Introducing myself and the buns

[stinkybunnies]

I just wanted to introduce myself and my bunnies. I'm Jill andlive in Tucson, AZ with 2 holland lops,a couplehorses, 4 cats, 1 dog, chickens, and two human babies. My bunnies are Blackberry, a 4 month old black otter doe and Cranberry, a 6 month old grey holland buck. They are two of the friendliest little bunnies I've ever seen! I bought Cranberry for my daughter and then bought Blackberry for Cranberry, but they are actually my babies Cranberry rushes to be petted anytime you walk by him but doesn't love to be heldand Blackberry will actually snuggle up on my chest orlegs when I watch TV with her. They are already bonded, but had to separate them since I just had Cranberry neutered last week. Even the vet clinic said Cranberry was one of the most personable rabbits they'd ever seen and they all wanted to steal him.

My current bunny project is a delux indoor pen for them with two stories, shelves, tunnels and lots of room to run. They also get to run around in the house or bathroom, and when we are outside playing, weput them in an exercise pento eat fresh grass in the yard.

I have two questions for the more experienced bunny people. First, both bunnies seem to produce a lot of cecals and are terribly stinky. The cage is fully cleaned twice a week and the litterboxes are changed daily (they use the litterbox about 90% of the time). Second, literally the day before I brought Cranberry for his neuter, I saw him mount Blackberry. If she is pregnant, how long until I would know. Please don't slam me for this, I spent a month trying to find an experienced vet that would neuter for less than $400 and a few weeks ago he became ill and I wanted him to recover fully before operating on him. They were not showing any sexual signs to that point and of course, it happened literally 1 DAY before he went in. He is now neutered and she will be spayed in a month if she is not pregnant and will be spayed after weaning if she did get pregnant.

A little info on their diet. They each eat about 1/4 c. purina rabbit chow 2x a day, 1 c. fresh veggies 2x a day (romaine, spring greens, carrot tops, parsley, cilantro, a couple pieces of carrot, apple, celery, etc. from time to time all alternating, usually 2 or 3 veggies a day). They also eat a pinch of oatmeal and lots of timothy hay.

About little over a month ago I tried giving only hay for a little while, hoping to firm up their mushy, stinky poops, and it seemed to helpbut about a week into it, Cranberry became extremely ill, lost tons of weight, stopped eating and I thought was going to die. His bottom was stained and messy but I saw no actual diahrrea. I managed to get him eating and amazingly he pulled out of it with no apparant ill effects and has gained most of his weight back again. At that time is when I started with the veggies and it seemed to help him so much. Unfortunately, the stinky poops are back, but the stools don't seem to stick to thier bottomsnow and he is no longer stained. After he recovered I did a 5 day course of Sulmate in the water but didn't know if there was anything else to try. I hate to restrict pellets much more since they are both young and they don't eat that much hay.

Thanks for any advice and also, will post pictures if anyone can give me instructions how to upload. Sorry for the super long first post!

Jill

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Hi

I'll try and answer your questions. If your bunny's are producing a lot of cecals, that can come from a high-carbohydrate, low fiber diet, (reference DR. Virginia Richardsons book) the recommendation would be to reduce the fruit and carrot intake (carbs) and go to a high fibre diet. Still it would be good for the vet to check things out to make sure there isn't something else going on. I would also post this same question in the infirmary section.

Regarding the possible pregancy, you would know in about 30-35 days. Right before she would give birth you might notice her building a nest with hay etc. If she does give birth, it would be mininum of 40 days before the kits could be removed from mom, the longer the better as the milk will help their immune and digestive system.

Here are some good links to areas of the site you might find interesting, the Library section, full of good reference info, Bunny Blog, where you can keep everyone up to date on your bunny and your life as a bunny slave and if you bunny would like to ask questions of other buns the Bunny Chat is the spot to be. The regional forum is a good way to find a rabbit savvy vet or to post places where you get some of your supplies for your bun etc. For the lighter side and to give you a chuckle or two stop by the go to the Let Your Hare Down section for anything but bunny's.

Here is link to the rules of the site, light reading Rabbits Online Forum Rules.

You don't have to say what city your in but if you could update your profile withthe areayour in, may be likeNorth west Ohio, Canada, UK etc, that would help others provide you with info that may help you and your bunny.

If you would like to post pictures in your post this link How to put photo's in your posts will help explain that.

I hope I didn't overwhelm you with info.

Dave

 

[stinkybunnies]

Thanks for the info! I don't think the fruit and carrots are the problem as I only give about 1 baby carrot split in half (half for each) about once a week and the same with the apple, a very small piece about once a week, just for a little treat. They LOVE their greens more than anything, especially parsley and cilantro. I'll try cutting down the pellets a little more and see if that helps. Will also try to find a vet but there are only a couple that will seebunnies and they're VERY expensive. Both buns seem really healthy right now except for the stinky poops, which come and go. They do have normal poops too.

I am planning on keeping them separated for at least 3 more weeks just in case Blackberry is pregnant, also because the vet said Cranberry could still be fertile for 2-4 weeks after the neuter. I read you should keep the babies with mom for 8 weeks so will do that if she has any kits.

Here are some pics of the babies. These are a little old, need to update with current pics as they have both filled out a bit and Blackberries ears have grown so they don't stick out to the side anymore

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Still a very cute picture!

 

[pOker]

what absolutelyyy beautiful bunnies...