Inevitable Poop Question...

[ams1786]

Hi. So I just noticed in bun's litter box there's an unusual shaped dropping. It doesn't have the grape like look of a cecal. Rather it's like four or five normal droppings merged together into a giant square one and it's soft (sorry this is so gross). What could this be/should I be worried? She's been eating and drinking normally and right now is running around in circles and won't let me touch her so I can't check her out. She doesn't eat enough hay, though we're trying. Recently though (past week or two) I've introduced a lot more greens into her diet (cilantro and parsley) and I thought she took fine to them. Could she be having too much, if that's possible? She also had dill for the first time yesterday but that was only two stalks. Any idea what could cause this? Oh, and she's been going to the bathroom normally as well, though I think a bit more often since the greens were introduced (and they've been bigger - again, sorry for the grossness). She's a nine month old unspayed Rex, 6.5 lbs (chubby but not obese). Please help!

 

[ams1786]

I just picked her up. She's a tiny bit messy, probably from sitting on it, but nothing unusual.

 

[JBun]

We're all used to discussing poop on this forum. It goes hand in hand with having rabbits

So are the poops generally the same size or are the coming out much larger and smaller, and are they irregular shaped besides that funky one? Can you take a pic of the poop and post it. It sometimes helps in figuring out what is going on. Include the weird one and some of the bigger ones and other sized ones. It could have to do with the greens, maybe the dill as it is the newest one to be introduced. You could try stopping the dill and see if the poops go back to normal.

 

[agnesthelion]

If it was just the one poop then she should be fine. I agree with Jenny and try stopping the dill OR cutting back on the amount of veggies to see if that helps. If her poop continues to be runny though I would get her to a vet.

 

[tonyshuman]

Are you sure she can adequately reach her bum to clean it and/or eat cecals? If cecals get stuck there, they might get attached to normal poops and then you'd have the weird looking poop. I petsat a bunny that was too fat to eat his cecals and they'd just get stuck to his bum area, and then he'd do normal poos that would get stuck in it, and it was just a mess. Bunnies usually will keep themselves pretty clean unless they aren't feeling well or can't, provided they are adults and fixed. Diarrhea in a rabbit is more like normal shaped poops that are mushy, sticky, and smell horrible--not like cecals. Also the dill could just be a veggie she can't handle.

 

[FlowerBaby]

I say that they're probably just cecotropes. You tend to see them more when rabbits are young. You see them less when they get older.
I think they eat them? But I'm not sure.

 

[ams1786]

Hi all! Thank you for the replies. All turned out to be fine. I stopped the dill and cut out the parsley/cilantro for a day or so - though she got mad. She wasnt going for a while and then they were really small but after a few days it went back to normal. I actually realized that the bag of fresh cilantro I was feeding her from was liquified at the bottom, so there might have just been something spoiled in there. I also found out that someone in my house had been feeding the bun - who is on a weight-loss regimen - fruit loops behind my back. I was wondering why the chub was coming back...there is now a "don't feed the bun" sign over her cage. I might try reintroducing dill since she needs a bit more variety but I don't know if that would be safe.