Whats with his poop?

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MauiWaui

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I just rescued a feral bunny from outside yesterday and noticed that his poops are half the size of other rabbit poops I've seen and they don't break easily. They look like very tiny raisins and are very hard. Could he just need more fluid intake? He wont eat hay. I don't want to switch too suddenly to pellets. He's been eating lots of grass, orchard grass, whole dandelions, clovers etc.
He will be going for a checkup in a few days to make sure he has no parasites.
What could I do to make his poops normal any advice?
 
He's still a baby, so the poops aren't going to be very big, and he's not eating hay and is eating lots of greens, so the poops may look a little different than normal round *cocoa puffs*. Do they look more like squirrel or mouse poop, like oblong shaped and dark instead of round and fiberous? Or are they irregular shaped? I got a really young baby bunny that wasn't weaned properly and would only eat dark leafy greens for the first week and a half, and her poops during that time, looked more like mouse poop then rabbit poop. But after she finally started eating some hay and pellets, they started to look more like normal rabbit poop.
 
Yep it looks nothing like the normal cocoa puff look. His poops are very dark maybe even blackish and they are kind of shaped randomly like raisins. Not quite the shape of mouse poop they are almost circular but not perfect and they even have the crinkles like raisins. Their very hard and don't break apart. Its not his poop in the pic but looks almost the same except black ( the ones on the left side)
If I'm to feed him pellets how quick of a switch should it be? Days or weeks?

rabbitpoo.jpg
 
Definitely not normal. It actually looks like my megacolon rabbits poops. They are irregular shaped like that, and can be really big and really small. It's a genetic thing with one of my rabbits, and digestive damage from getting sick, with another rabbit. It's a possibility that this is the cause with your new bun. If it is, then you are better off never giving treats, and you may even have a hard time giving him pellets, as it will start to cause digestive trouble for him. My one rabbit with genetic megacolon, has a diet of a limited amounts of a specific pellet that doesn't have added sugar and grain in it, unlimited timothy hay, a small amount of alfalfa hay, and a few dark leafy greens. The other rabbit with megacolon from intestinal damage, doesn't get any pellets(as he can't tolerate them without getting sick), unlimited timothy hay, some alfalfa hay, and a handful of dark leafy greens. Neither one ever gets treats with sugars or carbs.

It could also possibly be due to being on new food, but I haven't observed any rabbits having these kind of poops from food problems, besides my megacolon rabbits. Someone mentioned that they had a rabbit with kidney disease, had poops like this. Signs of kidney disease are changes in appetite, increased thirst and urination, severe weight loss. But with him being a new rabbit, it might be hard to determine these things yet. You would need a blood test to know for sure. An upset of the gut flora, may be a possibility as well. You could try pet probiotics, but if you do, try and find one with the added sugar being dextrose or glucose. I think Bene bac has that, if you have it available there. Also, start out with a very tiny amount and keep an eye on the poop, and only gradually increase if there aren't any poop changes, like all of the poop coming out really tiny or mushy, or him sitting hunched up in one position for a long time, or teeth grinding. You want to make sure he is drinking too. It could be that he is a little dehydrated if he isn't drinking, or if he isn't getting enough greens to make up for him not drinking(if he isn't), and that could contribute to the strange poop.

It would probably be best to wait a while on sugary/starchy treats, and on the pellets, to see if his poop changes back to normal, after he has been with you a little while and starts to eat a bunch of hay. If he starts to have normal poop, then you should be fine to gradually start him on pellets. If the poops stay the same, you could still try pellets if you want, but you will want to wait til he is eating a lot of hay, and you will want to go really slow with it, like starting out with 3 little pellets, twice a day, for a few days, then very very gradually increase the amount each day. With one of my megacolon buns, I did this, and after about a month, I was up to 1/16 cup, twice a day, until I noticed he was starting to squint and sit like he was uncomfortable after eating pellets. So I stopped pellets for him, and he was fine after that. This is what one of my megacolon buns poops looks like.

IMAG0915-2.jpg
 
What do you have for the bun to drink out of? Most buns will drink more water if it is in a bowl rather than a bottle. The best bowls are heavy ones such as ceramic so the bun cannot knock it over or one that attaches to a cage.
 
He's been eating lots of grasses and other greens from outside. I have hay in the cage he still hasn't touched it yet. I have a ceramic bowl with water in it. Its almost as big as he is and he drinks about half of the bowl a day. When I give him his grass and plants I always wash them so they are also giving him water content as well as they are very wet. He eats about a handful of food consisting of grass, orchard grass, clovers and dandelion leaves and flowers about every 3 hours. He has had about a 2" long carrot since he has been here and all the food he has eaten he still has the same looking poop except a few hours ago they started to have a more roundish shape. Still same color, still hard but it looks like its getting bigger. I haven't seen and mushy poops yet.
I'll keep an eye on how he is behaving and drinking. I'm hoping he's alright, he will be going to the vet in a few days so I'll be sure to mention the blood test and maybe bring in a poop sample just in case :)
 
It could be that he was dehydrated when you picked him up, and that could cause some irregularity with his poop. If so, it should sort itself out in the next few days, now that he is getting food and water. That does sound like a lot of water for such a tiny little bun. If he was dehydrated, that could be why. It's a good idea to take a fresh poop sample into the vet with you, so the vet can see what they look like and also test for any parasites.

It sounds like this little guy is in good hands. He's lucky you found him :)
 
Thanks :) I'm sure glad I found him. I missed having a bunny around. He's a sweet bunny and very smart. He's already started using his litter box like a pro :p
He started drinking a lot when I brought him home. There isn't any water source that I can think of near where I picked him up and it was very hot outside. I'll be sure to test for parasites, I know for sure he has fleas that I need to deal with as well...
 
It does look like he needs hydration and hopefully the poops will return to normal .
Testing one poop for parasites will not always detect them. if he has been outside there is a high probability of him having tapeworms ( and other kinds of worms) ; your vet may just decide to treat for worms and fleas (Revolution, panacur and possibly Droncit ).
We have a wild rabbit in our yard that spends a lot of time eating the birdseed that falls from the feeder. Despite the fact that this is not proper rabbit nutrition I have noticed that his poops are round and puffy just like my indoor rabbits although they seem lighter.
It may take a feral a long time to convert over to a pet rabbit diet. He would consider hay and pellets far less tasty than fresh grass, plants flowers, branches and bark and everything else outdoors. Good Luck!
 
:yeahthat:

The frequency with which the rabbit could get good food while feral could also have caused weird poop. In addition to looking for fur/ear and GI parasites, be on the lookout for botflies. If the bun was outside for long, and botflies are present in the area, it is possible that he'd have one. Just be on the lookout for any bumps that grow rapidly under the skin.
 
Hi everyone thought I would do an update on him. So its been a whole week since I rescued my bun. I've taken him to a vet and got him some revolution for the fleas. He has no mites and his teeth are perfect. His water intake has gone to normal. I believe he might have been dehydrated when I found him. He has also started having normal "cocoa puff" poops. He has tested out hay but is still being stubborn lol. Other than that he is a healthy happy bunny. Built him a c&c bunny condo today so now he is being a nut doing binkys and running about playing in tunnels lol :) thanks everyone so much for all your help :D
 

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