Help, hard lump on belly?

[whiskylollipop]

-NEVER MIND! It's gone now. Must just have been a full belly, lol. How embarrassing :S-

I just noticed that my Rose has a hard lump on the right side of her underbelly near her ribcage! Could her stomach be bloated? It's a relatively small marble-sized lump that you can't see visually but when you feel her there's a definite oval/roundish hard thing in the right side of her body. She's eating and moving around normally, doesn't seem to be in discomfort but hasn't pooped in the 30mins I had her out of the cage.

Blimey. I just checked Merlin and he has one too! Not nearly as pronounced, but hard and in the same region as Rose's - sitting right below the right ribcage. He's being his usual extremely hyperactive self and pooping merrily. Is this some organ I'm not aware of? Are they both getting bloat simultaneously? Or is it just very full tummies? I just fed them and was petting Rose when I noticed the little lump.

 

[tonyshuman]

For that size, it is probably not her stomach. If it is on her right, it is also not stomach as that is on the left. I just felt the tums on my two, and they do have pronounced sternums compared to people right in the middle, and Tony might have a small hard lump on his right. It could be the cecum. Here's some info for bloat:
WARNING GRAPHIC NECROPSY PHOTOS http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Mechanical_diseases/bloat.htm
not graphic, just x-rays http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Bloat/Bloat_ena.htm

Since Tony has it and is fine I would think it may be a normal part of cecum functioning. If your bunnies are very young and acting weird, or having weird cecal poos (they usually eat these so if you don't see them, they are probably fine), it may be good to have a vet check it out. Cecal dysbiosis can occur rapidly and fatally in young rabbits and could lead to a buildup of gas in the cecum. It's basically an imbalance of bacteria in the cecum and it should be treated by a vet.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks tonyshuman. Those pictures are so sad! Thankfully it's not what I thought Rose had, hers was much smaller and not distended. I felt them again this morning when I let them out of their cage, and it seems to have disappeared. I don't see any cecal poos in there, so I hope this means they're fine. They're capering normally around my house eating and pooping like nobody's business, so panic over! Haha.

 

[tonyshuman]

Good to know she's ok. Bloat is a really terrible illness. I was surprised to feel the same lump in my bun, must just have been some poop on its way through. The more we know about how our bunnies stomachs feel when they are healthy, the better able we'll be to see problems. I'm glad for my own sake that I went and felt their bellies!