Krulala
Member
Hello!
I am a new mother of a human baby (5 months old now), have 2 kitties, one of which has some digestive problems and started pooping outside of the litter box about 1.5 months ago, and have 2 house bunnies, one of which has been smearing her cecotropes for quite some time on hard surfaces. The ceotrope smearing used to only be occasional, but now it is every day. Now my life basically revolves around cleaning poo whether it be baby poo leaking out of diapers, kitty diarrhea on the carpet and bed or ceotropes smeared across our tile and hardwood floors.
I'd love some help with the bunny poo issue (kitty is under care of vet, and we are hopeful will soon go back to using the litter box).
We have two 2-yr-old rabbits, Coco and Rufus. Both are litter box trained and always pee inside the litter box. They are also really good at keeping their fecal pellets in the litter box, although there are always a couple that escape the box when the rabbits jump out. We do find occasional fecal pellets in the odd corner, but never more than one or 2 outside their litter box areas.
They both eat the same diet of ~ 1/2 cup fresh veggies in the morning with 1/2 cup of pellets given out at 4 different times during the day. We do not separate the rabbits for feeding and hope that they each get an equal share of the above amounts. Unfortunately, Coco continuously eats until everything is gone, while Rufus only eats until he is full. So, I'm sure Coco gets more than half of everything.
Coco is definitely overweight, but she has been steadily loosing weight since her peak about a year ago. We have been measuring and limiting their food diligently to get her back to a healthy weight. About a month ago (last vet visit) she weighed 7 lbs, compared to Rufus who is ~4.5lbs. We believe Rufus eats much more hay than Coco, as we see him in his litter box munching away much more often than Coco.
We make sure they never run out of Timothy hay or water and keep both in several locations through the house, always near a litter box.
Soon after Coco was spayed, she gained weight very quickly and occasionally would smear her cecotropes across the linoleum in our kitchen or sometimes the bathroom.
We thought this was due to a combination of her weight issue and furriness. She is very furry, and we have to keep her "bloomers" trimmed short or the sticky cecotropes will accumulate and eventually form a matted mess. Since she is overweight, we believe she has a hard time reaching her bum to clean them from her fur. I've actually seen her smear her rear-end on the floor, then turn around and lick the floor to eat the smeared mess.
I was hoping that once she got back to a healthier weight and if we kept her bloomers trimmed, we could minimize these messy smears. Unfortunately, they have gotten much, much worse despite the lose of weight and diligence at trimming her rear end.
Every day she smears on our hardwood floors, the tiled foyer, the linoleum in the laundry room, or the tile in the kitchen. At least she keeps it off the carpet, I guess. There is now so much poop smeared everyday, that I have a hard time believing she consumes any of it. When the problem started, it was maybe once a week, in a 1-2 sqft area. Now, it literally is every day and can be over a 6'x6' area. I wonder if she just started a habit and now prefers to get rid of it that way.
I am sure that she still produces fecal pellets as well, as I've seen her produce piles in the litterbox. I often find non-smeared cecotropes from her in the same vincinity, which are mostly spherical and solid but soft (basically the consistency that I would expect), so I'm fairly sure it isn't diarrhea. Her behavior hasn't changed in any other way. We have had the vet check her out on numerous occasions (she also has semi-chronic ear infections, which now seem under control with frequent cleaning) and been given a clean bill of health.
Has anyone else experienced this issue or have any ideas on how to remedy the issue? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
I am a new mother of a human baby (5 months old now), have 2 kitties, one of which has some digestive problems and started pooping outside of the litter box about 1.5 months ago, and have 2 house bunnies, one of which has been smearing her cecotropes for quite some time on hard surfaces. The ceotrope smearing used to only be occasional, but now it is every day. Now my life basically revolves around cleaning poo whether it be baby poo leaking out of diapers, kitty diarrhea on the carpet and bed or ceotropes smeared across our tile and hardwood floors.
I'd love some help with the bunny poo issue (kitty is under care of vet, and we are hopeful will soon go back to using the litter box).
We have two 2-yr-old rabbits, Coco and Rufus. Both are litter box trained and always pee inside the litter box. They are also really good at keeping their fecal pellets in the litter box, although there are always a couple that escape the box when the rabbits jump out. We do find occasional fecal pellets in the odd corner, but never more than one or 2 outside their litter box areas.
They both eat the same diet of ~ 1/2 cup fresh veggies in the morning with 1/2 cup of pellets given out at 4 different times during the day. We do not separate the rabbits for feeding and hope that they each get an equal share of the above amounts. Unfortunately, Coco continuously eats until everything is gone, while Rufus only eats until he is full. So, I'm sure Coco gets more than half of everything.
Coco is definitely overweight, but she has been steadily loosing weight since her peak about a year ago. We have been measuring and limiting their food diligently to get her back to a healthy weight. About a month ago (last vet visit) she weighed 7 lbs, compared to Rufus who is ~4.5lbs. We believe Rufus eats much more hay than Coco, as we see him in his litter box munching away much more often than Coco.
We make sure they never run out of Timothy hay or water and keep both in several locations through the house, always near a litter box.
Soon after Coco was spayed, she gained weight very quickly and occasionally would smear her cecotropes across the linoleum in our kitchen or sometimes the bathroom.
We thought this was due to a combination of her weight issue and furriness. She is very furry, and we have to keep her "bloomers" trimmed short or the sticky cecotropes will accumulate and eventually form a matted mess. Since she is overweight, we believe she has a hard time reaching her bum to clean them from her fur. I've actually seen her smear her rear-end on the floor, then turn around and lick the floor to eat the smeared mess.
I was hoping that once she got back to a healthier weight and if we kept her bloomers trimmed, we could minimize these messy smears. Unfortunately, they have gotten much, much worse despite the lose of weight and diligence at trimming her rear end.
Every day she smears on our hardwood floors, the tiled foyer, the linoleum in the laundry room, or the tile in the kitchen. At least she keeps it off the carpet, I guess. There is now so much poop smeared everyday, that I have a hard time believing she consumes any of it. When the problem started, it was maybe once a week, in a 1-2 sqft area. Now, it literally is every day and can be over a 6'x6' area. I wonder if she just started a habit and now prefers to get rid of it that way.
I am sure that she still produces fecal pellets as well, as I've seen her produce piles in the litterbox. I often find non-smeared cecotropes from her in the same vincinity, which are mostly spherical and solid but soft (basically the consistency that I would expect), so I'm fairly sure it isn't diarrhea. Her behavior hasn't changed in any other way. We have had the vet check her out on numerous occasions (she also has semi-chronic ear infections, which now seem under control with frequent cleaning) and been given a clean bill of health.
Has anyone else experienced this issue or have any ideas on how to remedy the issue? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.