Sticky poo problems!!

Hiya, I am new to the forum and this is my first ever post. :wave: I wonder if anyone else has had a similar problem or could help with this. About three months ago now my beloved bunny, Beany Woo, started having problems with soft poo sticking to her bum in a morning which is followed by a slightly runnier poo from mid morning up to about lunch time. She is a house rabbit and has the total run of the house. I took her to the vets and her initial treetment was a course of antibiotics, since then she has had a two further course of antibiotics, five courses of pro-biotics, one course of specialist rabbit science formula. I have wormed her which then followed a further course of pro-biotics. I stopped all her greens, I have transferred to a diet of just pellets and timothy hay (from a preferred mix) and still the problem persists. I have just had test results back from a poo sample which I sumbitted a week ago and they have come back clear - ie no infections, ulcers, parasites or salmonella. After three months of scrubbing carpets not to mention the discomfort to my poor baby who has to have her bum washed twice a day I am totally out of ideas :? - can anyone shed any light on this? Beany Woo is my only rabbit and I don't have any other pets (apart from a lizard which she doesn't come into contact with).

:wave:Hiya sorry to hear of your buns prob, my friends bun Paddy as the same problem shes just switched him to science selective pellets and it is gradually clearing up.It sounds like your doing everything you can, hopefully someone else will be along shortly with good ideas to help.x

Hi there :wave:

I'm really sorry that you're having problems, although it sounds like you're doing a fab job of looking after Beany Woo.

I have never had this problem, however from reading other posts on here I think that the general advice seems to be to cut out pellets before cutting out greens... :? That said, Science Selective are a really good brand. I'm sure someone who has experience of this will reply soon!

Have you tried switching her over to a diet of only hay for a few days to see if this clears up the problems? You could then try re-introducing greens and pellets one at a time to see which cause problems, and stick to only those that she has healthy poos with?

Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm sure you'll get some good advice on here though

Can you tell us more about her diet? i.e. what she eats, when, how much etc.

What brand of pellets are you feeding her and how many per day? :wave: You've definitely come to the right place, lots of people have had buns with the same problem. Definitely fixable so don't worry.

Hi there, thank you to everyone for your kind responses. I will try and answers your questions:-
. I haven't heard of the scientific balanced pellets, they sound very good and I will have a look to see where I could get some from.
. Pellets, I have tried a number of different ones including Excel, Wagg (and others I cannot remember) as she is a very picky eater but finally settled for Pets at Home adult rabbit nuggets. They seem to be good as they have the right levels of protein and their vitamin levels are guaranteed, they also contain Profeed which aids digestion. I usually give her about half a cup full in a morning along with the Timothy Hay and then I refill the pellets in the evening. Thinking about it she tends to eat more pellets than she does the hay.
. Veggies, I was advised to stop feeding these as soon as the problem started however I have re-introduced a few every few days but the poo problem does seem to worsen afterwards.

Other info - Beany Woo is a mini lop, she is about 19 months old and she weighs about 2kg. Oh, did I tell you she is the love of my life!!
I have had her since she was five weeks old as her mother rejected her and wouldn't let her feed and the owners couldn't wait to offload her. Anyway she was used to a Wagg Mix which took me a long time to wean her off as she would refuse to eat when I changed it and leave "dirty protests" infront of her dish.

Ok, sounds like you are doing exactly what most people do (including myslef when I first got my buns) and are giving her too many pellets. Rabbits only need an eggcup full per day especially being indoors (she won't burn as many calories keeping warm). I suggest you reduce her pellets gradually over about a fortnight. You should then notice she will eat more hay. Hopefully that will clear things up without having to change brands of pellets.

If you need to change brands then I would suggest Science selective or Allen and Page :wave:

You did such a good thing taking her in - I can't believe her previous owners could be so uncaring

I would say that the amount of pellets that you are feeding sounds like quite a lot... Buns should ideally have a maximum of an eggcup full per day. A rabbit's diet should be around 90% hay, so by feeding more pellets they are likely to fill up on these rather than the hay. I would limit the number of pellets that you are feeding to try and increase her hay intake. This will be better for her teeth as well

There are also certain plants that have astrigent properties, so can help with buns who have runny bottoms. Raspberry leaves and blackberry leaves are two examples... so might be worth trying to track some down? (harder at this time of year unfortunately :?). Maybe someone else has some experience in the use of these type of plants to help with this kind of problem?

