What's wrong with my dear Bunny?

[Bonnie Lee]

Hi all,

I've had my bunny Winston for 5 months now and he's going good in a way.

The first day I bought him he had white muck coming from the corner of his eyes. Then later that week he began having a wet sloppy nose which past off and on. Suddenly one night when I was giving him his greens to eathe had diahhrea. After a few minutes his diahhrea turned into a clear jelly substance...

We googled it and a lot of it said that the bunny just needs antibiotics for the diahhrea but I came across somebody saying their bunny had clear jelly-like poop and that antibiotics would kill the bunny...

So we took out Winstons greens and water for a little while and left him with only hay and pellets and his poop started going back to normal...

I noticed it kept happening when I gave him any veggies to eat so I slowed it down and only gave him a tea spoon sized piece of carrot each day until he got used to it and now he can eat carrot just fine... He still has eyes that look quite sore and the occassional sloppy nose...

I was just wondering if anybody knows what this is or if maybe he wasn't introduced to veggies slowlyor properlywhen he was still quite young? Also his poop has a really strange odor to it, it's not like the usual bunny smell as it's a bit of a potent smell...

Thanks for any information in advance.

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

First off you should never take away a bunnies water for any reason. Especially when they have runny stools. If anything you need to encourage water even if it means using a syringe to make sure the bun is hydrated. How old is your bun? It could be the greens,infection or even M.E. I would get this bunny to a vet asap....

 

[OneTwoThree]

I second Fraggles, if anything when they are having diarrhea, you need more hydration.

Carrots are really more of a treat than a "green", as they are high in sugar.

Poop shouldn't smell, however cecals can I think. If their anal glands are clogged it'll stink too.

Please take your bunny to the vet.

 

[Bonnie Lee]

I live in a very small area and I have contacted people of the local rabbit association of any bunny vets around and apparently there aren't many at all that specialize in my state... and I don't want my bunny on antibiotics if it's going to do him harm...

I didn't actually specify carrot as a green I was trying to say that when I fed him greens it turned into a clear jelly... I was just saying now that it took some time to get used to carrots but he still doesn't do well with greens say celery...And I took the water out as what I searched had suggested it as his bunny had the same thing...

My bunny is 6 months old now. This actually happened when I first got him at 8 weeks old... I was just asking if anybody has had this issue with their bunnies not taking well to greens? As I feel bad keeping him on hay and pellets only as I always read they need more than pellets.

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

A rabbit should not have any greens until 4 months old . The jelly like stool is most likely a reaction to greens on a underdeveloped cecum. I am guessing the foul smelling poo is actually badly formed cecels. So has this condition resolved itself?

 

[Bonnie Lee]

I haven't tried giving him greens again because I was afraid it was going to give him a belly ache... and I wanted to find out if maybe some bunnies are allergic or something...

But since he's older now do you think I should slowly introduce him to greens and see if it was just a reaction because he was too young?
if so what should I start him on?

Thanks for the help.

 

[LakeCondo]

Some rabbits actually ARE allergic to greens, but it's relatively rare & the problem, as Katie said, surely was giving greens too early. Lettuce is a good place to start; just a few bites the first time.

 

[OneTwoThree]

Second what Lake said, and not iceberg lettuce (it has no nutrition and is basically water) but romaine is a good base to start with.

 

[Sweetie]

LakeCondo wrote:

Some rabbits actually ARE allergic to greens, but it's relatively rare & the problem, as Katie said, surely was giving greens too early. Lettuce is a good place to start; just a few bites the first time.

No iceberg lettuce as it contains too much water. Romaine lettuce, green leafy veggies.

I would push hay and water. Keep your rabbit hydrated. A dehydrated rabbit is no fun, because then you will need to do sub-q fluids, which is not fun to do if you have a bunny that doesn't sit still for you.

 

[Bonnie Lee]

Thanks so much for all the help guys Winston and I really appreciate it!

When I googled about what greens to give him I read a lot that all types of lettuce is bad for bunnies, I'm starting to think google is the worst place for information now...

If introducing greens slowly doesn't work is it something serious that needs vet attention?

 

[Bonnie Lee]

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[eclairemom]

:inlove: Cutie

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:

 

[jujub793]

I would quit googling bunny info and use more of this forum, the library here should answer most if not all of your questions.

 

[Kizza]

It is hard to get good information on bunny care and there is a lot of nonsense out there. I have found this site to be the best place for info.

Best thing to do if you are unsure is come to this site and go with the majority vote. When it comes to diets and medication people tend to disagree sometimes also, in this case just go to one of the sticky threads on nutrition and such and the info is all there.

Just one thing to note is that if a bunny is sick they should still drink water and eat no matter what, these are the most important things. If anyone tells you otherwise they are wrong and it is dangerous to take food and water away from your bunny.

If he is ok now thats great just go easy on the greens as his tummy might me a little delicate now from having this problem so early

I would stay away from lettuce and carrots as they quite often cause problems

 

[Bonnie Lee]

Thanks for your reply.
And after reading through a lot of threads on here it's really helped me learn a lot :thumbup

 

[Anaira]

Cuuute picture!

Reuben is one of the few who can't have greens; I instantly get sloppy poops everywhere if I give him even a little bit. Interestingly enough though, when I put him out in the veggie garden to play, he practically never comes back inside with an upset tummy. I know he does nibble stuff out there, so I have no idea why the stuff I give him does that!

 

[Bonnie Lee]

Thank you, the picture was taken back when Winston was 8 weeks and he just constantly slept and kept still if anyone held him :weee:

Now he thinks I'm smelly and doesn't like being touched :tears2:

That's really unfair to hear that Reuban can't eat greens. but atleast he's getting nibbles in the garden and not getting a tummy ache, better than no greens at all.

 

[LakeCondo]

Anaira wrote:

Reuben is one of the few who can't have greens; I instantly get sloppy poops everywhere if I give him even a little bit. Interestingly enough though, when I put him out in the veggie garden to play, he practically never comes back inside with an upset tummy. I know he does nibble stuff out there, so I have no idea why the stuff I give him does that!

If you can find out what things he's nibbling on outside, you might want to pot some of it up & grow it inside so he can have it all year.

 

[Bonnie Lee]

I been contacting some people that are in the Rabbit Association from my state and they haven't heard that Rabbits can only eat greens after 4 months old because when the babies come out of the nest they eat what the mum eats and then her milk gives them the right immune stuff to take the bacteria in from the food...

So I was just wondering where this 4 month rule came from as I understand a lot of information can be bias and spread about fast on the internet as I've already learnt after reading google.

But yeah I was just wondering where this information was coming from...:dude: