Bonsai
Heidi's Mom
I think my rabbit is okay but I'd like some reassurance/thoughts on the situation. Bear in mind a rabbit savvy vet isn't an option atm (the only one within a reasonable distance is 1 hr drive and they're closed now until next week). All the other vets are 2+ hours away, also closed, and I have no way of getting there on such short notice.
I got a rabbit (Snickers) the Holland Lop from a very good breeder on Thursday. It is now Saturday and he has had good poops up until now. He has left two bunches of cecals uneaten and the remainder of his poops have been slightly mushy/were flattened when stepped on. I cleaned his cage less than an hour ago (it is cleaned DAILY and his litterbox every other day. I use vinegar diluted by water - two parts water, one part vinegar - to clean, no other cleaners used) and all was fine in the litterbox/cage department. But when I put him back in, he issued several soft stools.
I don't think he's going into stasis because he is eating lots of hay and some of his pellets plus he's very alert and active. I've attached a picture of what the 2nd cecals looked like (I think those are cecals?) and the others were left in his litterbox.
I've read that babies leaving cecals is normal since they sometimes get distracted and forget to eat them so I'm not too concerned about those but the mushy poops do concern me. He doesn't have a messy bottom or anything, no other abnormalities.
His diet consists of orchard grass hay and Manna Pro Sho pellets (which he was on with the breeder). Yesterday and today, he has received pellets directly from the bag the breeder had so it isn't possible that the pellets they had and the pellets I have are differently made or anything.
He feels soft in the middle so no signs of gas. I just noticed he is beginning to drop a few normal-looking droppings here and there and he is going to town on hay, actually eating few pellets and mostly hay; is it possible he just overate on the pellets a little or because he didn't eat his cecals due to him being otherwise distracted by something and that caused the soft poops? He seems perfectly fine otherwise, I'm just worried since I lost my last rabbit to what we believe was stasis set in motion by stress.
He has been handled daily (held for about 20+ minutes yesterday while I cleaned his habitat; he's very docile and seems to like being held, no quick heartbeat or other stress indicators when held) and he was out of his cage for 1 hour yesterday for the first time but he didn't get into anything as I had the areas he couldn't go blocked off. He did have a little bit of poop remains stuck to his feet today (barely any) and I used a damp, warm cloth to ease them off the fur. Its mostly because he poops a lot in one area of his cage while I sleep and, for whatever reason, he likes to lay in them. A bit like a dragon with his gold I suppose, lol!
Would it be okay to let him have a few hours out of his cage to run around and play or should I confine him until his poops get back to normal? Also should I put his cecals I collected back there with him so he can eat them or would it be okay to dispose of them? I have no qualms one way or the other, I just don't know what would be best. I removed them so he wouldn't smoosh them and get his feet messy.
That's all I can think of to include... I'm a little bit of a worry wart and every little thing worries me greatly!
I got a rabbit (Snickers) the Holland Lop from a very good breeder on Thursday. It is now Saturday and he has had good poops up until now. He has left two bunches of cecals uneaten and the remainder of his poops have been slightly mushy/were flattened when stepped on. I cleaned his cage less than an hour ago (it is cleaned DAILY and his litterbox every other day. I use vinegar diluted by water - two parts water, one part vinegar - to clean, no other cleaners used) and all was fine in the litterbox/cage department. But when I put him back in, he issued several soft stools.
I don't think he's going into stasis because he is eating lots of hay and some of his pellets plus he's very alert and active. I've attached a picture of what the 2nd cecals looked like (I think those are cecals?) and the others were left in his litterbox.
I've read that babies leaving cecals is normal since they sometimes get distracted and forget to eat them so I'm not too concerned about those but the mushy poops do concern me. He doesn't have a messy bottom or anything, no other abnormalities.
His diet consists of orchard grass hay and Manna Pro Sho pellets (which he was on with the breeder). Yesterday and today, he has received pellets directly from the bag the breeder had so it isn't possible that the pellets they had and the pellets I have are differently made or anything.
He feels soft in the middle so no signs of gas. I just noticed he is beginning to drop a few normal-looking droppings here and there and he is going to town on hay, actually eating few pellets and mostly hay; is it possible he just overate on the pellets a little or because he didn't eat his cecals due to him being otherwise distracted by something and that caused the soft poops? He seems perfectly fine otherwise, I'm just worried since I lost my last rabbit to what we believe was stasis set in motion by stress.
He has been handled daily (held for about 20+ minutes yesterday while I cleaned his habitat; he's very docile and seems to like being held, no quick heartbeat or other stress indicators when held) and he was out of his cage for 1 hour yesterday for the first time but he didn't get into anything as I had the areas he couldn't go blocked off. He did have a little bit of poop remains stuck to his feet today (barely any) and I used a damp, warm cloth to ease them off the fur. Its mostly because he poops a lot in one area of his cage while I sleep and, for whatever reason, he likes to lay in them. A bit like a dragon with his gold I suppose, lol!
Would it be okay to let him have a few hours out of his cage to run around and play or should I confine him until his poops get back to normal? Also should I put his cecals I collected back there with him so he can eat them or would it be okay to dispose of them? I have no qualms one way or the other, I just don't know what would be best. I removed them so he wouldn't smoosh them and get his feet messy.
That's all I can think of to include... I'm a little bit of a worry wart and every little thing worries me greatly!