Thank you guys for your recommendations, you're great :thumb: I had run out of ideas and didn't know what else to do. As suggested I will gradually reduce her pellet intake and hopefully increase her hay intake over the next couple of weeks. Would you suggest starting to re-introduce her veggies too or continue to hold off on those for a while?

Doe Eyes said:

Thank you guys for your recommendations, you're great :thumb: I had run out of ideas and didn't know what else to do. As suggested I will gradually reduce her pellet intake and hopefully increase her hay intake over the next couple of weeks. Would you suggest starting to re-introduce her veggies too or continue to hold off on those for a while?

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Definitely re-introduce the veg gradually, a small piece of one sort daily and gradually building up the amount an variety but only once the poo problem is fixed. Good luck :wave:

When we had our little bun she was on Russel Rabbit mix but she was selective feeding, so we decided to switch her to pellets. We tried gradually changing over to Pets at Home nuggets but we found she was doing runnier poos and having a dirty bottom. We then changed her to Supreme Science Selective pellets...she wasn't too impressed at first but now loves them (and better poos!)

If you suspect that too many pellets could be causing her problem I would reduce them straight away.

Introducing any new foods must be done very gradually but if you suspect a food is causing a problem (in this case the pellets) I see no reason why you shouldn't cut them out or reduce them to the recommended amount straight away. If you provide ad lib hay she won't go hungry. The diet should consist of 90% hay and only 10% should be made up of pellets (1 eggcupful) and veg. Stay off the veg until bottom is back to normal though. Always provide fresh water of course.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=670

http://www.vet2pet.co.uk/pethealth/rabbithealth/feeding_rabbit.asp
:wave:

Wigs said:

There are also certain plants that have astrigent properties, so can help with buns who have runny bottoms. Raspberry leaves and blackberry leaves are two examples... so might be worth trying to track some down? (harder at this time of year unfortunately :?). Maybe someone else has some experience in the use of these type of plants to help with this kind of problem?

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In the Naturals range (if there is a place near you that stocks it) they do a trio of fruit leaves. I can't remember exactly what's in them but I'm pretty sure they have raspberry and blackberry in. They smell gorgeous, my bunns are not entirely sure yet though.

ETA. https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Nat...es.288.html?osCsid=rsufmc73pl7b8c5o0ihkgcbda0

I use Oxbow Bunny Basics T pellets, these are hay based. Expensive but good, but then I do have one that will not eat hay :roll:

I took in a rescue bunny who had such a messy bottom, constantly, that his previous owners wanted to have him PTS . I immediately put him onto hay and grass only and it didn't take long to sort him out! A few weeks later he was rehomed to live with a gorgeous girlie bun called Willow and to this day his bum is clean!

You can read more about him on his thread http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=183556

My advice is to drastically reduce the pellets you are giving (or cut them out completely) and offer lots of fresh hay and grass instead. Good luck x

prettylupin said:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=670

http://www.vet2pet.co.uk/pethealth/rabbithealth/feeding_rabbit.asp
:wave:

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That first link is excellent - wish I'd have seen that when I had my old bunny, he had this problem and we tried many things and had many vet trips but never a hay only approach, wish I'd have had the chance to try it out. Sadly Sweep passed a couple of years ago due to other problems.

Dustyrabbit said:

That first link is excellent - wish I'd have seen that when I had my old bunny, he had this problem and we tried many things and had many vet trips but never a hay only approach, wish I'd have had the chance to try it out. Sadly Sweep passed a couple of years ago due to other problems.

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I'm sorry about Sweep

Yes the ISS link is what sorted my two rescue buns out. Adopted both with horrendous messy bums - now on a no pellet diet and have thrived.

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I have a new approach and I will report back on how things are going. :wave:

By the way - if the hay only (or mostly hay with very small amounts suitable pellet) diet works you may like to consider whether your vet is all that good with rabbits - as it seems they threw a lot of stuff at the poor bun when all s/he may have needed was a change of diet!

Some vets are just not that good with rabbits and its best to try and get a good one in advance just in case you ever have a real emergency.

If you post a thread on her then someone will be able to provide a rabbit savvy vet name for you hopefully not too far away from you.