Blood spotting out of rectum

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pocketsizedrhino

pocketsizedrhino

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
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Location
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
- Description (Breed, color., weight): english spot/rex (?) white/brown spots, 5.5lbs

- Age: 9 months

- spayed/neutered? Spayed mid December 09

- Notes on Fecal and Urinary Output
- are the bunny's poops and pees normal?: yes
- When did they last use their litterbox?: not positive but I know she is using it.
- Any unusual behavior?: no she is calm, loving and normal as ever. She is molting right now.. has been for a week or maybe two.

- Medical History -- has s/he been to the vet or been sick before?: she had some little sniffles once back in Oct/nov. and was on antibiotics.

- Diet - what does your bunny eat?: Oxbow T (1/3 cup in the morning), unlimited timothy hay from sweet meadow farms, lots of veggies every night/every other night.
- when and what did s/he eat last?: currently eating hay

- movement - any unusual movements? Is s/he hopping normally?: yes

- any weight loss?: no

- are there any plants, chocolate or other substances within reach? : no

- has the rabbit been outdoors?: no



I can't find any info on this online. Kirby is leaving little splots of blood around on her blankets. I'm not sure when this started exactly but I did notice some similar splots at least 2 weeks ago. :( She had darker colored blankets in her cage up until recently and I didn't think much of the little marks.. Some spots were mostly a lighter color with a darker 'blood' streak around the center. These last two were all blood. I finally decided it was really blood tonight when I saw the spot after she moved where she was sitting. It looked fresh so I jumped in the pen and flipped her over to check out her area. It looks like it is coming from the rectum rather than the vagina but it is hard to tell. I am pretty positive it was the rectum.

I will definitely be taking her to the vet in the morning. I know this isn't right! I am posting on here to see if anyone has had a problem like this. What could it come from? What kind of things will the vet have to do to examine her? Could this have anything to do with getting spayed a month ago?

I am so thankful I have a credit card! :tears2: This is such a bad week for finances. I am buying school books but don't get my loan money to cover them until the 22nd so it came out of pocket until then.

Here are two pictures I took of her splotches from this week. The first is one that was a few days old and already dried up looking when I saw it. The second is the fresh one I just caught...

2605yc5.jpg
5pmst1.jpg


 
You're sure it's red and not a brownish color like cecal matter?

Does it smell?

Does she seem to have normal cecals as well as poops? Can you tell?


sas :?
 
That could be possible. I didn't know her cecals could turn to brown liquid. Her regular poop is normal. What would that mean and how can I fix it? I'm going to go inspect her litter box really well and report what I find.

I also did some reading and found that rabbits can also "leak" poryphin in their urine. This would of course look like blood but not be anything to worry about according to this article from the House Rabbit Society. http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-1/red-urine.html
 
Heidi, I don't have anything helpful to add, but I really hope Kirby will be okay! I'm glad you're getting her to the vet today (thank goodness for vets that are open on the weekends). This must be so scary for you. Please keep us updated!
 
Siiigh... They're open until 1pm today and my vet does free exams on Saturday. That's good at least! But this vet is 40ish minutes away through Atlanta on two big ol 5+ lane highways... I hate trips to the vet. :( I think it is supposed to rain at about noon too. Maybe I'll miss it.
I'll be leaving here in a little bit. I'm going to print that HRS article just in case.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to bring the blanket with the spots on it and a stool sample. I can't even guess what kind of tests or prodding has to be done to figure up what is going on up there.
 
Heidi, good luck! That does sound like a miserable drive, I hate driving. Awesome that the vet has free exams on Saturday though! Bringing the blankie and stool sample sound like a good idea. Let us know how the visit goes!
 
Thanks for caring, everyone.

We're home now. The vet visit was pretty inconclusive. My vet sees rabbits regularly but she didn't really know what to say about this. She told me to give benebac twice a day and call if I see it happening more.
Kirby weighed 5lbs 4oz before her spay in December and today she was 4lb 9oz. Could all that weight have been everything they removed from her spay? My vet didn't seem worried. Something to consider is that I've been cutting back on pellets for the past 2 months or so.. that may also have to do with any weight loss. She does get lots of hay.

