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Are these healthy poos?

L

LionheadLuver

Warren Veteran
Hey

I took these photos to show the wide range in Milly and Molly's poos recently (over the past few weeks). I don't know if it's just one rabbit or both but they both appear fine in themselves and they are eating everything well.

Their diet is a mixture of Meadow and Timothy hay, and 10g each of SS pellets. The poos seemed to be covered in a thin layer of mucus but they are not caecals. Some poos are very dark, and some are golden. Some poos are very large and sausage shaped, and other poos are very small. They are crumbly but also wet too (only on the outside, due to the mucus I believe). Are these healthy poos?

Wide range of sizes:
DSCF08251.jpg


Largest poo today:
DSCF08261.jpg


Some of the smaller poos:
DSCF08271.jpg


Difference in colour:
DSCF08291.jpg
 
Those droppings are not entirely healthy no. They are not desperately worrisome, but they DO indicate that there is some caecal and general gut motility disturbance.

There is only one dropping I would consider a good dropping and that is the golden properly formed one on the left of the last picture you posted.

The droppings I would say are a little too sticky and not properly formed which may indicate a mild dysbiosis and irregular motility. I would start by decreasing the amount of pellets given and upping their hay intake to compensate. I would also consider introducing some more varied fibrous vegetation into their diet such as dried or fresh bunny weeds/apple/blackberry leaves to encourage fibre intake if hay eating is not as substantial as it should be. :?
 
prettylupin said:
Those droppings are not entirely healthy no. They are not desperately worrisome, but they DO indicate that there is some caecal and general gut motility disturbance.

There is only one dropping I would consider a good dropping and that is the golden properly formed one on the left of the last picture you posted.

The droppings I would say are a little too sticky and not properly formed which may indicate a mild dysbiosis and irregular motility. I would start by decreasing the amount of pellets given and upping their hay intake to compensate. I would also consider introducing some more varied fibrous vegetation into their diet such as dried or fresh bunny weeds/apple/blackberry leaves to encourage fibre intake if hay eating is not as substantial as it should be. :?
Click to expand...

thanks for your reply. I upped their pellets over the winter, is this necessary? They get around 12-14 pellets at the moment. They eat loads of hay, they get farm meadow hay and Alfalfa King timothy hay. I'll get some herbs for them to eat to aid digestion. :)
 
LionheadLuver said:
thanks for your reply. I upped their pellets over the winter, is this necessary? They get around 12-14 pellets at the moment. They eat loads of hay, they get farm meadow hay and Alfalfa King timothy hay. I'll get some herbs for them to eat to aid digestion. :)
Click to expand...

It's not a great deal of pellets that you are currently feeding and they are clearly eating lots of hay so I am surprised that their droppings are not more normal in appearance :?

Do they get plenty of exercise? Do any of them suffer from any other health issues or been on any medication recently?
 
prettylupin said:
It's not a great deal of pellets that you are currently feeding and they are clearly eating lots of hay so I am surprised that their droppings are not more normal in appearance :?

Do they get plenty of exercise? Do any of them suffer from any other health issues or been on any medication recently?
Click to expand...

They are put into their run for around 6 hours a day during winter. Molly has sore hocks but she hasn't got any infection and she isn't on any meds.

They have always had large sausage shaped poos, it's only the past few weeks that they have had dark, mucus, and small poos. They did get a new bale last week which isn't great quality (using it as bedding at mo), and they have only recently had the timothy hay added. They eat a hay ball of that per day.
 
Are they related? If their droppings have always been this way it could be a congenital issue. :?

Pain can also interfere with gut motility so the sore hocks may be involved as well.
 
prettylupin said:
Are they related? If their droppings have always been this way it could be a congenital issue. :?

Pain can also interfere with gut motility so the sore hocks may be involved as well.
Click to expand...

they are sisters from the same litter. I always thought that the sausage poos were good because they were so large so they are eating lots of hay to produce a lot of poos. :? The majority of their poos are round and like the one in the last picture on the left, it's just a small minority that are either large, sausage shaped, or small.
 
All droppings should be essentially spherical, slightly elongated, but not sausage shaped.They should also be dry and brown/gold not black. If you crush them in your fingers they should be crumbly and fibrous, not squishy.

