Poopy bum

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buck rogers

buck rogers

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I'm writting for Leslie102. Her bunny Oscar gets poopy bums at least once a month,(for the past 4 months)he goes to the vet gets medicine andthe poopy bumcomes back in a couple weeks. When he gets this he is still very active and eating. He's a holland lop about 4.25 pounds. His diet is 1/4 cup of pellets(timothy complete), unlimited hay,(timothy) a pinch of oats, and 3/4 of a cup of fresh veggies. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also he's a free roam bunny all day, he's not a chewer so he isn't ingesting anything extra. He gets lots of excercise.
 
If he is an adult and of normal weight you can cut down his pellets to about 1/8 th cup. If I were you I would increase the types of hay that he gets ( giving him lots of varieties , timothy, oat, brome, orchard grass, etc)and give him a lot of hay. At the same time I would cut way back on the veggies and give about1/4 cup or even no veggies. You could also try feeding him one vegetable at a time perday to see if their is one particular one that sets off the problem. It is different for every rabbit but certain veggies can really create GI upet.

There is also no need for the oats.

try this for awhile and and see if the poopy butt reoccurs. if he has poopy butt now get some benebac and give him a dose of it (one small tube) or powder
What kind of medicine does the vet give for poopy butt?
 
Ruby's had alot of poopy but comes back every now and again, she's been diagnosed as having ISS and has been put on a hay only diet until they are normal then other foods will be slowly introduced.
This is the printout the vet gave me http://www.VeterinaryPartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=670
I found it very informative and the infos pretty good aparently. I hope things get better for Oscar:)
 
I agree that 1/4c pellets is too much. That alone may cause the problem. If not, cut back on oats first, then veggies. Some bunnies are sensitive to only some particular veggies, so try ones like parsley, romaine, and dandelion leaves which are pretty tummy-neutral for most buns.

Edit: has the vet recently done a fecal? there may be some intestinal parasites/bacteria out of whack there that has been missed.
 
Umm....it seems that this a regularly happening event by your post. I am wondering what meds are being used. Since this seems to be a regular event....I am thinking about the reproductive cycles of parasites....and they reproduce on a fairly regular schedule. I would have a fecal done by a vet. But fecals are quite inaccurate so if I suspect worms, I deworm (usually with Panacur) even if the float is clean. I do look for coccidia....and those little "fried eggs" can be a bit of a challenge to treat. Sulfanomides are generally the treatment of choice with coccidia but in reality, the drugs help but what really controls coccidia is the rabbit's own immune system.

Randy
 
HI guys thanks for all you advice. Oscar has had this problem periodically over the last three years. Every other time we've found the problem in his diet, orenviornmentand it has cleared itself up. This time we were a little stumped because he has been on what we thought was the perfect diet.

So we've decided that starting tonight we will cut back his pellets to 1/8 of a cup and remove the oats from his diet.

The doctor has been prescribing chlor palm combined with a natural yougourt containing acidophilus. We've decided to try adjusting his diet before putting him through another round of antibiotics as i've been reading how bad they are. The vet prescribed the yogurt because he said that while we we're killing the overgrowth of bad bacteria in his system we were also killing the good bateria, the yogurt was to reastablish the healthy bacteria. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK, SHOULD WE DO ANOTHER ROUND OF THIS?

We've had a fecal test done a few months back when we lived in a larger city and he was seeing the best rabbit vet in town, nothing came up.

I'm very confident that it is ISS after reading the link Pepnfluff posted.

Oscar's bum is never a huge mess, it's normally just a little bit, but this morning got worse.(he only get it in the morning and still had regular poops;)HIs bum is all cleaned up now and he's sleeping happily under the bed. Also he is very very active and not overweigh.

OK what else any other advice? What do you think about the meds?

Randy do u have a link i could check out about parasites?

thank you so much for all your sugestions and any to come:)
 
He shouldn't be on yoghurt as rabbits are lactose intolerant. For Ruby she's on a non dairy acodophillis to get the good bacteria going again, as we don't have bene bac available here. The yoghurt itself could be the problem........Is the vet a rabbit savvy one? as most vets stopped prescribing yoghurt for rabbits along time ago when they realised they worked rabbits operated diffrently from cats.......
 
I will see if I can find some articles on parasites. Since most parasites affect many species, it might be a dog or cat article but treatment for worms and coccidia is bascially the same as a rabbit.

DO NOT GIVE YOGURT!! That is an old school idea when little was known about the dynamics in a rabbit's gut. Yogurt might work for an omnivore or carnivore....but that is much different than a hind gut fermenter gut. It is not so much the bacteria you are trying to put in....you are trying to acidify and stabilize the pH. Look at the first four letters of the word acidophilis. The absolute best thing I have used is a probiotic called Bene-Bac. It contains very beneficial strains of L Casei, L Acidophilis and Enterococcus and is very good at stabilizing the pH. It is available in a paste or a powder....I prefer the powder. You can also find non-dairy acidophilis at health food stores. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) can also be used ina pinch. Guinea pigs have very tasty C tabs.....I have used fresh citrus. Oranges are a favorite around here.....but if you use citrus, use it in moderation. If you can stabilize and maintain an acidic gut, the beneficial bacteria will have a favorable climate in which to grow and repopulate the entire system.

The use of antibiotics is quite controversial. Unless things have been really bad, I usually opt not to use them. But if I have to, I use Metronidazole (Flagyl) which is very good at controlling the most common pathenogenic bacteria found in GI events.....Clostridium.

I would most likely deworm regardless....and check under a microscope for coccidia. The primary worm found in rabbits is round worms....but we have seen pins and hooks. Get the diet back to basics.....lots of hay and very limited, if any, pellets. Low protein/high fiber....and make sure you maintain hydration.

Randy
 
Thanks so much guys we won't use the yogurt or the antibiotics......i'll get some benbac tomorow for him....i'll keep you updated and i'll call my vet about the test. The rabbit savy vet we used to use is over an hour away now and i dont want to stress my little boy out with the ride. I really apreciate all the advice, information and links. i will update you in the morning

thanks so so much

leslie & Oscar
 
We're happy to report that we had no poopy bum this morning:biggrin2: We gave him an 1/8 of a cup and no oats. Wooohooo we'll see what happens tomorow;)
 
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