Hello & a Few Questions

Hi All
I’m new to this forum, so would like to say Hi to everyone

This is a picture of Jeffery, our Rabbit he is a house bunny and lives with us and has full reign of our house - Generally is well behaved but i did catch him the other day trying to chew my good trainers.




He only has one front tooth, so cant really chew on anything just more or less sucks things however he does not really do it often

His diet consists of Excel light pellets which he loves (recommended by the vet), and once a week has a grated pear (if its not grated he wont eat it)

He is well loved, and we try to make him as comfortable as possible

for the past couple of years he seems to collate under his tail or on his gentleman’s area a ball of poo the size of a golf ball and we have to clean it off, and cut it away from his fur -
He went to the Vet a couple of months ago because he stopped eating - it turned out to be a spur on his tooth and after a week of emergency food fed by a syringe and some medical work. he returned home and for the next month kept him self spotlessly clean.

However its come back, and we have to the unpleasant task for cleaning and removing this "golf ball" we don’t like doing it, and he does not like it....what’s causing this and how can we stop it?

Lately he is sneezing a lot, there was some thing that came out of his nose once, but he is still sneezing even at this time of the year... he has never done this before but has started in the past 12 months.

Can anyone help with the Above

Thanks in Advance

He's a cuteypie!

You don't mention hay - does he have hay in his diet? Without his molars will develop spurs and he won't be able to form normal pellet poops properly, which can lead to them getting sticking and piling up around his bottom.

Hi catxx Thanks for your reply

We did have some hay that he used to like to sit in and would only eat it if during the day had run out of Excel Pellets which TBH is very rare that he would eat the hay.

We bought some of this expensive "ready grass" as recommended by the vet and he has completly turned his nose up at that and does not even sit in it!

Even when he did have some of his previous hay he still got the ball of poo stuck to him but when we got him back from the vets a couple of months ago he was spotless for a lot longer than he ever used to be.

He is a active rabbit, likes to run round the house a lot, i dont think he is bored, he has a some toys to play (balls etc) with but never touches them and he does receive attention from us.

Despite all this he is very much loved and is a firm part of our family I just wish he would not have this ball underneath him

Many bunny keepers here only give their buns literally a handful (or so, depends on the size of the rabbit) of pellets once a day, they never have 24/7 access to them.

I would recommend getting him back on the hay, start to limit the pellets, make sure there's a ton of hay always there for him. Readigrass isn't great as a staple anyway, I can't remember why, but it's really only good as a treat.

Get him on the hay and his poop and teeth problems should start to resolve!

About the sneezing, I'm no vet but based on my own experience I think it may be snuffles. A course of antibiotics should sort it out. It's quite urgent as it can spread to ears/eyes causing more problems, and apparently it feels like they have the flu.

This link is great for info on it: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=18+1803&aid=2686

I think a good diet should eliminate this problem

An eggcup full of pellets is the recommended amount for a medium sized rabbit and 80-90% of their diet should be hay. If a rabbit has unlimited pellets the chances are s/he won't eat any hay.

Try reducing the pellets gradually and giving a constant supply of hay. hayforpets can be purchased at a good price on-line and is very good quality or, if you can find a supplier, baled hay is excellent value.

readigrass is too high in calcium to bed ad-lib as hay should be.

Also, sneezing definitely needs to be addressed by a vet - I'd consider asking for a recommendation on here as many vets don't have a clue about rabbits and it sounds like your vet doesn't necessarily know best considering the advice he's given you.

Cheers thanks for your reply.

We will certainly give it ago, we just want whats best for our rabbit.

Im just a bit worried that he wont have enough to eat, becasue when we put his food down for him he dives into like he hasnt been fed ever.

catxx said:

Many bunny keepers here only give their buns literally a handful (or so, depends on the size of the rabbit) of pellets once a day, they never have 24/7 access to them.

I would recommend getting him back on the hay, start to limit the pellets, make sure there's a ton of hay always there for him. Readigrass isn't great as a staple anyway, I can't remember why, but it's really only good as a treat.

Get him on the hay and his poop and teeth problems should start to resolve!

Click to expand...

Great advice, just thought I'd add that he likely won't start eating the hay until the pellets are being reduced, as who wants to fill up on 'boring' hay when he has tasty pellets

Hay should make up 80% of his diet, so he can never have too much

Look for good quality hay - not dusty or spikey. Bits of flowers inside are okay! The greener the better, and it should smell good, not dusty or stale. Lots of people recommend hay for pets, they do ING's hay which is supposedly very yummy. Remember to give him a fresh handful a few times a day, ideally put it in his litter tray (they like to poop&eat at the same time) and a few other places to remind him it's there

You should get him being a haylover pretty soon

Drathor said:

Cheers thanks for your reply.

We will certainly give it ago, we just want whats best for our rabbit.

Im just a bit worried that he wont have enough to eat, becasue when we put his food down for him he dives into like he hasnt been fed ever.

Click to expand...

Oh they always do that :roll:! They know how to guilt you into feeding them more :lol:!

The poo thing sounds just like my Grimlock. It happens because he's not got enough fibre in his diet. My bun can't eat hay because his back teeth are so bad, but if you can get him eating more hay it will help his poo problem and his teeth.

