Limping and diahorroea

[RebeccaUK]

Twinkle, my lovely bunny has started limping this morning. It's her back leg that she's not using - it's obviously painful but I just can't work out what she might have done. Do rabbits ever sometimes just bang themselves or have minor sprains like humans do whcih fix themselves over time?

Also, Twinkle suffers terribly from diahorroea! She gets it loads but I feed her the right things I think. She has constant access to timothy hay, she also gets good quality rabbit nuggets in small amounts and an occasional treat of veg (once or twice a week) When she gets a bad bout of diahorroea I was told to feed her on rolled oats, which she dislikes, she will eat them and they do clear it up at 24 hours or so but as soon as she goes back onto the nuggets the wet poos come back, sometimes it's so bad that it sticks to her tail.

 

[naturestee]

The diarrhea clears up if you take the pellets away? Fey and Sprite are very sensitive to pellets and can only get about 3 tablespoons a day, otherwise they start getting big, mushy poops. Have you ever brought a fecal sample in to your vet? They would be able to test it (it's called a fecal float over here) for parasites or bacterial infection. If it's not that, then she might just need a no-pellet or extremely low-pellet diet.

As for the limping, it's best to have a vet check it out. It could be soft tissue damage like a sprain, but there's no way of knowing without a vet.

 

[Pipp]

You may be feeding her the right things for most bunnies, but maybe she has unusual sensitivities. I'dtry switching foods and brands (slowly, though) and keep a journal. Experiment a bit, maybe you can figure out what makes it worse and what makes it better.

Out of curiosity, how old is she? What brand of pellet is she on? Is she overweight?How long has she had the diarrhea problem?

I'm feeding Pippa mix of three different pellets right now, I sneak the high-fiber, low fat Oxbow BB/T (which she doesn't like) in with the ones she does like, and she eventually eats them all, but it was a challenge. It's helped keep herpoopregular though -- she isn't really a hay eater.

I think Pipp had a soft-tissue injury, too. She was limping with her front foot, and when I took her to the vet, it mysteriously cleared up when we walked in the door. Think she just wanted me to spend the $50. :disgust:

Still, I'd get Twinkle'sleg checked out, like NT said. You never can tell what it might be. My Dad had a sore leg, and it turned out to be a colon polyp.

onder:

SAS and PIPP :bunnydance:

 

[Lissa]

Did the soft stools just recently start? Perhaps the injured leg is stressing him out.
You should get him to the vet.

 

[RebeccaUK]

The diahorroea seems to be almost constant - but there are only two brands of pelleted rabbit feed in the UK and both seem to do the same thing. I used to feed a mixed food before I was educated about its lack of nutritional value and that never seemed to cause the problems, perhaps the pellet food is just too rich but I'd always heard such great stories about it being the best nutrition for bunnies.

We're going to the vet tomorrow for VHD vaccinations so I will ask about the limping and the diahorroea too.

Just had to clean Twinkle up as I had left her all day to go to work - got back and she is covered in cecotrophes - really smelly and all up her underside. I must admit that the diahorroea she normally suffers with isn't cecotrophes so that makes me worry more that she's not been eating them today.

Will update when I know more.

Thanks, Rebecca

 

[rabbitgirl]

Fenwick limped really badly for about a week, but he's bouncing like a maniac again. A breeder suggested he'd pulled something. He also had a really poopy butt, and my thought was that he wasn't able to clean himself because he kept falling over. It's getting better, but he's always been prone to those soft excessive cecotropes. I personally find that blackberry/raspberry leaves work even better than oats, but I do use oats in winter.

Someone recommended timothy pellets vs. alfalfa to clear that up, but I've never tried it.

Rose