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Poo

G

Graeme27Uk

Warren Scout
Rufus is our male rabbit who is about 4 months old. We are waiting until 6 months to have him castrated.

However, his poo seems particularly smelly and its not like normal rabbit poo. It always tends to come out in squidgy lumps that are long as it lots of poo stuck together.... nothing we do seems to change this.

He eats loads of dried grass, hay, and other fibres. He gets pellets at night only, and maybe twice a week a small bit of greens.

The other rabbits who eat the same diet all have great poo and are poo normally.

Is there something else at play here?
 
Are you talking about excess 'c' poos? They're little smelly poos that look like a little bunch of grapes?
 
*Spider* said:
Are you talking about excess 'c' poos? They're little smelly poos that look like a little bunch of grapes?
Click to expand...


Ahh that could be them. Never seen them before. They are light brown and squidgy and yeh they are stuck together like a bunch of grapes.

Weirdly enough he seems to poop them, let them dry out, and then rove around the room eating them again.

I know bunnies are supposed to eat the "c" poos (hence not seen before) but all the other bunnies we've had eat them straight from bum, not leave them trailing around the room to "cook".
 
Graeme27Uk said:
Ahh that could be them. Never seen them before. They are light brown and squidgy and yeh they are stuck together like a bunch of grapes.

Weirdly enough he seems to poop them, let them dry out, and then rove around the room eating them again.

I know bunnies are supposed to eat the "c" poos (hence not seen before) but all the other bunnies we've had eat them straight from bum, not leave them trailing around the room to "cook".
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: What a little character... maybe he's trying to become a little chef :lol:
 
if you see them often it usually means their diet is too rich, that he doesnt need to eat them yet.

Some rabbits dont need as much of a rich diet as others, what sort of pellets is he on?

:)
 
Definitely sounds like caecatrophs, although you're quite right they should eat them straight from their bum. It may be that he is a little more sensitive to his diet than your other buns on the same diet. What brand of pellets do you use? Also some dried grass is higher in protein than normal hay so if he munches a lot of that, this could also be a cause. He is still only a youngster so it may be that his gut hasn't got used to it all yet. I would reduce his pellets or swap to a brand like Science Selective which seems to resolve sticky bum problems in other buns, and cut down on the dried grass and increase the hay (if he doesn't want to eat the hay, mix the grass in with it).

Other things to consider are that he may not be able to reach round and eat them straight from his bum for some reason - this can be caused by, for example, dental problems, obesity or arthritis, although he is rather young for this. If the problem doesn't resolve itself, I would pop him along to the vet you may also find that the vet confirms he is ok to go ahead and neuter - most vets will do boy buns as soon as their 'bits' appear, which is around 3-4 months in most bucks :)
 
Santa said:
Definitely sounds like caecatrophs, although you're quite right they should eat them straight from their bum. It may be that he is a little more sensitive to his diet than your other buns on the same diet. What brand of pellets do you use? Also some dried grass is higher in protein than normal hay so if he munches a lot of that, this could also be a cause. He is still only a youngster so it may be that his gut hasn't got used to it all yet. I would reduce his pellets or swap to a brand like Science Selective which seems to resolve sticky bum problems in other buns, and cut down on the dried grass and increase the hay (if he doesn't want to eat the hay, mix the grass in with it).

Other things to consider are that he may not be able to reach round and eat them straight from his bum for some reason - this can be caused by, for example, dental problems, obesity or arthritis, although he is rather young for this. If the problem doesn't resolve itself, I would pop him along to the vet you may also find that the vet confirms he is ok to go ahead and neuter - most vets will do boy buns as soon as their 'bits' appear, which is around 3-4 months in most bucks :)
Click to expand...


He's eating Pets@Home Dwarf and Baby pellets at the moment as thats what he was eating when we got him and we didn't want to change as it could upset his stomach. The others seem to do ok on those.

He is a greedy little sod and munches everything within sight. He loves his nuggests and wolfs them down as well as hay and grass. I am surprised he isn't fat!

The vet has checked his teeth and all that and he seems fine. He was checked last week to see if his bits have come but not quite yet. He hasn't got a "dirty" bum as we checked that he is a clean boy.

He is a bouncy boy as well who is always jumping and darting about so likelihood of arthritis seems low.
 
That's good, he sounds like a healthy little chap :) I'd lay money on the fact that it'll stop if you change the pellets, the junior and dwarf ones in particular are high in protein so do tend to cause this - I'd recommend gradually swapping at least to the normal version, but many people find that this still causes the same problem. I'm pretty sure the normal version has less protein and higher fibre than the junior one so it should help in any case :)
 
So I shouldn't be concerned then?


Will the smell go away once he has been castrated? I thought it might be him becoming territorial and marking out his domain with poop.
 
Graeme27Uk said:
So I shouldn't be concerned then?
Not unless you can't resolve it with diet change. However, any caecal dysbiosis or uneaten caecotrophs should make you more vigilant as even an acute dysbiosis in the short-term could put bunny more at risk of stasis and in the long term - malnutrition. Not to mention the 'fly' risk factor from having a smelly or caked rear end, or even just them lying around attracting flies. Uneaten caecotrophs could also be indicative of teeth issues, obesity, arthritis etc. as mentioned above. So if dietary changes do not clear them up then vet check up.


Will the smell go away once he has been castrated? I thought it might be him becoming territorial and marking out his domain with poop.
Click to expand...

Buns only use waste droppings to mark territory not caecotrophs. Castration will make no difference to the quantity or smell, this is a digestive issue or other health problem that is not affected by hormones. I would be inclined to focus on increasing dietary fibre and reducing dietary protein and carbohydrates, meaning more hay and less pellets. :)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
OK, thanks.

I will try feeding them separately and giving him less pellets. I will try the adults ones to and see if that makes a difference.

He is always munching hay.... timothy hay at that!
 
I have got exactly the same issue with my 18 week old bunny... he is on the same pellets from pets@home and keeps getting excess ceacotropes. Like you my other rabbit eats exactly the same diet and is fine.

On advice I reduced his pellets just a little, as he too wolfs them all down, and it seems to have stopped the problem. :) I also stopped giving him veg until the problem has righted itself and then I am going to reintroduce them again one at a time.
 
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