Flemish Giant Health

[Robmau5]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum, and some questions I have about my buns led me to this site. This seems like a great community and I wish I had joined sooner Please see below for some concerns I would appreciate some assistance with.


I call my flemish giant Mr. Bunz, Ash, or Ashhole sometimes. He's about 2 1/2 years old now, and I love em to death. For about 2 weeks now he's had what I think is an issue, but his urine has been a bright orange varying in different shades, and poops that are very dark. He still has the same loving personality and nothing seems different about him. I noticed this as soon as I switched over to Oxbow orchard hay, which he's had a few times before. About 3 days after I noticed, I switched him back to his favorite Oxbow western Timothy hay. It's been 2 weeks since I switched back to western hay, and the color of his urine and poops have very slightly gone back to normal. I've read some different answers, but please tell me if anything i feed him on a daily routine is improper care. He is about 9 pounds and I feed him about 3/4 cup a day once in the morning and once at night. He also eats romaine for his leafy greens and I like to mix just a little bit of kale in there. I give him about 1 cup of these veggies every 3 hours after his morning pellets. He also gets about 2 tbsp of banana a day or 1 baby carrot, and has unlimited hay all day.

Thank you again for any support and taking time to read my in depth introduction/help post!

 

[JBun]

The orange urine will be from the plant pigments, probably from the change to the orchard hay, but also kale especially can cause color changes in the urine. This is normal and not a problem. It's when you're seeing bright red urine or spots of red in the urine, that can indicate blood and a problem.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Urine
The darker poop from the hay change, is likely from a higher protein content in the orchard hay. I'm guessing it was probably a much leafier and less stalky hay than the timothy? As long as the fecal poop remains a good size, darker poop won't usually be a problem. If it was getting smaller too, then I would continue with the timothy as the primary hay source, and just feed a limited amount of the orchard grass as a treat hay.

https://bunssb.org/bunnies/guide-bunny-poops/
Because your rabbit is fully matured and under 10 lbs, I would suggest reducing pellet amounts to no more than 1/2 cup a day, provided your rabbit can maintain a healthy weight/body condition on this amount. When unlimited good quality grass hay is fed, that has the proper amount of protein and fiber, pellets just become a supplemental vitamin and not a primary food source. Reducing pellets should also help improve poop size and consistency.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/feeding.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Weight_management
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
Info on care and health of giant rabbits:

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/maintenance-handling/caring-giant-rabbits/

 

[Robmau5]

Thank you for this useful information! I've been doing as directed, and he's been doing great so far.