdf

ETA: The poop clusters, or cecotropes, are normally eaten by rabbits directly from their bottom. Sometimes an occasional one will be left by a bun and sometimes diet or medications can cause a bacterial change in the cecotropes and so a bun won't end up eating it because it doesn't smell right. But uneaten cecotropes can also happen because a bun has a health problem like arthritis, and they can't reach down there to eat them properly. So if the cecotropes aren't mushy and seem formed properly, if you see one left uneaten, you may want to offer it to her and see if she will want to eat it, in case she just couldn't reach it to eat it herself.
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-droppings.asp

JBun said:

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful thing for this bun. That's great that the poop problem is clearing up. Diet often makes a big difference in a rabbits health. I'm sure it was wonderful to see her take those steps. It sounds like she has the capability of possibly regaining some mobility back. Has your vet prescribed anything to help with your buns arthritis?

A rabbit with a disability doesn't mean it should be put down automatically, so I'm glad you decided against it. As long as she isn't suffering and is happy in herself, with the proper care she can still enjoy her life. You may want to check out these sites for disabled buns(if you haven't already). They have some good info on how to care for buns with disabilities. I know that some rabbit owners have devised slings for their buns with hind limb weakness, to support them so that they can help the bun walk and build those muscles back up. May be something to look into.
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/
http://www.hopperhome.com/Disabled%20Rabbit.htm
http://www.catsandrabbitsandmore.com/disabled_rabbits

The grunting was just a warning as your bun was probably just unsure about your cat, but was fine once she realized your cat just wanted to snuggle. They may even become best buddies. I've read of other buns bonding with cats, so not unheard of

Here is one good veggie list for rabbits.
http://www.lagomorphs.com/salad.pdf

ETA: The poop clusters, or cecotropes, are normally eaten by rabbits directly from their bottom. Sometimes an occasional one will be left by a bun and sometimes diet or medications can cause a bacterial change in the cecotropes and so a bun won't end up eating it because it doesn't smell right. But uneaten cecotropes can also happen because a bun has a health problem like arthritis, and they can't reach down there to eat them properly. So if the cecotropes aren't mushy and seem formed properly, if you see one left uneaten, you may want to offer it to her and see if she will want to eat it, in case she just couldn't reach it to eat it herself.
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-droppings.asp

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Never thought to offer it to her. She is not handling any fresh veggies. If I give her liquid vitamins and stop the fresh veggies would that be ok. I believe she has arthritis. She is ten years old. She is happy, eats and drinks. Just when I give her any fresh veggies she has diahrrea. But she has had the cluster poop once a day also. She eats pellets and timothy hay well with no trouble. She just has trouble with fresh veggies. She has been like that since she was a baby.

I googled and found on youtube this walker that a man build for a cat out of pvc pipe and was easy to build from stuff from Home Depot for $20. Going tomorrow to buy the supplies and it should not take more that an hour to make and assemble. Rhea will love it.