Large egg shaped poo?

[BinkyLouie]

Louie pooped a large egg shaped poop.. not sure what to think of it. This is the first time he’s pooped one out since like a while. Should I be concerned or is this fine?

 

[JBun]

If it's a one off, I wouldn't worry about it. Their digestion can have normal brief changes due to differences in their food or other things that get ingested like fur. I wouldn't worry unless the abnormal poop was happening consistently, and/or a lack of appetite and a change of behavior also occurred.

 

[BinkyLouie]

If it's a one off, I wouldn't worry about it. Their digestion can have normal brief changes due to differences in their food or other things that get ingested like fur. I wouldn't worry unless the abnormal poop was happening consistently, and/or a lack of appetite and a change of behavior also occurred.

I’m trying not to be negative and keep my composure because it stresses me out when I see things that are different in louie but he has kind of been not refusing to eat hay but like he doesn’t eat it as much. It’s been going on for a few days or a week. I mentioned it in my other post about his poop about how I started to feed him banana and I feel like that’s what’s causing it because before he would zoom to his litter box. He just munches a little and then just does a mess around the house. I think I’m just gonna feed him 1/8 of pellets and remove the banana and just feed him the 2 cups of veggies. Is that okay? I’m just a little worried because his poops went from perfectly perfect to not so perfect like I like to see those nice light green poops because it shows that I’m doing a good job but this just makes me feel like I’m doing a bad job. I just want him to eat lots of hay. I wanna add that he usually only eats hay throughout the morning to 7PM. After that he doesn’t touch the hay only uses it to poop and pee. When I put him window around 9-10pm I fill up his litter box inside his cage so he has a lot so he can eat and in the morning I check and he’s still munching on it. I check his poops in the morning aswell and the poops are good just still on the darker side. I’m also thinking of getting him a hay feeder just to see if maybe he’ll get more encouragement but I also don’t want him to not want to use his litter box. It’s all just ahh. Idk what to do. It was great before but now it’s just upsetting that I can’t fix it

 

[John Wick]

Personally, I have a rabbit (Fable) who only poops dark, more moist poops, and she is a hay eating monster-- never have I known a rabbit more indiscriminant and effective at hay eating. This is one case, but my point is those dry, light green/brown "perfect poops" are not the sole determinant on whether you're doing a "good job"-- my Fable has had bloodtests, x-rays... she has nothing but a clean bill of health.

Changes in poop, especially those that are consistent like JBun stressed, are good to monitor, but it is also good to look at the whole picture. Consider energy level, food motivation, body language, temperature, urine and feces output... in lots of cases, if something is wrong, you're going to notice it in more than one place. Yes, "something wrong" is always going to start with a single sign somewhere, but remember there can also be natural (and completely harmless) variations within many of these places based on even the smallest changes in diet, routine, daily stress, etc.. It can definitely be a learning process as you learn more about what's natural (and unnatural) for your Louie. Within the realm of rabbits generally, single instances of poop "weirdness" (aside from diarrhea, blood, mucous/jelly...) is typically nothing serious.

Having more places to graze/eat hay can increase hay consumption, whether that be more litterboxes with hay, hay-filled toys, and/or hay feeders. Some rabbits will use any location with hay as a litterbox and others are more strict to just doing the business in the litterbox. At the end of the day, if you put a hay feeder and he starts pooping and peeing by it, you can convert it into another litterbox or simply take it away. I'd be shocked if a day or two of experimentation makes him permanently lose litterbox habits, if impact it at all.

Also, it can be informative to crack open odd-looking poops. They might just be filled with fur, making their shape odd.

 

[BinkyLouie]

Personally, I have a rabbit (Fable) who only poops dark, more moist poops, and she is a hay eating monster-- never have I known a rabbit more indiscriminant and effective at hay eating. This is one case, but my point is those dry, light green/brown "perfect poops" are not the sole determinant on whether you're doing a "good job"-- my Fable has had bloodtests, x-rays... she has nothing but a clean bill of health.