As said before, only one of those poo's looks like a normal shape and consistency. If they are eating a lot of good quality long stem hay and not too many pellets, perhaps they are getting too much or the wrong type of veg? do they eat their ceacals?

If they are otherwise happy and healthy then its not a short-term problem but isnt a great indicator of long-term gut health.
 
VikkiVet said:
All droppings should be essentially spherical, slightly elongated, but not sausage shaped.They should also be dry and brown/gold not black. If you crush them in your fingers they should be crumbly and fibrous, not squishy.

As said before, only one of those poo's looks like a normal shape and consistency. If they are eating a lot of good quality long stem hay and not too many pellets, perhaps they are getting too much or the wrong type of veg? do they eat their ceacals?

If they are otherwise happy and healthy then its not a short-term problem but isnt a great indicator of long-term gut health.
Click to expand...

They have always been squishy though. That isn't new. Most of them are normal shaped, it's only a few that are sausage shaped.

They don't get any veg. They eat all their caecals, I've never actually seen one but I do see them eat them from their bottom, so I know they are producing them and eating them.

So does this mean they could have problems in the future with their digestion? :(
 
I agree with what is said above. Afer you have tried more fiber in the diet, hay etc and they don't improve in shape, I would see the vet. No panic but it may be a slowing down of the guts, hence to be watched carefully because of risk of stasis. This is exactly the mix of shapes, size etc that I have experienced after Chloé had her first stasis earlier 2009 and it took her 3 months to have normal poos again upon return from the clinic where she was taken care of and given injections to boost the gut.

The 2nd stasis occurred early November 2010, then I rushed once again to the vet, where she was hospitalized for 10 days then when I took her home, she had for a few days, again, the same mix of shapes, size etc.. So she had more fiber and today is OK. I must say she always has had 100% hay, vegetables, greens, leaves etc etc. Important too is to be correctly hydrated, so juicy fresh vegetables, green leaves, water..
 
Martine said:
I agree with what is said above. Afer you have tried more fiber in the diet, hay etc and they don't improve in shape, I would see the vet. No panic but it may be a slowing down of the guts, hence to be watched carefully because of risk of stasis. This is exactly the mix of shapes, size etc that I have experienced after Chloé had her first stasis earlier 2009 and it took her 3 months to have normal poos again upon return from the clinic where she was taken care of and given injections to boost the gut.

The 2nd stasis occurred early November 2010, then I rushed once again to the vet, where she was hospitalized for 10 days then when I took her home, she had for a few days, again, the same mix of shapes, size etc.. So she had more fiber and today is OK. I must say she always has had 100% hay, vegetables, greens, leaves etc etc. Important too is to be correctly hydrated, so juicy fresh vegetables, green leaves, water..
Click to expand...

it's suprising you say that actually, because Molly did have a mild case of stasis in around October/November time. She recovered overnight, but i wonder if this may be the aftermath of it. :?
 
If they get no veg and only 12-14 pellets per day, then they are on an almost hay-only diet so their poos should be a lot more fibrous and golden than that. Definately not squishy. Its a good sign that they are eating caecals at least.
I'd question the quality of the hay - needs to be long, fairly fine (vs straw or some farm hay which is quite rough and thick) and green to yellow not brown, and completely dry. Too green, such as readigrass, alfalfa, oat, etc isn't good idea as a dietary staple, but ok for a treat for rabbits with stable gut function (i'd suggest yours isnt).
Why do you feed so few pellets? my 3 rexes get a handful each per day, slightly more in winter.
 
VikkiVet said:
If they get no veg and only 12-14 pellets per day, then they are on an almost hay-only diet so their poos should be a lot more fibrous and golden than that. Definately not squishy. Its a good sign that they are eating caecals at least.
I'd question the quality of the hay - needs to be long, fairly fine (vs straw or some farm hay which is quite rough and thick) and green to yellow not brown, and completely dry. Too green, such as readigrass, alfalfa, oat, etc isn't good idea as a dietary staple, but ok for a treat for rabbits with stable gut function (i'd suggest yours isnt).
Why do you feed so few pellets? my 3 rexes get a handful each per day, slightly more in winter.
Click to expand...

