Rabbits and cold house

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SmokeysMomMom

SmokeysMomMom

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, New Jersey, USA
We have our rabbit inside for good now. We went away for 24 hours and I had my mom and neighbors stop in and check on our rabbit while we were gone. When we left, my husband turned the heat completely off in the house. Usually our heat is on 66-67 which still feels cool, but It was 57 degrees the whole day and a half and cold in our house. Could going from heat on to no heat cause the bunny to get the poo poos. She has been pooping big smooshy poops and they are all over her butt again and she smells. I also noticed one tiny drop of pee on the bottom of the cage. It looked cloudy and it was the size of a dime. It looked like pee. I don't know what it was. Thanks. SMM
 
I wouldn't think the cold would do that. My inside ones had to do without heating for a few days recently when we had our boiler replaced, but we saw no problems.

I would be inclined to wonder if maybe someone looking after them gave them too much pellet? Or maybe some greens which upset their tummy or something?

How is she acting in herself?

Have you cleaned her up?

This might get moved to the Infirmary at some point (just so you know incase you look for it and can't find it).
 
Temperature change shouldn't do that. My buns and I live on space heater's warmth. Some rooms are cold, others warm. They're fine and never have the squish poos.

But was the urine dry? For it to dry chalkie is okay. But the poos may be from greens, as Flashy said. Too much veggies can give a rabbit wet tail aka poopy butt.
 
I agree with everyone (that cold shouldn't cause mushy poo). Our apartment is about 68*F most of the time. I crack the bedroom window in the morning and close it at night (the window is about 6" off the floor). I will come back into the room in the evening and think it's FREEZING, but my bun, Toby will be loafed by the open window! He always sits there. I don't know if he's cold or not. He has plenty of other places to hide that aren't cold!
 
my apt is always kept at about 62 and liffey is fine. although i wonder if something is wrong with my heating system b/c some days it feels really warm in here. like today i'm sitting on the couch in my scrubs (short sleeved and thin cotton) and it's 62 but i'm comfortable.
 
i think it has to do with the people that live downstairs and how high they jack the heat up. they are...wellllll......ah-hem.....older......AKA:eek:ld bat that is constantly cold...so i think that might be why it's so toasty in my place. but at least my heat bills are next to nothing.
 
We live above a storage unit, so our floor feels very cold (except in the hallway and in the hall closet where the heating pipes run). We have radiant (water) heat, so it doesn't circulate very well.
 
rabbits do much better in the cold than in the heat.

echo and fee like to lay in our freezing cold sunroom, and got really mad when we closed the door so we had to reopen it. the other two are in the basement where it is cold all the time.
 
mine get sticky smelly poos when they eat too many pellets. Last time we went away our neighbour fed them and gave them loads (we didn't say how much they normally eat, our fault.)Could that be a reason in your case?
 
my guys do get smushy poos when they're stressed out, so that could be the cause too. stress of missing you, being in a cold house, being fed too many pellets, all could cause mushy poos.
 
She was a mess. I had to bathe her last night. I couldn't belive the poop that came off of her. After a half hour, I had to take her off. She was shaking and had an extremely drenched bottom. I couldnt' even see the poo anymore. She is black/grey. But after I dryed her off, she still smelled. So she is going back in to soak again. She wasn't scared. I laid a towel in the water in the tub so she didn't slip. She either felt more comfortable no sliding or felt good to get the poop off. Has anyone ever had this problem?
 
Any chance this is a coincidence to when you went away and she actually has a gut problem? Parasite? Or maybe something else?

Can you maybe clip away as much of the poo as possible before you bathe her?

What are you feeding her right now?
 
Oh yeah, BTW... Our house is cold at 67-68 degrees. Everyone who comes over says it is cold and it is. For it to be warm, you have to put it on 70. I feel bad that we weren't there for over a day, but my neighbor checked on her and my mom went over the day we got home to clean her and feed her again. Next time, my mom will watch her. He didn't have to turn the heat off. We fight when it comes to this. He said the rabbit should be outside anyways. AGH!!!!
 
I usually give her loads of Timothy Hay but the vet I took her to said it isn't good to give them a lot and it give them the poo poos. Now I am confused?
 
Sounds like you need a new vet :|

Rabbits need unlimited hay. I would bet that this is contributing to her gut problems. It might be worth stopping the pellets and giving her just hay, and then when her tummy is more settled, gradually reintroducing the pellets. She doesn't need a huge amount, just enough to give her all the vitamins and minerals she needs. Hay is the most important thing, that should be 80-90% ofher diet.

Is it excess cecals? Or is it properdiarrhoea that she is having? Does she do any regular normal fecal pellets?

My vet advised me of the same thing before I knew the importance of hay, and we actually lost our bun to vet error a few months after. I did change vets and I can recommend you do the same. Your vet does not sound very rabbit savvy, sorry.
 
I have to agree with flashy, a vet recommending to limit the intake of hay sounds bad news
 
I can understand them saying to limit alfalfa hay, but TIMOTHY? Your poor bun! That could cause massive mushy poos. My rabbits always have hay near them, even if one hay rack runs out. I suggest you start giving her LOTS of hay! :)

As a side note: our apartment varies between 65*F and 70*F. It can fluctuate between those two temperatures in one day. Neither bun here has any poo-related problems.
 
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