Worried about my Chop

[Gezabella09]

So for the past month Chop has had trouble with his poo.
It hasn't been ongoing for a month but it has been on and off.

For about 3 or 4 days he will get really tacky poo. It comes out fully formed and looking like any other normal poo but is tacky and gets stuck to his bottom fur.

He will then be Ok for a week or so and then the funny poo will start again.

Sometime the poo will get really small (about half the size of a pea) and quite smelly and dark but then it will be back to the normal size the very next day.

He is still in tack and his man sacks hang over his little bottom so I don't think that is helping matters and the poo gets caught between his man sacks and bottom and then cling on!
This has convinced me to have his bits off and we are going to the vet beginning of next week to have a consultation about his manhood.

All treats and veg etc has been stopped and he is getting a reduced amount of pellet food. And when I say reduced I mean a small handful morning and then a bit at night. I am pushing the hay but he didn't really seem to be eating that (I think this may be because the hay is at the opposite end of the cage to his pellets. So the last few days I have been putting his hay in his food bowl and he seems to be eating more of it. He will always go potty for the pellets.) He has has new pellets of late so I don'tknow if thats what the matter is but he does wolf them down when we give them to him.

Im washing the poop off his bum just with luke warm water and a face cloth and he doesn't mind it - seems to think its a bit of a game.

He is fine in himself still being a little bugger when he is out for his play times and still as loving and cuddly as ever.

When I read some of the posts on here about other rabbit diets I timothy hay mentioned but as I am in the Uk I think our rabbit food is different to that in the US. I feed him regular pet store hay and pellets. And also some of the pro biotic products mentioned I don't know if I'd be able to get hold of.

So really my question is should I be worried?
Also some people mention hard and soft bellys when talking about funny poo. His belly is like a big old squish of jelly!!
And what to do about his diet.

Also the poor little love keeps sneezing. He has a sneezing fit of about 10 in a row once a day. It's quite cute to watch - his nose isn't runny its a bit damp but it always had been.

He is about 10 -11 months old.

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[tonyshuman]

If he had the sneezing fit just the one time, I wouldn't worry. He probably had something stuck in his nose. If he does it again I'd be concerned about an infection.

As for the poop, I would suspect that it's either diet or intestinal parasites. It sounds like his belly is fine, so it's probably not stasis or gas. How many pellets does he get? At his age, you should start to reduce pellets so that he doesn't overeat and become too heavy. A lot of pellets can also lead to reduced hay consumption, which makes the poops smaller and tackier.

It may be worthwhile to have your vet do a fecal float on him to check for coccidia or other intestinal parasites. There are different drugs that should be given depending on what the vet finds. It would be a rather simple fix.

Do you know if he eats his cecal poops? They can be quite smelly and messy if not eaten, and bunnies that eat too many pellets or are too heavy to reach their bums often don't eat them. They're an important part of his diet.

A probiotic that is available in the UK is FibrePlex or Bio Lapis. Any of these products would be good:
http://www.petvetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Small_Animals_Pets.html
except the liver one. You can give a dog/cat probiotic to bunnies, or a horse/sheep/goat/cow one as well, depending on what's available for you. A reptile/avian one wouldn't work as well. Another option is powdered acidophilus capsules from a natural food store for people. Don't use yogurt, though.

 

[Gezabella09]

The sneezing has happened more than once he has it about one day a wek for the last 3 weeks or so - I just thought he had a tickle.

I didn't know what the cecal poops were until a few weeks ago.
But yes he does - I've caught him munching on them a few times and he has a very sheepish look on his face !!

I don't know about his weight - he doesn't look a jabba the hut and I can still feel his spine when I'm petting him but he has put on a bit of weight recently. I just out it down to him hitting puberty!
He can defo reach his bum as thats how I found out he has a sticky bum bum coz he constantly had his head between his leg.

As long as he isn't going to die on me because of sticky poo before he goes to the vet on Tuesday. The vet we normally go to didn't seem very rabbit friendly when we went last time. He didn't have any answers to questions I have had and that have been answered very well on here. I have found a vet about an hours drive away who is only focused on rabbits hammys and guinnys so hopefully he will get a good going over there!

 

[tonyshuman]

OK, that sounds good. I like the idea of the vet you're going to. I'm glad he can reach his bum--it probably is dietary or parasitic.

As for the sneezing, maybe the hay is bothering him? Usually once a week isn't a big deal, but if he sneezes many times in a row, it might be something. Also, the question is there if he's sneezing as well when you're not around, which could make it almost like he's sneezing everyday, depending on how much time you spend with him.

I'd ask the vet to look at it. Since there's no runny mucus or anything, it's probably just some fuzz or hay getting stuck up there, but an upper respiratory infection that's not very severe yet or a tooth issue that also isn't severe yet could be the cause.

 

[Gezabella09]

Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease... Chop thanks you to... he can now go for 5 minutes without being checked and catch some zzzzz!
xx