Baby bunny - need advice - Update please help

Hello All :wave:

I brought my new bunny, Cotton, home on Wednesday.

She seems to have settled in well, she's very friendly and curious.

I need advice about her toilet habits tho. She's about 7 weeks old. On Wednesday when I got her home I noticed that she had very yellow paws and nose and a big bit of poo stuck to her bum (I had to cut that off yesterday as it was so matted in).

Yesterday morning I noticed Cecals all over her cage and she had been peeing in her house on the hay in there.

This morning when I got up there was one string of cecals in her cage but in the hour and half I've been up she's managed to get it everywhere at least 10 strings of it. She's also peed in her house again even though there's no hay in there and her tail is totally soaked in pee.

Is any of this normal? Is it her age that's the problem and being in a new place?
Her other poos are perfectly normal size and shape and plentiful for someone so little although they are very, very light.

The place I got her from have been feeding her on a bunny mix which I'm going to slowly change over the next couple of weeks for some Excel Junior and Dwarf.

Thanks all for the help.

Oh she's a mini lop btw

At 7 weeks she is too young to be away from her Mum

This no doubt plays a BIG part in her problems re excess cecals etc

Are the cecotrophs well formed ?

Personally I would get her Vet checked as I would have concerns about how she was cared from in her original home. A Baby Rabbit's GI tract goes through a 'critical' stage from about 6-10 weeks as the balance of healthy gut flora is not fully establihed. Any stress (weaning too young, moving to a new home, being separated from litter mates) can lead to serious gut problems- enteritis.

A good probiotic such as Bio Lapis would be useful to give her. Also try to encourage her to eat as much good quality hay as possible. I would not feed any Veg/fruit at all for now.

Again, I think the best course of action would be a check up by a Rabbit Savvy Vet

Good Luck

as jane says, i would get her checked by a good vet as she is very young. avoid veg and keep giving her fresh hay - and more hay!!

I would get her back to the mommy

i would really watch out for the bloat as its so risky with babies i had a 8 week old lop recently who went down hill very quickly but after days of hand feeding puree and water and seeing vet she came through and i was very happy but in a lot of cases it can end bably so vet i the way to go

We've been to the vet with Cotton. He said she's fine and just to keep her on hay and water with maybe a teaspoon of food. I've noticed that she's fine if she just has hay but it's any of the food seems to play her up.

We've just got her sister, Fidget, and she's the same so they're both on a strict hay only diet for now. I've got them some Excel for Juniors and Dwarfs but how would I re-introduce it? I'm going to restrict them to hay for a few days at least and see how we go.

Cotton seems to be a very mucky bunny though. Her underside, feet and privates always seem to be covered in urine!! I clean her cage and litter tray at least every other day so she's not sitting in it for long but she just doesn't seem to clean herself. The place I got them was very dirty but Cotton has been her nearly two weeks now so shouldn't she be cleaner?

Completely agree with Jane, pls follow her advice.

Bio Lapis is fantastic!

This is not about your bunnies being dirty, you could actually lose them.

Where do I get Bio Lapis from?

The vet. It is excellent, much better than any other product.

Picking up some pro-biotic from the vet tomorrow.

Took both of them today. He said the same thing all you guys have said so thank you once again for all the wonderful help advice as always

I won't ever be going back to the same pet shop again as he said it's probably linked to having a poor start in life, being weaned too quickly and just dumped on solid **** food. He also doesn't believe that there's any chance they are sisters as they are so different in size!!

We think the hay we've been buying from the same shop is upsetting their tummies too . Where does everyone else get their hay and what do you all recommend? Cotton was improving when she had the pets @ home hay but I'm sure that's probably not the best thing to keep her on

Bad gut - help needed - update

They're both on Protexin capsules now. I've been breaking them open and sprinkling it on the food but they've both noticed and aren't too impressed by the looks of it... they've both left food in their bowls anyway.

Has anyone used Protexin before? Do they know when I should start to see an improvement and is there a better way to give it to the girls?

Your poor baby bunnies - flippin pet shops. (Poor you, as well, as you've now got to try and put things right).

Lots of people use Hay4Pets (on-line); they do sample packs, but it will take about a week for you to get it. I personally (well, my bunnies) don't like the P@H hay. I also use SPL (or is it SLP) for Oxbow Western Timothy Hay (not the same as the Timothy Hay in P@H). They are excellent and the delivery is fast.

Good luck!

Talael said:

Picking up some pro-biotic from the vet tomorrow.

Took both of them today. He said the same thing all you guys have said so thank you once again for all the wonderful help advice as always

I won't ever be going back to the same pet shop again as he said it's probably linked to having a poor start in life, being weaned too quickly and just dumped on solid **** food. He also doesn't believe that there's any chance they are sisters as they are so different in size!!

We think the hay we've been buying from the same shop is upsetting their tummies too . Where does everyone else get their hay and what do you all recommend? Cotton was improving when she had the pets @ home hay but I'm sure that's probably not the best thing to keep her on

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the best place to buy (online) in my opinion is The Hay Experts, oxbow or western timothy hay is lush and green, also a fave of my bun in alpine meadow hay and oat wheat and barley hay. the online shop also sells starter packs of hay, a little bit of everything for your buns to try.

keep safe little buns

em x

I hide my bunnies med in fresh Basil leaves....they fall for it every time and it is 100% stress free :wave:

Talael said:

We think the hay we've been buying from the same shop is upsetting their tummies too . Where does everyone else get their hay and what do you all recommend? Cotton was improving when she had the pets @ home hay but I'm sure that's probably not the best thing to keep her on

Click to expand...

I use P@H hay...and Asda hay :lol: and my bunnies have never had a problem. A lot of people will buy a bale from a farm or horse merchants which is much cheaper and normally great quality :wave:

When you say Cotton is always covered in urine, is she actually wet or is it just that the fur is yellow? Urine can permanently stain fur so if she has dry feet that may be all it is.

Lots of vibes for your wee girls.