TinysMom wrote:
Wow - I feel like a bad mama now...
Every once in a while - Miss Bea has some small poos that are dark. I have no idea why. I give her a bit of lettuce or something and push some hay and the poos just sorta become normal.
Am I doing something wrong...? I tend to think not since the poos just sorta go back to normal - she usually has regular poos but sometimes she's just a bit off.
In my opinion this is normal- the temporary change in poop size/color. Small dark poos don't ALWAYS mean stasis is brewing. My guys get small dark poos after a veggies meal, the poos change again after other foods also. I suspect too that hormones can change a poo color/texture- I haven't seen anything written up about this but I suspect it to be true from experience. An unaltered rabbit with hormones may have 'phases' of poop change, so to speak
I don't worry too much until the poops change in shape from round to tear drop shape. This in my experience has often been a good indication of hair/food mass in the stomach and potential stasis.
Now for a response to Jenk's original post- "if it's possible for stasis to occurif a bun eats a good amount of leafy greens and, as a result, less hay? Can the extra moisture prove non-helpful if the bun isn't eating enough fibrous hay?"
I think anything is possible. However, I don't think eating more greens prevents a rabbit from eating sufficient hay. It has been proven in most rabbits I know actually that as greens increase, the rabbit's appetite in general increases. I don't know if it is because of the vitamins in the greens (mainly vit B) or because they receive more energy from the greens.
In my opinion, for a bun that has consistent stasis, I think moisture in the gut is the most important. Many rabbits that eat greens a couple times a day may barely touch their water since they are getting so much hydration from the greens. But a rabbit that is a hay burner will make regular trips to the water dish- the hay dries out their mouths I think.
As for the Reglan, she can definitely still come off it. Just taper as per the vets instructions, if she seems to be getting worse you can put her back on and try again later.
I don't know what the right thing to do with Emma's diet, except that I think keeping it consistent for a period of time may be the solution. It appears some rabbits may take MONTHS of an extremely consistent diet to settle down. Both my boys and my neighbour's rabbits got through really huge molts with diets that weren't special- they were just consistent, and when the fecals inevitably decreased in size due to the enormous amount of hair they were ingesting we increased greens ever so slightly, cut down on pellets slightly and now they are right as rain.
BTW- its no coincidence 5 rabbits blew their coats at the same time- the building turned on the central heating and its been like a furnace in here for the past several weeks! Poor buns. Having a cool mist humidifyer seems to help the humans and buns somewhat though, lol.
Keep us posted. I just have a suspicion that keeping diet consistent for Emma may be key to seeing a difference. Keep persistent, it may take weeks to see a difference but if you keep thinks consistent and persist I suspect something may settle.