Bunny poop questions.

[Ana_The_Dreamer]

"Bunny poop questions." Lovely topic, no?
Anywho. Onto my concerns:
Over the past week, Nessa's poops have begun to smell horribly and become mushy and wet. They are a semi-normal size. I picked her up today and noticed she smelled awful so I flipped her over and discovered she had quite the poopy butt. I got a paper towel and some cornstarch and cleaned it off the best I could.
Her appetite is normal. I recently switched her hay from kaytee meadow hay to oxbow orchard grass. (She adores the new hay. Eats tons of it.) And her pellets are still "Kaytee timothy complete" which she's been on since she was a baby. I have noticed she hasn't been wanting to eat greens very much. She'll sniff them and then walk away, maybe coming back in a few minutes and eating some romaine pieces; but that's about it. I haven't been giving her any treats lately.
She's not very active either. She'll hop around and do a few binkies, then flop down and breathe heavily. She mostly just wants to sit on my lap and fall asleep rather than play in the living room.
I'm just concerned as to what is wrong. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[JBun]

It's called cecal dysbiosis, which her change of behavior is likely also due to as it will make her belly feel uncomfortable and possibly a bit painful It's caused by a microflora imbalance in the rabbits cecum, most often due to diet, though pathogenic bacteria can also cause it. When it is due to diet, usually the culprit is too many carbohydrates, from too many sugary starchy treats or sometimes from too many pellets. It more rarely can be caused from a sensitivity to a certain food, such as a particular veg/herb, or a particular type of hay.

If this has just started happening since you switched her over to the orchard grass, it's possible that she just can't tolerate that particular hay. You could try switching back over to the hay she was on before and see if that clears it up. If not, reducing pellets would be my next step(and no sugary starchy treats), sometimes even removing them temporarily if the dysbiosis is severe, and feeding a hay only diet for several weeks, til the poop returns to normal. It may also be a good idea to have test done on the poop to rule out parasites and pathogenic bacteria. If your bun stops eating, drinking, or pooping, or her condition worsens, definitely get her to the vet right away.

http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/
http://www.sawneeanimalclinic.com/downloads/chronic_intermittent_diarrhea_in_rabbits.pdf
http://rabbit.org/disorders-of-the-cecum/

 

[Ana_The_Dreamer]

Thanks, Jenny. I will switch her hay back and keep a close eye on her.