Worried about my bunny!

[miyumiyu]

I hope I'm just being paranoid about my first rabbit, but I think there's something wrong with his poop. At first I thought he was leaving uneaten cecals around, but despite the fact that they smell, they don't physically resemble cecals at all. Also, there's no mucus or anything. They're just long, soft pieces of feces.

My rabbit is an 8 week old Flemish Giant male. I've had him for three days, and I've been feeding him unlimited pellets and Timothy hay. I thought maybe the problem is that he isn't eating enough hay, and is chomping down too many pellets? He still does normal poop too, it's just every few hours I'll see a big long one like this, and it's making me worry. I've attached some pictures so that you can see what I'm talking about. They don't look like the pictures of bunny diarrhea that I looked at online, but maybe someone here has seen something similar and can clue me in. Thanks for your help!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3575003/2014-07-26 14.08.45.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3575003/2014-07-26 14.08.55.jpg

 

[Ivythelionhead]

Do they poops look like a cluster of grapes cause those are normal

 

[Ivythelionhead]

Those are normal rabbit poops they have two kinds ones that are round little balls and ones that look like those, don't worry your bunny is just fine :yahoo:

 

[squidpop]

I don't think those look like normal cecals because like you said they don't look like clusters of grapes. It might be that his diet is too rich and his colon isn't quite working to process the food properly. First thing I would try is cut his diet back to almost only hay so that the fiber will clear out his intestines and any bad bacteria, which means cut pellets out almost entirely. Also, to keep his intestine clear and working properly encourage as much water drinking as possible, maybe even juice some fruit like pineapple and put it in his water in a bowl to encourage more drinking. If his poos don't return to normal he may need to see a vet and have his stool checked.

What color is your rabbit? There is a rare condition, (emphasis on rare) that usually only shows up in rabbits with the spotted coat pattern that are predominantly white. Its called megacolon, in these rabbits the lower intestine is larger than it is supposed to be so they have random large poos. I wouldn't suspect your rabbit has the condition unless it is mostly white with spots though. I think the large poos your rabbit is having are more likely to be something like a bacterial imbalance or his diet is too rich for him.

 

[squidpop]

Megacolon is rare so your bunny probably doesn't have this... but I was just reading that megacolon bunnies do have abnormally large cecals and there are some photos here of them just incase you want to have a look. It says they also smell really bad. https://www.flickr.com/groups/bunnyloversunite/discuss/72157637410098035/

 

[miyumiyu]

Thank you for your help, everyone.

Squid- I'm conflicted now because a couple of the pictures lower down resemble what he's doing, but my bun is steel grey with no spots at all. It definitely only happens in spotted white rabbits?

I think I'm going to really lay on the hay for a day, and take your advice about the excess water as well. Hopefully that will clear him up

 

[surf_storm]

8 weeks seems a bit young to be on Timothy hay, I had Shida on alfalfa for 6 months. It might be a change of diet causing it too, are you feeding him the same as what he had at before you got him?


~Shida (and Shell)

 

[miyumiyu]

The lady I got him from said she had been feeding him pellets and timothy hay, so I bough that instead of the alfalfa, not wanting to mess with his diet.

 

[squidpop]

Thank you for your help, everyone.

Squid- I'm conflicted now because a couple of the pictures lower down resemble what he's doing, but my bun is steel grey with no spots at all. It definitely only happens in spotted white rabbits?

I think I'm going to really lay on the hay for a day, and take your advice about the excess water as well. Hopefully that will clear him up

They do say its possible for solid colored rabbits to have megacolin too, but when I did research online I have only seen spotted or white rabbits that have it. It happens mostly in hot tots and English Spot rabbits.

I know about it because one of mine has it. The big long log like poos are what the cecotropes look like because part of the intestine is twice as big as its supposed to be. The regular poos are usually odd shapes, like there will be two normal ones sitting next to a big oval shaped one and then a couple of small poos. Like this photo, see how big some of the poos are? If your bunnies poos are all odd sizes, all the time, then it could have megacolon.