Gurgly tummy and smelly poos

Hi, please could someone advise why my rabbit is having gurgly stomach noises, poos that smell like a sewer and these poos look like cecotrophs in a bundle?

My rabbit is eating normally and behaving normally. He had this problem before but I cut down on vegetables until the problem disappeared. I normally give him 2 cabbage leaves, a small carrot and some brussels sprouts. Today I gave him some curly kale which is the first time he has had it.

Is he ok and does he need to see a vet?

When you say "eating normally" - how much hay does he eat? x

As far as i can see, he is eating all the vegetables and will try to eat the other rabbit's veg. I have seen him eat hay but cannot say how much because I have two rabbits. I wouldn't say he is not eating hay. Is there a link to the amount of hay? I have only noticed tonight. Is the amounbt of hay something I need to keep a close watch on?

Majority of a rabbit's diet should be hay - say 85% to 90% of what they eat! I know it sounds alot but it's the best thing for them, particularly their teeth and digestive system.

What kind of dry food do you feed? And how much?

If he's having trouble with a messy bottom I would recommend really reducing the amount of pellets and greens and increase the intake of hay.

HTH x

Thanks for your reply. I have been closely monitoring him and have noticed that he eats a lot of vegetables and some hay but not his normal amount. He is also very picky with hay he eats. Normally he eats oxbow timothy hay a lot but at the moment, he only likes orchard grass. He has not had smelly poos all day except just after I have fed veg.

Sorry forgot to mention. He eats no pellets just hay and veg.

What Veg are you feeding?

I give him one small carrot, two savoy cabbage leaves and yesterday a little curly kale. Today i gave him half a carrot and one savoy lettuce. I have two rabbits who live together and one does not seem to be intersted in veg(he is really picky and hates cabbage and does not like supermarket packaged carrots) so Floppy who has the funny tummy is eating his portion too!!

Definitely monitor how much hay he eats. As a rule of thumb, buns should eat a block of hay the size of their body, every day.

I'd stop the the veg, just give him unlimited hay until his poos return to normal.

kayw1 said:

Sorry forgot to mention. He eats no pellets just hay and veg.

Click to expand...

Your bun is having a GI stasis, this is due to a lack of fiber. Without a doubt your bun is not eating enough hay. A bun's diet should compose of 90% hay. The remaining 10% should be pellet, treats, fruits, veggies.

The reason for the soft poos is the lack of fiber. You also gave way too much veggies. You have to switch your bun to a hay based diet w/ some pellet.

Hay also grind down the ongoing growth of teeth.

For the time being, you need to treat your bun's GI stasis:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=124510

everything you need to know about GI stasis

Although I don't know much about GI, I wouldn't recommend pellets if you have been fine all this time without them. Pellets/rabbit food is just commercial and their is no need for them at all. Well done to you for not feeding your bun this as you will find your bun will prob be healthier than any other you know teeth etc.
The reason for soft big clumps of poo is (your right they are cecotrophes but not as healthy as the little grapes, norm looks like a big squidgy pile?)
You are either feeding too much fibre or not enough fibre! And you need to work out which it is and either add/take it away.
In this case I would think its a case of too much, so cut back on greens not all together just a bit (do they also eat grass?) and allow them as much hay as they want instead.
It may have been a case of diff food also only add little bit of new stuff as your bun may have very sensitive stomach. (ours gets dirty bot after banana so ahve to give tiny amount)
I only give my buns 1 biggish cabbage leaf or 1 smaller cabbage leaf and little sprout. (You know what we are like after sunday dinner with that gas build up they have no where to get rid of it) A handful of greens for tea and maybes a bit in middle IF they dont play out get grass that day. As remember grass is cheap and bun food too.
If you do decide to feed pellets then your talking 9ish nuggets a day depending on size (we had this prob with dirty bots etc feeding ours nuggets) now that she dont get them hardly and just her greens shes never had dirty bot or stinky poo all over for a good 6 months now. I was having to clean her each day. And our 2 are big buns www.hoppybunnyrabbit.com.
This is all info told to me by my vet who is rabbit vet.

rabbit needs the nutrition from the pellet, so they must need it