Chain poop

[Sita]

My site is Male rabbit 2 years old. We here only get access to fresh grass. Which I have been feeding him since 1 and half years.
2 months back, I observed him losing his weight. He looked very thin. I was worried and started observing him. His is having linked poop. And was unable to eat grass. So I started feeding him leaves of weeds and long beans and marigold which he ate very well. This continued for a month. He started gaining little weight. I wanted him to gain weight and gave him alfalfa alfalfa hay for a week in small quantities along with other leaves. After a week one day he suddenly stopped eating. His stomach became empty and he was suffering with stomach pain, rubbing his belly on floor. I visited a vet not rabbit Savy, he gave some medicines for pain relief and for colon movement. In few hours my bunny started eating the leaves. He ate well. But still did not eat grass. So consulted a vet online and she prescribed constipation relief, b complex and digestive enzyme tonic. Which I used for a month or so. Then I consulted same doctor again with a complaint that he still have chained poop and eating only Marie gold leaves. She prescribed diarhea and glycerin to massage on his gums for any dental problem. But he actually don't have any dental problem. Soon after a day or two, my bunny stopped eating again. I immediately stopped second prescription and gave him pain relief meds and constipation relief syrup. This has been continuing since a month. Now he started eating grass little by little. He is always active and always with me. He eats well. Actually a lot more than before. He gained weight. He was 1200gm and now he is 1400gm. He is very active. He is eating more varieties than before. But the problem is, he is still having chained poop. I wonder how he would get back to normal poop. Please suggest.

 

[Preitler]

Chained poop means the poop balls are connected? Normally, this comes from ingesting too much fur. Some rabbits shed a lot even when not in a molt and need to be brushed regularily to prevent this. It can cause serious digestion problems too.

Right now I have to pluck fistfuls of fur off my girl, and brush lose fur out, it is not a problem for her but for her partner who is grooming her a lot.

Apart from grass you can feed a lot of other plants and weeds, also tree leafes and twigs, like willow, ash, hazel. I don't know what grows in your area but I guess everything goats eat too is fine. Introduce new stuff slowly. In my opinion, a diverse diet helps their digestion.

 

[Sita]

Chained poop means the poop balls are connected? Normally, this comes from ingesting too much fur. Some rabbits shed a lot even when not in a molt and need to be brushed regularily to prevent this. It can cause serious digestion problems too.

Right now I have to pluck fistfuls of fur off my girl, and brush lose fur out, it is not a problem for her but for her partner who is grooming her a lot.

Apart from grass you can feed a lot of other plants and weeds, also tree leafes and twigs, like willow, ash, hazel. I don't know what grows in your area but I guess everything goats eat too is fine. Introduce new stuff slowly. In my opinion, a diverse diet helps their digestion.

It's not for, his poop is connected with the thin fibers of plant material that he eats. I some time feels like he is not chewing properly. But he eats his carrot piece well. The threads are like dried thin stems. When crushed they break with crispy sound.

 

[JBun]

The difficulty eating grass and other food, is ,most likely because of a dental problem. This would also explain the poop being connected with plant fibers that haven't been chewed up properly, because it's hurting your rabbit to chew these foods.

Rabbits can sometimes get overgrown sharp points on their molars(back teeth) when their teeth don't wear down properly(rabbits teeth are always growing) through the foods they are eating, and these sharp points can cut into their tongue and cheeks while they chew, causing pain which then makes them not want to eat the foods that cause the most pain to chew. You wouldn't be able to tell this by looking at the front incisor teeth. A vet would need to look at the back molars with a lighted otoscope to see if the molars have sharp spurs on them.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Rabbit_dentistry1.pdf
The vets you've seen aren't knowledgeable about rabbits and are giving you some incorrect diagnosis and treatment advice. To really take care of this kind of problem you would need to find a vet that is more knowledgeable about rabbits, that can do a proper dental exam, and if this is in fact the problem, file/burr down the sharp points on the back teeth. So if this is what is causing your rabbit to not eat grass and other foods properly and so lose weight, it can only be fixed by a vet trimming the spurs off the teeth, otherwise your rabbit will continue to have problems trying to eat and will continue to lose weight and have problems with the digestion slowing down and the plant fibers not being chewed up properly.

You also need to be aware that some of these medications and things these vets are prescribing for your rabbit, can actually cause problems, and may even make your rabbit unwell. Some medications that are ok for cats and dogs, can actually be dangerous and even life threatening, to give to rabbits. So you really need to be careful about making sure the medications and supplements being prescribed to your rabbit, are actually safe to give. Meloxicam would be the safe pain relief medication for rabbits(at the correct dose), and metoclopramide or cisapride are the safe gut motility medications(constipation relief).

Medirabbit: unsafe drugs for rabbits

Medirabbit: drugs safe for use in most rabbits

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits
Until you can get this sorted out, grinding or chopping up your rabbits food into really small pieces, may help your rabbit eat better and would also eliminate the fiber not being chewed up properly and linking the poops together.

 

[Sita]

Got it, but we have no rabbit savy vet in our country. Rabbits are not common pets here. The existing vets are horrible ones. They dont know how to even hold a bunny. Im confused. Im afraid to vist any vet around my state. Dont know how he would treat.

 

[JBun]

You may be able to find some help finding a vet with some rabbit knowledge, on this facebook page. It seems dedicated to pet rabbit care in your country.

https://www.facebook.com/nomnomindia/

 

[JBun]

There's a video on this FB page, of a rabbit with a dental problem, that was taken to KPC Pet Hospital in Lucknow, India and a Dr. Nagendra Gupta performed a dental surgery on the rabbit. I don't know if this is anywhere near you, but if not, if you can contact them, they may be able to direct you to a vet closer to your location, that has experience with rabbits.

 

[Sita]

Thank you very much that's a great suggestion. Will contact them. But they are states away from me. Will ask for nearest possible vet. But I put my little finger in his mouth and touched every tooth, I found no such problem. His tongue is good too. He bite my finger, i sensed every tooth on my finger and the pressure and sharpness. They are well aligned. Is there a possibility that it is any kind of chronic constipation of indigestion?

 

[Sita]

He is very active, eating a lot, eating grasses also, binkying around. I'm so sure he is in no pain at all. He is at ease. And I'm 24×7 around him. He is free roam so no chance of missing on his symptoms. It is strange to see just the poop problem. If indigestion is a problem. What could be a solution.

 

[JBun]

Linked poop like that, is almost always from ingested fur when they're shedding. And the solution for that is brushing to remove as much loose fur as possible, and the rabbit eating fiber from grass/hay and other rabbit safe plants to keep their digestion moving well.

But if you're certain the poop isn't linked with fur but with plant fibers, all I can think is the food your rabbit is eating isn't being chewed up properly. And the only reason I can think that that is happening is dental problems. But if you don't think there's anything wrong with the teeth, maybe chop up your rabbits food into pieces no longer than 1 inch long, and see if that helps.

 

[Sita]

Ok thank you will do so...