They get a new farm bale every 2-3 weeks, so the quality of their hay is always changing (as each bale can be different, some are very green, some are yellow). They have only recently had timothy hay, I'm wondering if this is the cause? I'm going to remove the timothy hay for a few days to see if it makes any difference, and if it does, then i know that's the cause.

I only feed a few pellets because that's what the vet recommended and everyone on here recommends an eggcupful per day. I am feeding SS pellets, so each pellet is large. It's roughly a small handful they get per day each (which equals 12-14 pellets).
 
I doubt very much that the timothy hay is responsible, especially as you say it is only recently introduced and that your buns have always done these types of droppings. :?

Timothy hay is exceptionally high in fibre and higher than farm/meadow hay, by about 10% so this would increase dropping consistency not decrease it.
As long as the hay is fresh, it can be green or yellow and thick/coarse or fine. The thicker the strand the better actually as it provides more roughage and usually only comes from a hay such as timothy grass or a cereal hay. Meadow hay is naturally much finer, but is lower in fibre and higher in protein so the fact you are feeding a mix of the two is actually very good.

The dampness of the droppings indicates that your buns are sufficiently hydrated so I doubt this is the problem either. I would suspect a genetic predisposition to poor gut motility and further interference of gut function through pain (sore hocks) if pain relief is not used when the hocks are bad. It may also be that your farm baled hay is just not high enough in fibre. Have you considered introducing (mixing in) a higher fibre pellet than SS? Oxbow bunny basics and Allen and Page are much higher in fibre. Use of profibre pellets alongside your normal pellet (or half and half) may also help - these are made by Protexin and are a probiotic combined with high fibre.
 
prettylupin said:
I doubt very much that the timothy hay is responsible, especially as you say it is only recently introduced and that your buns have always done these types of droppings. :?

Timothy hay is exceptionally high in fibre and higher than farm/meadow hay, by about 10% so this would increase dropping consistency not decrease it.
As long as the hay is fresh, it can be green or yellow and thick/coarse or fine. The thicker the strand the better actually as it provides more roughage and usually only comes from a hay such as timothy grass or a cereal hay. Meadow hay is naturally much finer, but is lower in fibre and higher in protein so the fact you are feeding a mix of the two is actually very good.

The dampness of the droppings indicates that your buns are sufficiently hydrated so I doubt this is the problem either. I would suspect a genetic predisposition to poor gut motility and further interference of gut function through pain (sore hocks) if pain relief is not used when the hocks are bad. It may also be that your farm baled hay is just not high enough in fibre. Have you considered introducing (mixing in) a higher fibre pellet than SS? Oxbow bunny basics and Allen and Page are much higher in fibre. Use of profibre pellets alongside your normal pellet (or half and half) may also help - these are made by Protexin and are a probiotic combined with high fibre.
Click to expand...

Thank you. It's good to know that they are getting enough water and that it's actually good to have a mix of the two types of hay.

I would probably agree that it could be a genetic thing, although she hasn't had bad hocks for 15 months now, and I'm certain she is not in pain, so I am unsure that it is pain causing these poos.

I am certainly happy to mix in another pellet and look at profibre pellets too. :)

EDIT: I've just read that SS is alfalfa based. I've heard this isn't good in a pellet. :? Should I change completely over to Bunny Basics (which is timothy based and is 29% fibre)?
 
Last edited:
No advice - just wondered why you don't feed any veg (mine would leave home if they didn't get theirs).
 
I'd try upping the pellets slightly- maybe two handfuls if you have small hands- see if there is a change. I'd also add some parsley, mint, abit of carrot and a green leaf of spring greens, or even half a leaf if they are not used to veg.

Sounds like you are feeding enough hay. I would say those particular poo's look unhealthy. I have had my buns with dark poos from time to time, and not always are they unwell.

One of mine has particularly golden poos at the moment- she is on veg and hay- i give her pellets very occasionally but she is indoors.

My outdoor buns are getting more pellets as it takes more food to keep warm in these freezing temperatures. I don't want to give any advice- just try different things (introducing or taking away gradually and see if anything works).

How are the buns weight wise?
 
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