I'll be trying the benebac out. Should I do a trial run of simethicone to see if it does anything? I know it wouldn't hurt but I'd hate to do both at once and not know which is helping. If something stops the weird occasional leak then I'll be happy!

I don't have many light colored blankets to put down so I may go buy her a light colored fleece one when I pick up some simethicone and a slicker brush. Oh! That's another thing I was considering... the fact that she is in her second molt ever... I am not familiar with rabbit anatomy but could something in her "cecal making tubes" be clogged with hair so that it is only letting liquid pass? Can she have cecal diarrhea while still having nice normal poops?

I should get the poor gal out of her carrier. I made her wait while I updated you guys.
 
A rabbit with an impaction can still have diarrhea that leaks around the impaction
but did you take the blanket to show the vet. Was the vet able to determine that it was liquid poop on the blanket and not blood?
 
I was afraid it would be inconclusive. :sigh:

You can have normal poops and some runny cecals. It's more likely than dribbling urine, actually. The red urine is common, but in puddles, not so much spots.

The molt could be throwing her system off, but she'd most likely be showing signs of discomfort, although 'calm' may be masking or signaling a problem.

Did you change her diet other than cutting down on pellets?

Really push the hay and cut out the treats and see if that helps.

Benebac and simethicone won't hurt.

Most important thing is to figure out the origin. I'd line her litter box with just white paper and no litter and watch her like a hawk.

I gather the Vet didn't feel anything unusual, but if it really is blood, I'd be far happier with an x-ray.

But if its just diet-related runny cecals, not so necessary.

ETA: I'm assuming the vet didn't feel an impaction, but AngieLuv brings up a good point. Another reason for an x-ray.


sas :clover:
 
angieluv: Yes I did take the blanket with me. She didn't know if it was blood or not. They fade to a brown when dry but it seems like a lighter shade than blood would be. She does agree that it is probably coming from her rectum.

sas: Her diet has not been changed recently. She has been on oxbow T pellets for at least 4 months. After I ran out of her kleenmama's timothy/bluegrass hay mix I decided to try sweet meadow farms timothy hay and she started eating that a few days after Christmas. There are some extra leaves/herb bits in this hay. I read that dried fig leaves can make urine reddish but I googled what they look like and I don't think there are any in there.

Thanks for the litter box tip, I didn't even think of that. If she won't go on paper I'll get some carefresh ultra since its white. She might be weird about having no litter.

The vet did palpitate her stomach and didn't feel anything abnormal. I read once that tummy massages can help if they have a blockage so I think I'll be doing those too.

Hopefully taking steps to treat her like I would treat a GI blockage will clear this up and we won't have to take the x-ray route. I'll keep it under consideration though. How much would that cost at your vet?
 
Ugh I wish I knew about those so I could have brought it up.. :(

I just read that article. I can ask the pharmacist when I am at Walmart getting her other things. And then, what if it is blood?

My vet certainly doesn't wow me by any means but they are kind and have reasonable prices for exotics. The thing I like is that she is willing to listen to my suggestions and thoughts and will always give me any medicine I need for my rats when they get myco flare ups.

If the GI block treatment ends up not working I will be going to a better and way more expensive vet to figure this out.
 
I would be more prone to think this is a vaginal bleed related to the recent spay. Could be scar tissue or an issue related to improper healing...or an infection secondary to the surgery. Was a rectal temp taken during the PE? Usually a rectal bleed is due to a gastric ulcer that has perforated and that situation usually resolves itself in an undesirable fashion in short order.

Randy
 
Thanks for your reply, Randy. That was my first thought but I don't think it is vaginal bleeding because I caught her 'in the act' and flipped her over. The vagina was clear and the other hole was the one with the brown/reddish substance around it. The timing does make you wonder though...

