At wits end with her bowels!

Please can someone give me advice? My bunny has a mixture of really good large, golden droppings but then does odd large splats. She has a good appetite, drinks well and otherwise seems happy but I can't sort it out.

When she came to us she was on muesilli mix stuff and I am sure this wasn't helping and I have tried to move her across to SS like my others but no matter how slowly I tried to introduce it, it was always too fast and the large splats were still there. So I have put her back on Hay and water only and I am giving her bio-lapis for the next 5 days to help regulate her. Do I go back to the mix and slowly reintroduce the SS again? or after a break from mix/pellets do I slowly introduce SS and never go back to the mix?

She seems happy but I want to sort it out.

Thanks,

K x

:wave: i can sympathise there..bif bless her suffers badly form time to time but has it everyday no matter what..

i would give hay and water for 48 hrs.....then gradually over the usual 10 days to 2 weeks wean across to ss but i warn you it made bif and her her now passed over husbun get worse!:shock:

shes better on allen and page but i want to try her on soemthing like oxbow timmy hay bunny basics...as sometimes even the smallest amount of alfalfa can make it worse.
are you feeding greens etc or has there been alot of grass mucnhing outside?

bifs only allowed the teenies amount of greens etc but i give up as bandit gets hers first anyway and he scoffs most of their pellets before she does or shed be even worse!!

Bif had a very traumatic life before she got rescued and we took her on aged 18 months first 245 hrs she was fine next she was poopy butt form nerves.

shes always been very nervous etc and so the problem was really bad so bad we had to bathe her daily or butt bath her two or three times a day and the carpet had to be scrubbed and steam cleaned everyday to get the poo off. now we have lino!

since she came to us life has been far from easy for her and i feel so guilty..so many things have gone wrong..her husbun dying....bonding with a new husbun....kittens arriving two kitties who thought she was mum and she did mother them! house getitng flooded few days later....before we got bif wed just lost my dad...and had terrible family probs etc adn just lost our last surving cat from kidney disease/failure.

so shes regressed to whats he was 6 months after we had her...she has had a few dentals even for tiny spurs that they wouldnt normally do but its enough to upset her.

the vet said she has a bunny type of post traumatic stress disorder...bless her.

so please check the diet issues again..sometimes its cos theyve scoffed something you havent seen!
has there been any signs of possible dental problems?
has there been any change of circumstances etc etc

you dont say how long youve had her..as it maybe settling in nerves....

its so upsetting if you odnt have buns with it and then get one its infuriating to deal with...and osmetimes its worse than others.....

i find now bertie our bold fearless cuddly lump of a frenchies geitng it mildly.....i think with him its being henpecked with his new wifey willow or stress.....he picks up on us all the time.

bif has a new little husbun called bandit and its cos they bonded as a group of 4 in dec then fell out in jan that the upset tums went on.

maybe the scent of one of your other buns is unsettling etc?

give bio lapis a lot longer..our vet advised at least 3 weeks.....i know oyu can give avipro but i found it made it worse!

get a tube of fibreplex too..it makes things a bit more normal if its a mix up of poos or poos decrease but sticky poos increase.

patience and being strong is the way to deal or you end up crying on the floor ashamed of the lingering soft poos smell and the greeny black smudges on your t shirt

Did the GI disturbance start after trying to introduce the SS ?
Is their any mucus in the faeces?
Is she spayed?
There is a condition (chronic inflammatory bowel disease) which can causes 'cowpat poo' but a bit more history about her would be useful.

I have a Bun who responded very well to Salazopyrin to treat his CIBD

Thanks for taking the time to reply ... I will try and answer everything: -

She was rescued from a breeder. After having peanut babies she wasn't wanted so I rescued her ....

She splated, I think, shortly after she came home when I introduced her slowly on burgess then slowly on SS instead which my other buns preferred but I can't be sure as it's hard to think back.

She is a house bun so no grass (she never saw any at the breeder previously)

She will be 1 in September and as yet is not spayed but I will (she is in a queue after Sooty).

No signs of dental problems.

I stopped greens because I thought that was the first cause of splats but do feed raspberry leaves to help bind

She eats hay but goes crazy for the mix

She drinks well

She is a nervous bun and hates being handled (I am guessing the breeder never handled her ever)

I hope I answered everything.

Thank you.

Karen x

When just on hay does the problem resolve?

You didnt answer the bit about whether she ever passes mucus in her poo ?

Has your Vet examined her ?

Is she maintaining a healthy weight?
Does she drink excessively?

Do the cowpat poos happen daily and at what time of day ?

Soz for the interogation !!

Jack's-Jane said:

When just on hay does the problem resolve?

You didnt answer the bit about whether she ever passes mucus in her poo ?

Has your Vet examined her ?

Is she maintaining a healthy weight?
Does she drink excessively?

Do the cowpat poos happen daily and at what time of day ?

Soz for the interogation !!

Click to expand...

Sorry .. no mucus. No vets yet as she seems happy and healthy otherwise including weight.

No more water than the other buns

As far as I can tell there is no set pattern to the splating

When she sticks to hay and water yes it is better.

Thanks for you advice.

