A little bit of a poopy bum?

[Mariah]

Hello, me again!

So to those that don't know- papaya is a 6 month old fuzzy lop who was neutered about 4 weeks ago. He's a happy little dude!

Anyways, I've noticed he's not eating all his cecotrophs. I'll find some stuck to his cage floor and some was even stuck to his foot tonight which I found when I was grooming him.

His diet consists of:

1/3 cup of martins regular bunny food (alpha based), martins adult bunny food (Timothy based) and oxbow adult pellets. My plan was to switch over to the oxbow but of course he dosent like it, so I'm weaning him off the alpha based pellets to the Timothy based pellets mixed with the oxbow.

He has unlimited Timothy and orchard hay with a sprinkle of alpha just to temp him to eat the Timothy. The reason he gets the alpha is because after he was neutered I was feaking out cause he wasent eating a lot, I gave him the alpha to make him want to eat.

About 4 days ago I introduced lettuce to him. I've only given him a tiny piece for 4 days. Could this be causing the excess cecotrophs and a poopy bum?

When I got him he had coccidia and pinworms so he was treated for that and I've since has his fecal checked and it was negative.

Why does he have a poopy bum? It's not a lot, just streaks which I believe may be caused by excess cecotrophs.

Advice?

 

[Shelbster]

If his poops are negative for critters then I would probably stop the veggies for a while. I would also do my best not to be giving three different pellets. This could cause upset. My advice is to stick with one timothy-based pellet. He can survive just fine eating hay for a while and in that time he will start to eat his pellets. Do you weigh him? If you don't, I suggest you start. And during this process, carefully monitor it.

I would also give a probiotic of some sort such as Benebac. That should help quite a bit as well.

 

[Mariah]

You are very right about the three different pellets. I am going to stop the alpha one starting tomorrow morning as I have already fed him his dinner tonight. I'll stick with the Timothy based one.

Also, no more lettuce for my little dude! This was his first time having lettuce. I was always told to wait until 6 months to start with the veggies.

He does also have normal poops. Most are normal but noticing him not eating his cecotrophs has me concerned.

 

[missyscove]

For now I'd cut out the lettuce and any alfalfa (I'm presuming that's what you mean by alpha), both alfalfa hay and alfalfa based pellets. If that doesn't do it I'd also decrease the amount of pellets he's being fed and push the hay. Extra cecals can sometimes be a sign of too much protein in the diet.

 

[Mariah]

I stopped the alphfa this morning! Sorry for the spelling mistake! **** auto correct!

I'll see how he does today- I work 8-630 so I won't be checking on him again until later on this evening.

He's bright and alert and wanted his breakfast this morning! I also decreased his pellets this morning too ( Timothy based).

 

[Mariah]

Well since I've stopped the alphfa pellets and the sprinkle of alphfa hay that I was giving, today I noticed an improvement. There was only a small pile of cecotrophs. I picked them up and Papaya ate them from my hand.

Maybe tomorrow I won't see any? Here's hoping!

 

[Mariah]

So I have still been seeing extra cecotrophs. I've stopped anything alphfa. All he gets is Timothy based pellets, Timothy hay and a bit of grass hay.

Why are there extra cecotrophs?

 

[Mariah]

So I have still been seeing extra cecotrophs. I've stopped anything alphfa. All he gets is Timothy based pellets, Timothy hay and a bit of grass hay.

Why are there extra cecotrophs?