Sudden switch in pellets

[jfinner1]

I just got a new bun, and I know that you are supposed to wean them off of the old diet and onto the new one, but I don't have any way of knowing what kind of pellets he was getting before I got him. So I put him straight on the pellets that I give my other bun. Naturally, this has upset his stomach. It's not horrid, he doesn't have diarrhea of anything, but his droppings are very soft and watery. Is there anything that I can do to make the switch easier on him? He also gets lots of hay, but I think timothy hay is the same no matter the brand, so that shouldn't be upsetting him any. Also, I'm sure the stress of the move hasn't help... I just want to make sure there's nothing else I could be doing...

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I would limit the amount of pellets he gets for at least a couple days. This can help him get used to the new stuff but to hopefully avoid too much of an upset stomach. As he gets used to the new pellets, you can gradually increase the amount until it is what you want.
I would also avoid giving veggies right away. Once he is more settled and adjusted to the pellets, you can introduce veggies. Only if you know what he is used to eating should you give veggies right now.
The stress of moving as well as the diet change can be hard on a rabbit. If he is young (under about 3 months), you do need to watch him as it is harder on young rabbits compared to older ones.

 

[naturestee]

:yeahthat:

If it is bad, then feed him only timothy hay for a few days, then slowly reintroduce the pellets. Don't add any veggies or treats until he is used to his new pellets. If this seems to be a continuous problem or gets worse, have a vet check his poop for coccidea. That's a pretty common cause for diarrhea.

Also, just cause I don't know you, make sure you are feeding plain pellets without any extras mixed in. Those are a common cause for tummy upset. His tummy may also be upset if the previous owner/store fed him junky pellets.

 

[elrohwen]

Yep, agreed. Reduce and push the timmy for now and then reintroduce slowly.

When I got Hannah I was weaning her onto Oxbow (though she actually had straight Oxbow one day and was fine, I thought I should wean her over). Otto got a couple bites of her food, which was half Kaytee and half Oxbow, and not long after had the worst poopy butt ever! So the moral of the story is that even a couple bites can cause poopy butt at first in a sensitive rabbit, so go slowly.

 

[jfinner1]

Thanks for the advice everyone! No "treat" filled food here, though he may have had that before. I'll push more hay and reduce the pellets for a bit. Poor guy... Hopefully it will balance out soon!

 

[featpete]

I was in kind of the same situation where I got a rabbit and couldn't get a hold of his old food. Fortunately I had a zip lock bag's worth, so I was able to do SOME weaning into his new food. I know for certain that the change was much quicker than it should have been, but I couldn't do anything about that because I only had about 4-5 days worth of his old food. His previous owner also put whole oats in with the food and that I really believe that was the trick to keeping his stomach (and poops) happy.

Rabbits shouldn't have tons of oats (lots of carbs) but it actually helps their stomach/digestion a lot and could assist in the switch of pellets.

 

[jfinner1]

It seems like the extra hay is helping a lot. I've given him a bit of pellets the last few days, and no upset tummy. He's going through hay like crazy though, lol. I'll keep increasing the pellets over the next week or so. I hope he's not a piggy bun... My Xenos gets a big bowl of pellets, but he doesn't eat them all at once, just munches on them. His bowl can last him 3 or 4 days, so I've never had to worry about restricting his feeding. I'm hoping Ggio is the same, or I'm going to be asking how much I should be feeding him! lol

 

[pamnock]

It's most likely stress or a pre-existing condition that caused the messy droppings. We switch pellet brands frequently without any problems, because most pellets brands are so closely formulated.