Changes in poop, especially those that are consistent like JBun stressed, are good to monitor, but it is also good to look at the whole picture. Consider energy level, food motivation, body language, temperature, urine and feces output... in lots of cases, if something is wrong, you're going to notice it in more than one place. Yes, "something wrong" is always going to start with a single sign somewhere, but remember there can also be natural (and completely harmless) variations within many of these places based on even the smallest changes in diet, routine, daily stress, etc.. It can definitely be a learning process as you learn more about what's natural (and unnatural) for your Louie. Within the realm of rabbits generally, single instances of poop "weirdness" (aside from diarrhea, blood, mucous/jelly...) is typically nothing serious.

Having more places to graze/eat hay can increase hay consumption, whether that be more litterboxes with hay, hay-filled toys, and/or hay feeders. Some rabbits will use any location with hay as a litterbox and others are more strict to just doing the business in the litterbox. At the end of the day, if you put a hay feeder and he starts pooping and peeing by it, you can convert it into another litterbox or simply take it away. I'd be shocked if a day or two of experimentation makes him permanently lose litterbox habits, if impact it at all.

Also, it can be informative to crack open odd-looking poops. They might just be filled with fur, making their shape odd.

Honestly, yeah. He’s literally running around all day being a trouble maker in the morning. Literally the only thing I’m worried about is his hay consumption and poop. That’s all. I just really want him to ingest as much hay so he can be healthy. Since you say your bun had dark poops aswell and she ate a lot of hay then that gives me an idea. Yeah I’m just like super worried you know.. it’s just a thing I have since the loss of my other rabbit. Hasn’t been the same after that but I just want louie to live longer. I just got paint the picture. He eats, sleeps, and drinks all day so I should just relax. Thank you.

 

[JBun]

No need to stress. Like I mentioned before, the color of the poop isn't so much the issue on it's own, but what the size of the poop is. If it gets darker and smaller consistently, then that is something to sort out.

If you aren't happy with the changes in the poop you're seeing and your bun not eating as much hay as you would like, remove the banana and reduce pellet amounts. Less carbs will almost always increase hay consumption and poop size, when there isn't a dental issue causing reduced hay eating. Also, he is fully matured now, stopped growing, and is neutered, which means he has a reduced calorie requirement. So 1/8 cup pellets might be just the right amount for him now.

If the poop remains darker even after these changes and you aren't liking that, you would need to change back to the hay you were feeding before. Lighter colored poop comes from a rabbit eating more indigestible fiber, mostly in the stalky stems. Though I will say that orchard hay is probably one of the best hays to feed to help prevent molar spurs, because of it's increased abrasiveness. And you can't just feed stalky hay. Rabbits need a balance of leaf and stem, protein and fiber. Too little protein and there will be weight loss, too little fiber and there will be slower digestive motility.

If your rabbit is eating a pile of hay the size of his body per day, his poop size is good and his weight is good, and he's not showing signs of being unwell, not much to worry about there.

 

[BinkyLouie]

No need to stress. Like I mentioned before, the color of the poop isn't so much the issue on it's own, but what the size of the poop is. If it gets darker and smaller consistently, then that is something to sort out.

If you aren't happy with the changes in the poop you're seeing and your bun not eating as much hay as you would like, remove the banana and reduce pellet amounts. Less carbs will almost always increase hay consumption and poop size, when there isn't a dental issue causing reduced hay eating. Also, he is fully matured now, stopped growing, and is neutered, which means he has a reduced calorie requirement. So 1/8 cup pellets might be just the right amount for him now.

If the poop remains darker even after these changes and you aren't liking that, you would need to change back to the hay you were feeding before. Lighter colored poop comes from a rabbit eating more indigestible fiber, mostly in the stalky stems. Though I will say that orchard hay is probably one of the best hays to feed to help prevent molar spurs, because of it's increased abrasiveness. And you can't just feed stalky hay. Rabbits need a balance of leaf and stem, protein and fiber. Too little protein and there will be weight loss, too little fiber and there will be slower digestive motility.

If your rabbit is eating a pile of hay the size of his body per day, his poop size is good and his weight is good, and he's not showing signs of being unwell, not much to worry about there.

Update I forgot to make is that I checked his poop after he ate his pellets and veggies and they were lighter than they were before. Good size too they were all the same size and broke easily. Not that they weren’t all the same size before but they look nicer. I can’t say that decreasing the amount of pellets which was 1/4 to 1/8 worked because it’s only been a couple hours I need to check until tmr but thank you. Yeah no I plan to stay on the Timothy/orchard hay mix. He loves it.