*HELP NEEDED* Baby Anus Polyps??

[Happy Hollands]

This poor baby is nearing 4 weeks of age, and just started showing signs of a swollen anus 2-3 days ago. It has progressed since; I've never seen anything like it. Thankfully the baby is full of energy and still pooping well through the center of the swollen anus... for now. I will take no shortcut of nurturing this baby back to health.

I'm at a loss, anxiously awaiting to hear back from the message I left for my veterinarian. Any insight would be appreciated, along with what can be done for this bunny in the meantime. Should I administer gas medicine, Critical Care, etc.?

Originally, I thought this was a polyps, but now I'm wondering if it could be a different form of infection. I really hope it is something with a good prognosis that this baby can fight through. It has lived indoors since birth, both parents and all siblings are in good health.

*Excuse the pictures, it was right after a butt bath of warm water and trimming of stuck poops. The full body one was taken when first discovered, and the close up one was taken tonight.

@JBun

 

[JBun]

It had stuck poops? Were any stuck over the anal hole? What is the kits diet? Is it still nursing?

 

[Happy Hollands]

Sometimes baby poops get stuck in the fur around their bottom at this age, nothing unusual. The actual poops are hard and a golden brown color.

The kit is still nursing and with mom, the diet consists of unlimited Timothy hay and Haystack rabbit pellets. Mom gets occasional herbs and romaine lettuce, and a blend of oats, black oil sunflower seeds, and calf manna to enrich her milk.

Have you ever seen something like this?

 

[Happy Hollands]

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/anus-red-and-swollen.99969/.

After reading this thread, I'm pretty sure this baby has a rectal prolapse. We have a vet appointment for tommorow afternoon.

 

[JBun]

Yes, I understand that occassional stuck poops can occur, as I used to have baby rabbits, but it's not normal if it's occurring on a frequent basis. I did see it with a baby rabbit of mine that managed to get a bit of it's moms calf manna(which is something I no longer believe in feeding) and later as the kits started eating more of mom's pellets. I removed the calf manna from the moms diet and raised moms food dish so the kits wouldn't have as much access to the pellets until they were older, then provided free fed grass hay.

This temporarily corrected the problem, but as the kits got older and started being able to eat more pellets, this kit developed mushy cecotropes again, so as this was around weaning time, she was separated and put on a low pellet, high grass hay diet, and this fixed the problem. She continued to need a low pellet or no pellet diet for most of her life, which is what I ended up feeding all of my rabbits as they had better health and less digestive problems on this diet, plus her brother was found to have megacolon and could no longer tolerate pellets in his diet. She passed last year at the age of 9, having good health most of her life with this low/no pellet/free fed hay/select leafy greens/forage diet.

So if it's occurring frequently with your kit, and with the obvious anal inflammation, this is a signal of a problem. It could be the start of a rectal prolapse, but I've also seen this minor prolapse/inflammation after kits have had poop stuck over the anal opening, causing a backup in their intestine, resulting in the inflammation once the poop plug is removed. In these cases, once the poop is removed, the bum cleaned off, and the babies diet temporarily changed to all grass hay to eliminate the carbs in the pellets causing the cecal dysbiosis, this gives the intestinal lining and inflammation, a chance to calm down and restore the proper microbial balance.

Baby rabbits are very susceptible to developing enteritis as they switch to carb rich solid foods like pellets, oat, calf manna, etc. If it's allowed to continue, sometimes this minor enteritis can develop into more serious digestive disease and the kit can develop weaning diarrhea, which is often fatal. Grass hay is low carb and high fiber, and one of the best tolerated foods by rabbits. It's the best thing I've found to help correct mild to moderate digestive problems in rabbits.

Once the babies digestive function has been back to normal with no signs of mushy poop stuck to the bum or anal inflammation, then pellets can usually be gradually transitioned back into the diet, though continuing to provide and make sure the bun is eating lots of hay.

Whether or not this is inflammation or a rectal prolapse, along with having the kit checked by a knowledgeable rabbit vet, temporarily cutting out pellets(though sometimes permanently limiting or removing) and putting the kit on free fed grass hay is what I would do to help correct the digestive problems going on. Provided the kit is eating hay very well and maintaining growth and weight gain.

Medirabbit: bacterial and mucoid enteritis

(WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC MEDICAL RELATED PHOTOS)
Medirabbit: weaning enteritis/diarrhea

 

[Happy Hollands]

Thank you for your help and reassurance. The vet only has a drop off time open, meaning the baby will spend tommorow (and possibly the night) at the clinic. Although this is less than ideal, I wouldn't do it unless I felt it was necessary. Unfortunately they do not allow the mother to be brought in with the baby, so hopefully the bunny does well under all the stress.

Calf mana is a part of my nursing does diet, and I try to prevent the baby's from eating that and oats, but a few nibbles here and there do happen. I will elevate the food bowl and try to prevent this baby from eating pellets... hay only diet for now!

After doing further research, I used granulated sugar on the anus to try and draw out moisture, which did significantly help the size and swelling. I'm not going to do this again though, unless recommended by my vet. I just wanted to do something to try and help!

 

[Happy Hollands]

*Update*

The vet says the baby bunny has inflammation that could be caused by one of two things: parasites or an infection. It sounded like there is a partial prolapse, too. The bunny is now on antibiotics and probiotics; we should see results in the next week or so! I was told to not limit pellets, and keep up with unlimited hay. I am sending in a fecal sample tomorrow, so they can test for the parasites and deworm if needed. A full recovery is expected.

The baby bunny was in great health otherwise, which is such a relief!