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Diarrhea

dannydan

New Kit
My 1.5 year old mini lop rabbit seems to be suffering from diarrhea.

I've taken him to the vets, who gave me some pre-biotic to add into his water for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, when I do add it in to the water he refuses to drink :roll:

Apart from the diarrhea, he seems OK in himself. He's fairly active and eating normally.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for home treatment of this before I stress him out with another visit to the vets? Is it safe for me to try him on a diet of only hay for a few days to see if this clears things up? Alternatively, is there anything I can order from somewhere like VetUK to try?

His diet at the moment consists of timothy hay, rabbit muesli, and pellets. 3 other rabbits have access to the same food so I'm not exactly sure who eats what, but I do see him eating hay fairly regularly.

Cheers :)
 
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I would guess that he is passing excess/unformed caecotrophs rather than actual diarrhoea. This can happen if the Rabbit is eating too much pellets/muesli and not enough hay. 90% of a Rabbit's diet should be hay, pellets/muesli should be fed in a minimal amount, no more than about a couple of eggcupsful a day for an average sized Rabbit. Better still would be to get the Rabbit onto a hay/grass/veg ONLY diet. Pellets/Muesli are not an essential for a Rabbit who has a variety of hays, a variety of veg and grass grazing time.

You could buy some Fibreplex pro/prebiotic paste to give him for a few days.

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1180

But I would think that in the longterm some dietary changes should solve the problem.
 
Excellent, thanks for responding. I'll order some Fibreplex from VetUK and remove the muesli and pellets from his diet for the time being.

I stopped feeding him fresh veg a few weeks ago because I thought that could be the cause of his diarrhea, but it doesn't seem to have helped so I'll re-introduce them :)
 
Excellent, thanks for responding. I'll order some Fibreplex from VetUK and remove the muesli and pellets from his diet for the time being.

I stopped feeding him fresh veg a few weeks ago because I thought that could be the cause of his diarrhea, but it doesn't seem to have helped so I'll re-introduce them :)

Do make sure that you are CERTAIN he is eating hay BEFORE you remove the pellets/muesli. I dont mean that you give him hay, but that you actually SEE HIMeating LOTS of it :)
 
Do make sure that you are CERTAIN he is eating hay BEFORE you remove the pellets/muesli. I dont mean that you give him hay, but that you actually SEE HIMeating LOTS of it :)

I'd be more concerned about the 3 others that he lives with, as I know they are far less keen on hay than him.

I guess the best thing for me to do then is just to cut down the other stuff to tempt them into eating more hay, rather than removing it completely.
 
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