Karen x

Lindt bunny said:

Sorry .. no mucus. No vets yet as she seems happy and healthy otherwise including weight.

No more water than the other buns

As far as I can tell there is no set pattern to the splating

When she sticks to hay and water yes it is better.

Thanks for you advice.

Karen x

Click to expand...

Sounds to be to do with her caecum. I would pop her along to the Vets as he/she will be able to have a feel of her abdomen which may yield some more information.

Long fibre is essential to enable the caecum to function well and the fact that her symptoms improve when she only has hay seems to reflect that.
She may need to be on a hay and Veg diet for life. It is seldom Veg that cause this sort of problem, although I'd avoid feeding her Carrots and fruit due to their high sugar content.

Another reason to get your Vet to examin her is that some Vets think one contributory factor to any inflammatory bowel condition is another concurrent inflammatory condition elsewhere. As she has had an iffy obstetric history and is not yet spayed I think it'd be a good idea to get a vet to have a feel of her uterus too.

poor wee thing.....i hope the vet can shed some light ont he condition..but as mine said being spayed narows donw the causes..as jane has said inflammatory conditions often go in pairs....

jane whats the dosage of that drug? i will have to have a word with bifs vet to ask.....i cannot stop her no matter hwat even on a hay and water diet for a week..with small regular amounts of veggies..bar carrots and fruit........i find shes better on a sald mix like watercress rocket and such rather than the gassy stuff like spirng greens although she adores them so much..she loves fresh mint and as its a digestion aid it doesnt seme to affect her luckily..shes not so keen on coriander but will eat it..luckily doesnt think much of parsley....and basil she was like nom nom..huh..bleuch!:lol:

bandits a nervy litle fella and hes only had upset tum a few times..he pees himself instad when stressed.
Jane have you heard whether or not osmething like valerian either fresh or piils ground would help a nervous bun to calm down a bit..i know it works on cats and probably most mammals as its a calming sedating plant. just curious.

Bif had to help salem out the hutch..he got stuck onthe ramp as bandit was halfway up and he didnt want to hurt bandit...bandit wanted a wash however and was waiting for salem to come down and wash him Bif is always keeping an eye on salem and if hes down or sleepy and a bit lonely she goes over to him for a quick hug...shes so maternal to him even tho hes lamost 2 now. dumb cat or dumb rabbit..i think its just love. do buns whive had babiues upon babies ever lose their maternal streak once spayed? sorry for hijacking thread

poopy butt is always one of the most common problems for buns....and the remedies are sometimes so weird but simple...bandits was because he was nervy and had the biggest set of testicles more inside than out and oculdnt get there to sort his bottom out..within a day of being done he was leaving a few little smuts on the cage floor and within 48 hrs he was fine normal poos all around no signs even of soft poos.....!!

mm scoffing too much pellet food is a prime suspect....but sometimes too much for one bun is not enough for anohter..like us all tum probs vary.
i love to think i have so much in common with bif..prone to stress and suffer shocking IBS made worse by stress:lol: maybe i should ask for the meds:shock:

Lindt bunny said:

Thanks for taking the time to reply ... I will try and answer everything: -

She was rescued from a breeder. After having peanut babies she wasn't wanted so I rescued her ....

She splated, I think, shortly after she came home when I introduced her slowly on burgess then slowly on SS instead which my other buns preferred but I can't be sure as it's hard to think back.

She is a house bun so no grass (she never saw any at the breeder previously)

She will be 1 in September and as yet is not spayed but I will (she is in a queue after Sooty).

No signs of dental problems.

I stopped greens because I thought that was the first cause of splats but do feed raspberry leaves to help bind

She eats hay but goes crazy for the mix

She drinks well

She is a nervous bun and hates being handled (I am guessing the breeder never handled her ever)

I hope I answered everything.

Thank you.

Karen x

Click to expand...

My bunny had continual mucky bum and health/teeth/diet/weight all ruled out. It turned out to be stress due to being too nervous to be with another bunny. She now lives alone and is perfectly clean!!!

fluffiebunnie said:

My bunny had continual mucky bum and health/teeth/diet/weight all ruled out. It turned out to be stress due to being too nervous to be with another bunny. She now lives alone and is perfectly clean!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks, She is on her own because she was so nervous and that is the only way the breeder would let me rescue her.

Karen x

Jack's-Jane said:

Sounds to be to do with her caecum. I would pop her along to the Vets as he/she will be able to have a feel of her abdomen which may yield some more information.

Long fibre is essential to enable the caecum to function well and the fact that her symptoms improve when she only has hay seems to reflect that.
She may need to be on a hay and Veg diet for life. It is seldom Veg that cause this sort of problem, although I'd avoid feeding her Carrots and fruit due to their high sugar content.

Another reason to get your Vet to examin her is that some Vets think one contributory factor to any inflammatory bowel condition is another concurrent inflammatory condition elsewhere. As she has had an iffy obstetric history and is not yet spayed I think it'd be a good idea to get a vet to have a feel of her uterus too.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this I will take her in and book her for a spay she can have hers done before Sooty I think. I am just worried the stress of the op will kill her.

K x