Soft Stools

[MAXX55]

I'm puzzled:?. My bun "cuddles" is 5 + years old. I don't know the breed, she was abandoned and we took her in. She's about 4 1/2 lbs. Right now her diet consists of the following; Browns Timothy Hay (unlimited), L&M Vita Vittles (which i'm trying to cut back on), Oxbow Bunny Basics/T (just started Sept. 1st - and yes, very little at first until she gets used to them), and Small World Rabbit Feed with high dietary fiber(just started Sept. 11 - again very little until etc,etc). It's hard to see if she is eating them all. She'll pull her food out of the bin feeder until she finds something she likes:confused2:.

She just had bunny surgery (spaying) back in July and healed up nice. For about three weeks after the surgery her soft stools had disappeared. All of a sudden they started up again. I was also feeding her greens (home grown parsley and romaine) but backed off on them thinking that was the problem. Now every morning without fail as I check her pen there is at least one messy pile sitting there. She also has her normal droppings that are the hard ones but minutes later will also have the soft stool - sort of like pudding. I don't think this is right. I just switched to the S.W.F. pellets that has high dietary fiber thinking this will help but it may be too soon to see if it'll help.

What can I do to correct this problem?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

all rabbits produce two kinds of stool--the regular, round dry kind and cecotropes which are rich in nutrient and produced by them to be eaten. Not all do eat them however. We have three that never eat them and five that we never find any in their hutch. Nothing to really worry about unless they get the runs.

 

[tonyshuman]

IT sounds to me like these soft stools are not normal cecotropes. There are a lot of opinions on diet, and not all of them are correct. I will say that Oxbow BBT is one of the best rabbit foods that you can get easily--it is better than Small World. I would transition her to just the Oxbow, and limit her intake to no more than 1/8c of pellets a day. You could cut back to 1/8c first (over a week) and then switch to Oxbow. Another thing that might help is that we sometimes see the pudding-like cecotropes coming from a bacterial imbalance in the cecum. A probiotic might help--but make sure it is not dairy-based. It should be acidophilus capsules or a special pet probiotic like Bene Bac or ProBios.

 

[MAXX55]

Thanks for the replies.

Tony, what causes this bacterial imbalance in the cecum ?

Thanks.

 

[tonyshuman]

Stress and a diet too high in carbs or proteins can cause the bacterial imbalance.

 

[TOBYnPANCAKES]

My bunny is having the same problems!!! Do I have to see a vet to put him on probiotics or can I get them from a feed store or something of the like sort?

 

[tonyshuman]

Feed stores often sell a really good probiotic called ProBios. They make it for horses and other creatures.