Hard small droppings

[Hermelin]

I saw the weirdest thing today in my french lop hutch was small dark droppings which indicates she’s not eating enough hay.

But later I saw the typical big droppings again.

Can it be she’s sleeping so deep she’s not waking up when she’s supposed to eat.

Because she’s sleeping longer and deeper than before. She no longer wakes up when I walk out to the hutch, I always have to shout her name and she will start being all energized.

Today I saw her binky in the pen, climbing up onto my knee while I was cleaning the pen and playing around. Was the normal clingy bunny which she have always been, while being her sassy self like a queen. But when she sleeps, she’s like a mountain unmoving and still.

I’ve been seeing the hard droppings a couple of times this week. But it will always become big droppings again during the evening when she starts eating again.

This week it have been hot outside (21 C), indoors it’s warmer but she still have winter fur. She have not molted everything yet. So she was used with minus degrees just 2 weeks ago, it would always be frost outside during the morning and ice in the water bowls.

She handle cold better than warmth, she’s a bunny that love sleeping outside in the snow.

What can be the cause of this?

Should I take her to a vet again and see if somethings wrong with her or is it the age (6 years old) acting up.

I’ve been to the vet twice with her last month and the beginning of this month.

 

[Imbrium]

21C is about 70F, for those of us in the silly United States. That doesn't really sound hot, but 80F is where the "danger zone" for heat stroke in rabbits normally starts and it can start getting too hot for them a good bit sooner if they still have a winter coat. I've heard it can be risky to bring an outdoor rabbit inside to normal room temps (so 20-21C) during the winter, so the current outdoor temps are definitely high enough to need precautions. Also, it looks like she's a lop... because their ears are flopped over, I've always felt like lops are more susceptible to heat because only one side of the ears gets good airflow over it, and it's the furrier side at that. The only ways rabbits can control their body temp are by having the appropriate coat grown and heat exchange via the blood vessels in their ears - my lops have always seemed to get too warm faster.

I wouldn't be surprised if she were sleeping simply because she was too hot to do anything/trying to keep her body temp down. If you have a good (non-wire-tipped) brush or comb (personally, I LOVE the furminator, it works wonders and helps prune the undercoat as well), I would comb/brush her extra to help speed up the molt. Do what you can to help keep her cool during the day - a fan that she can't chew the cord of blowing across her area, ice packs (like water frozen in a 1L or 2L soda bottle or something), misting her ears with cool water, putting ice in her water bowl, making sure she's in the shade, etc.

 

[Hermelin]

21C is about 70F, for those of us in the silly United States. That doesn't really sound hot, but 80F is where the "danger zone" for heat stroke in rabbits normally starts and it can start getting too hot for them a good bit sooner if they still have a winter coat. I've heard it can be risky to bring an outdoor rabbit inside to normal room temps (so 20-21C) during the winter, so the current outdoor temps are definitely high enough to need precautions. Also, it looks like she's a lop... because their ears are flopped over, I've always felt like lops are more susceptible to heat because only one side of the ears gets good airflow over it, and it's the furrier side at that. The only ways rabbits can control their body temp are by having the appropriate coat grown and heat exchange via the blood vessels in their ears - my lops have always seemed to get too warm faster.

I wouldn't be surprised if she were sleeping simply because she was too hot to do anything/trying to keep her body temp down. If you have a good (non-wire-tipped) brush or comb (personally, I LOVE the furminator, it works wonders and helps prune the undercoat as well), I would comb/brush her extra to help speed up the molt. Do what you can to help keep her cool during the day - a fan that she can't chew the cord of blowing across her area, ice packs (like water frozen in a 1L or 2L soda bottle or something), misting her ears with cool water, putting ice in her water bowl, making sure she's in the shade, etc.

Okay, I’ll try to cold her down during the day. The weather feels hot after you been having to handle under 5 C since november to beginning of april. And I’m so happy with no more ice in the water bowls.

She started to molt a bit late while my other outdoor rabbit started to molt too early but he have already the summer coat.

Don’t have good wire brush, maybe I should buy a furminator to my buns.

Thanks for the tips.

I wonder if it’s dangerous for her with her shifting eating habits during the day.

 

[Imbrium]

If you don't have a good brush, try dampening your hands and running them over her repeatedly. That can actually be quite effective in getting some excess fur off.