I have some cipro on hand (and doxycycline in pill form from my rats). I am wary to start an antibiotic without knowing if she actually has an infection. In this case, would you recommend ignoring the resistance worry and go ahead and give them?

My vet didn't want to unnecessarily medicate her. She told me her next step would be some kind of diarrhea medicine. The doesn't sound the the most aggressive treatment to me..

There was no rectal temp taken. My vet is pretty in and out. Again I'm not super impressed with her. I could try on my own but I don't see that going over well with Kirby.

A gastric ulcer doesn't sound good... :lipsrsealed: How would you determine if that is the cause? An x-ray?
 
In a rabbit if you have a bleeding gastric ulcer you will have a dead rabbit. I would still be leaning toward a vaginal bleed. Something to consider, depending on what type of spay your vet did....or if your rabbit was hormonal prior to and during the spay.....some can develop endometriosis and that can move to other tissue. So that is something to consider also. Human females can develop endometriosis and can present with vaginal and/or rectal bleeding....so I would suspect the same in a rabbit. I would not use those antibiotics due mainly to the fact of their effectiveness against the possible and most likely pathogens if it is an infection. Cipro is a flouroquinolone that is chemically similar to Baytril (Cipro is a human med...Baytril cause hallucination in humans). I have started using a newer Flourquinolone known as Zeniquin. Doxycycline isn't something I use a lot....but I did use it in a rabbit that had confirmed peptostreptococcus.

It is possible that it's a cecum issue. I am not much on Oxbow pellets (just a personal opinion) and 1/3 cup is an awful lot of pellets. I give a bonded pair of Flemish Giants (both well over 20 pounds) about 1/3 cup pellets per day for them to share. Pellets are often considerable overfed. Just to make sure it's not digestive....get back to basics. Continue with the unlimited hay but I would cut the pellets back to maybe a couple of tablespoons per day and cut out any veggies.

Randy
 
In a rabbit if you have a bleeding gastric ulcer you will have a dead rabbit. I would still be leaning toward a vaginal bleed. Something to consider, depending on what type of spay your vet did....or if your rabbit was hormonal prior to and during the spay.....some can develop endometriosis and that can move to other tissue. So that is something to consider also. Human females can develop endometriosis and can present with vaginal and/or rectal bleeding....so I would suspect the same in a rabbit. I would not use those antibiotics due mainly to the fact of their effectiveness against the possible and most likely pathogens if it is an infection. Cipro is a flouroquinolone that is chemically similar to Baytril (Cipro is a human med...Baytril cause hallucination in humans). I have started using a newer Flourquinolone known as Zeniquin. Doxycycline isn't something I use a lot....but I did use it in a rabbit that had confirmed peptostreptococcus.

It is possible that it's a cecum issue. I am not much on Oxbow pellets (just a personal opinion) and 1/3 cup is an awful lot of pellets. I give a bonded pair of Flemish Giants (both well over 20 pounds) about 1/3 cup pellets per day for them to share. Pellets are often considerable overfed. Just to make sure it's not digestive....get back to basics. Continue with the unlimited hay but I would cut the pellets back to maybe a couple of tablespoons per day and cut out any veggies.

Randy
 
I was planning on cutting her pellets down again soon. Thanks for the suggestion on pellet amounts I've been meaning to look it up.

I never saw her behavior change or noticed her in heat before her spay but I could have easily missed it so I'm not sure if it happened at a time like that or not. Thanks for all of the information! I'll be reading up on endometriosis in a bit here. I really appreciate your help, Randy.

My Walmart did not have any fecal blood test kits but they told me I should check a Rite Aid. I will tomorrow or Monday.

I got some simethicone. It is 20mg/0.3mL.. Kirby weighs 2.2kg and the dose is 100mg/kg so that means she needs 220mg. Is that about 3cc's of simethicone per dose? Or through the day? Please correct me if my math is wrong.
 
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