Like catxx said, try and reduce the pellets slowly over maybe a month so eventually he's just getting a handful. He should start to eat more hay. There are all sorts of hay you can try. Timothy hay is a good one. You can get a sample bag of different hays from the hay experts for about £5.

https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Hay...e+Pack.23/Taster+Selection+Sample+Pack.6.html

Believe me I know how hard it is to get a rabbit to eat hay but if you can manage it, it will help a lot. Grass is also just as good as hay, so you could see if he'll eat that. You could try picking him some if he doesn't go out. My garden is just concrete so I have a big planter which I grow grass in for my buns. It's pretty cheap to set up. The grass and hay not only provide fibre to keep the guts moving properly but the chewing action keeps their teeth nice and short. You can also get products to add fibre into his diet from the vet. Fibreplex and the pellet version, Profibre. They're not nearly as good as hay or grass but they can help.

Let us know how you get on. :wave:

Edit: Everyone else replied while I took ages to write this essay. :lol:

Drathor said:

Cheers thanks for your reply.

We will certainly give it ago, we just want whats best for our rabbit.

Im just a bit worried that he wont have enough to eat, becasue when we put his food down for him he dives into like he hasnt been fed ever.

Click to expand...

I think this is the case with most rabbits! Pellets are to rabbits what sweets and crisps are to us. Really tasty but will cause problems if they are all you eat. If they have hay they will not be hungry, just excited by the prospect of a treat.:wave:

Drathor said:

Cheers thanks for your reply.

We will certainly give it ago, we just want whats best for our rabbit.

Im just a bit worried that he wont have enough to eat, becasue when we put his food down for him he dives into like he hasnt been fed ever.

Click to expand...

mine do the same every morning, they just go nuts for their pellets; It's very much the same as if you put a plate of chips in front of me.:lol:

It's shocking how much hay they can go through though - It should be a pile at least as big as them every day :shock: Definitely enough to keep their bellies full!

Thanks all very much for such a quick and helpful response

Ill let you know how we get on we are going to take hin to the vets first for a checkup, and a clean. and then we will take it from there

Jeffrey is cute
(sorry I type slow and other already said all this)

I have a house bunny too, Jenson.
Jenson also has some Excel but I restrict these and only give him a few when I get up and when I first get home from work, kind of as I "little" something before breakfast or dinner, he has SS (science selective) mainly and I only give a small number of these too.

The two reasons I personally restrict are is because i want him to want hay and because apparently excel can cause "some" bunnies to get a sticky bum.

It might not be the cause but prob worth trying limiting excel and giving him lots of hay and fresh water and see how he goes. Jenson would open the hay packet himself given the chance. There are lots of different hays around so you could try some. I usually have timothy hay but sample packs of all sorts are available online.

Sorry if I'm rambling I've not been online much and I hope I'm not saying what you already know.

Hi Jenson

No, thats great thankyou for your advice, its all taken on board - Ive been lurking on this Forum for a while now - and decided to make a post - Im a glad i did becasue im overwhelmed with the response

Many Thanks to all

Hi and welcome to the forum!
Everyone here is great and you will get brillient advice too so well done for joining! Your bun will thank you, i know mine do!

I agree that if the diet is sorted out then the 'golf ball' should sort itself out.
Like everyone has said it would be a good idea to start reducing the amount of pellets he has in a day, maybe offer them only as breakfast and dinner then throughout the day he has lots of yummy hay to eat- believe me if he is hungry he will eat it! He will just make you feel really bad for not giving him his yummy food more! Be strong! Those beautiful bunny eyes can make you want to feed them the whole bag! :lol:

You did not mention veggies apart from the pear, we have always been told that the ratio of food should be:

Hay/Grass 80%
Veggies 15%
Dry food 5%

Good veggies are herbs- basil, parsley, dill and mint.

As with anything regarding a bunnies diet DO IT SLOW! Any fast adjustments can cause major tummy issues. So if you do introduce anything new make sure you do it gradualy- with the exception of hay!

Edit: We use a variety of hays including: Oxbow Timothy hay, Oxbow Orchard Grass, Oxbow Oat hay, Devenshire Meadow hay and a Timothy hay mix.

If you want to see a picture of what I got off Grim's bum the other day then look here. You're not alone! :wave:

Warning, contains poo.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=288006&page=3

Another thing is that although Excel are good they do have a bit of a reputation for causing sticky bum in some rabbits, not all, most are fine with them but for some rabbits they are too rich.

Definitely lower the amounts you are giving first though and gradually as rachylou says. Also maybe take a look at your hay. Some pet shop hay is pretty low quality, mine much prefer baled hay although this does require a bit of space to store! Or alternatively there are some excellent 'treat' hays out there such as Timothy and oat hay which may tempt him!

I agree with everyone else - it is probably diet but if changing that doens't solve the problem you might ask the vet to x-ray his spine - he might be having problems stretching to clean his bum due to spinal injury. I had this problem with a bun who turned out to have spondylitis.

My rabbit used to get those 'golfball' poops. At least once a week we were cutting it off and cleaning it up. It was because of her teeth We have to syringe feed her now although she is trying very hard to eat hay and food

She still sneezes a lot but the vet said it's something to do with her teeth or roots.
Like everyone has said though, diet