Bunnies ate caramel popcorn!

[whiskylollipop]

UGH! Never ever leave those little stinkers alone, Laura you nitwit!

I'm alone in the house today and left the bunnies for 10 minutes to get the laundry done. Little did I know hubby had stashed a small pack of caramel popcorn under a throw on the couch last night, but our little hungry monsters sure sniffed it out the moment mummy left. When I got back to the living room there was a slashed-open, EMPTY popcorn bag on the floor and two satisfied bunnies preening beside it!

I know that much sugar and corn can't be good for their tummies, so now I've grounded them with lots of hay and am watching their poops like a hawk. Do you think I should still take them to a vet? Is popcorn super dangerous?

 

[Bindi]

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Yesterday I sat down with a bowl of soup and two slices of toast and quick as a flash Mattie had his paws on my desk, the toast off my tray and tried to run off with it, we had to have a tug of war!

I don't know much about popcorn and bunnies, but I'd be doing what you are doing. If they seem to be behaving normally, pooing normally etc, I'd just continue to monitor them and find a better hiding place in future!

 

[Watermelons]

Haha just watch for tummy upset as usual. Think you've got it covered.
No caramel popcorn is not dangerous, just tasty!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm just so worried, with how bad corn is for rabbits. They didn't leave anything behind either, really polished off the entire bag's contents, so that must mean they even ate the hard husky seed bits that some popcorn pieces have! GAH

I'm about convinced they're going to develop gut blockage.

 

[Mariah]

Omg! Funny little bunnies! I would be freaking out too, but your doing the right thing by monitoring their poos.
Keep us posted! What little rascals!

 

[Watermelons]

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm just so worried, with how bad corn is for rabbits. They didn't leave anything behind either, really polished off the entire bag's contents, so that must mean they even ate the hard husky seed bits that some popcorn pieces have! GAH

I'm about convinced they're going to develop gut blockage.

Well corn itself is bad in whole form. As its tough shell doesn't break down well at all in the gut. Well not necessarily bad, but not healthy and bad in comparison to other foods.
I would be more concerned about the whole kernels and that hard shell like bit left from a popped kernel that gets stuck in our teeth when we eat popcorn.
But those bits are about the side of small bunny poop anyway so it should pass through with not much issue. So more concern for an upset tummy then a blockage.
But all in all. Do what you're doing. Push lots of hay. Encourage extra drinking (offer a bowl of spiked water).
You could pick up infant gas drops and offer a low/half dose as a preventive measure and up it to full doses if needed.
No need to syringe feed unless they go off food completely.

On a side note... now I really want caramel popcorn

 

[whiskylollipop]

Update: Hubs is not very happy that his "carefully" hidden caramel popcorn is the latest thing to have been sucked into the black hole of bunny tummy.

Good news is, the black hole of bunny tummy is currently accepting lots of hay with great vigor, which I hope bodes well for any stray husk bits or kernel lurking in their little guts.

 

[whiskylollipop]

On a side note... now I really want caramel popcorn

Hahaha, so does hubby! Who wouldn't? Drat those bunnies.

...didn't even leave few pieces to share with their human slaves.

 

[Imbrium]

The #1 concern with corn is that bunnies can't digest the outer shell - it's *whole* kernels of corn that can potentially be dangerous. Any other form of corn (ground up into corn meal, flaked (ie flattened, which crushes the shell up a bit), popcorn (the outer shell is broken up at least somewhat when it pops), etc.) is unhealthy but not nearly as big of a concern as whole corn kernels.

The #2 concern with corn is that excess carbs can be unhealthy (and the #3 concern in this situation is the sugar in the caramel coating). Both *can* cause serious problems. One issue is obesity, diabetes and/or other issues from long-term/chronic ingestion of excess carbs/sugar - obviously not a concern in this situation because it's a one-time incident. The other big one is that these foods can trigger GI stasis - this is (by far) most likely to occur only if the bunny is overly sensitive to carbs and/or sugar to begin with.

I assume that, like most owners, you feed your bunnies an appropriate amount of pellets for their weights and probably occasionally give them some fruit, carrots or other sugary treats (within the limits suggested by HRS) - if you feed those foods in the "appropriate" amounts, have never experienced one or more inexplicable bouts of stasis and haven't seen any other signs that there are issues (like poops from a single bunny being noticeably inconsistent in size, for example) then your bunnies are probably NOT oversensitive to sugars and/or carbs - if they were, you should've experience problems when feeding a "normal" bunny diet.

At this point, give lots of hay, lots of liquids and keep an eye on the litter box (I would clean it out so that you can get a good idea of how much poop is generated overnight) and their eating habits. If everything is still normal by 12-24h after eating the popcorn, you should be in the clear.

Bunnies have eaten far worse than caramel popcorn and gotten it through their systems without issue/consequence, so chances are very high that your bunns will be just fine .

 

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks Imbrium, that was very informative. I rarely feed sugary fruit actually, the bulk of my rabbits' diet is hay, pellets, and small amounts of veggies (cilantro/basil/mint/fennel). They get small bits of carrot, banana or tomato maybe once a week, when we have a little extra after cooking. They do get into the rubbish every so often though, I've known them to sneak bites of bread, crackers, biscuits, chips, cheeseballs, so on. But they've never had tummy issues.

I just posted a slightly more urgent thread, cause Rosebun has gone off food and water and is moping in a corner. I suspect the beginnings of stasis, but I've never experienced it before and can't be sure.