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please help - am i being over paranoid?

claire**

Warren Scout
I am known for being paranoid about things anyway but...

my bun smokey is nearly 13 weeks, eating and drinking well etc.
He has unlimited pellets, hay and a few dried treats. Sometimes theres a few excess caecals in the morning, if he doesnt eat them after a while I remove them so they dont get stuck to his fur.
Yesterday there were quite a few caecals, today not as many (2 'bunches') in his cage, but when he was running about on the carpet he did another and only ate a bit of it, so i cleared the rest up. same happened when he sat on the dvd player, he ate some but left a bit. when I cleared it off I noticed a couple of what looks like tiny dots of urine, but on wiping it up i think it is pooey. I looked at his bum and there was a tiny bit of poo in the fur but i would think he will clean that off easily.

So my question is, its not diarrhoea, but is it normal to have a tiny amount of liquid with caecals. I have seen him pass ceacals this morning so I know they are looking normal, and will check to see if he passed hard poos too.

I just know how sensetive they are, would you worry about a tiny tiny amount of 'liquidy/smeared poo. It was only obvious because of where he happened to do it otherwise I wouldnt have seen as was a tiny smeary bit.

I'll keep an eye and pbv go to vets if I see anything bad, can I assume we are ok if I see him pass normal caecals and hard pellets? he sometimes eats the hard ones too, is that normal?

thanks
 
Hi there,

Hmm, it doesn't sound quite right to me. Can you just clarify what he eats, as you've said he has unlimited pellets and hay. Too many pellets isn't really good in a normal, healthy bunny. It's usually advised just to give an eggcupful a day. I used to overfeed pellets, and my bun used to have a sticky bottom...I'm not sure if this could be the case with yours?

Apologies if I misread your post though :oops:

x
 
Hi Annie,

thanks for your reply. He has unlimited pellets because I was told and read that as babies they should have that as they are growing and developing. hes not quite 13 weeks. He has a mix of wagg and excel pellets from breeder, but I am going to wean onto excel, he has a small amount from the new excel bag for the first time last night mixed with the usual ones. perhaps this affected him?

he has a few dried treats - little bits of the excel grass with mint sticks, occasional 'carrotys' and occasional tiny yoghurt drops as treats.

He has been eating both pellets and hay this morning, and Ive seen normal caecals, it was just this tiny bit of wetness that bothered me. But if I see normal poos can I assume he is ok, as surely they wouldnt be able to produce them if they had diarrhoea?

Thank you
 
Excel are known for giving some rabbits excess cecals. he might just be one of those rabbits. :)
 
Hi Annie,

thanks for your reply. He has unlimited pellets because I was told and read that as babies they should have that as they are growing and developing. hes not quite 13 weeks. He has a mix of wagg and excel pellets from breeder, but I am going to wean onto excel, he has a small amount from the new excel bag for the first time last night mixed with the usual ones. perhaps this affected him?

he has a few dried treats - little bits of the excel grass with mint sticks, occasional 'carrotys' and occasional tiny yoghurt drops as treats.

He has been eating both pellets and hay this morning, and Ive seen normal caecals, it was just this tiny bit of wetness that bothered me. But if I see normal poos can I assume he is ok, as surely they wouldnt be able to produce them if they had diarrhoea?

Thank you

My apologies, I had not noticed that you said he was just a youngster - my mistake, sorry :oops:

As I am not very 'up' on young bunnies, I will have to defer to someone else on this question. There are a few people on here who are very good with baby bunnies and young bunnies, so I hope that someone will come along who can advise better than I can.

Sorry for not reading your post properly the first time :oops: I hope you get the advice you need :)
 
thanks, no worries, I did actually wonder this on a previous post - if they are a baby with excess caecals do u limit pellets or not?

Maybe it was the excel - he had a small handful mixed with the stuff from the breeder - I know hers was a mix of wagg and excel but I dont know what percentages.

Should I rethink the excel? Tbh it doesnt smell as nice as the stuff the breeder gave me!! I dont want to fiddle around changing things for him but if its better for him?

If so, I will have a bag of excel going spare if a rescue want it lol
 
Hi update. He did 2 bunches of caecals in his litter tray and left them. I have removed them and noticed that each individual bit is slightly wet around the edge, not an excess of liquid but there is a coating of moisture around each little ball. I am pretty sure it was this that I noticed earlier.

I would take a photo but camera wont focus so small.

I know they obviously dry out over time if they are not eaten, are they slightly moist round the edge when they are very fresh? x thanks
 
Has he had a vet health check? It always a good idea to with a new rabbit and it would give you a chance to just mention your worries. They might say he's old enough now not to need unlimited but instead double an older rabbits portion for example. It might also be the Excel, they are a bit notorius for causing excess cecals in some rabbits.
 
Hi :wave:

I wouldnt worry too much, caecotrophs are generally wet and sticky.

I would stick with the pellets he is already on for now, just until hes a few months old and abiy stronger. Also, shop brought treats like carrottys and drops are not really good for buns. They are quite rich so could well be contributing to his excess caecotrophs. Try only giving him pelletts and hay for a while and see if it settles down :wave:
 
Hi :wave:

I wouldnt worry too much, caecotrophs are generally wet and sticky.

I would stick with the pellets he is already on for now, just until hes a few months old and abiy stronger. Also, shop brought treats like carrottys and drops are not really good for buns. They are quite rich so could well be contributing to his excess caecotrophs. Try only giving him pelletts and hay for a while and see if it settles down :wave:

Yes, I would advise cutting out the shop bought treats.
 
I am having the same problem with one of my buns at the moment, and the only different things I have given them is fenugreek crunchies and dried hawthorn.

Am thinking it could be the crunchies. So am cutting them out even though they love them!! Poor things!
 
thanks everyone. he has this afternoon done loads of normal hard poos in his litter tray, and munched on hay so I think I was being over paranoid lol, but will cut down on the shop treats for now to be safe.

cheeky buns just like to scare their mummies!!

Ive hear loads about fenugreek crunchies, will have to order some next time I do an online order, not seen them in the shops. althought I read they contain corn which I heard u shouldnt give buns???
 
I'm not hugely experience but what I've heard about corn is that if it's dried corn and the rabbit doesn't chew it properly they can end up with lumps of it stuck in their tummys which can trigger gut statis - it's not very common but has been known to happen. Fresh corn however is apparently okay - but I've not tried my bunnies on that yet.
 
The corn in crunches is ground up and I guess has had the husk taken off which is the bit that bunnies can't digest :)
 
I'm not hugely experience but what I've heard about corn is that if it's dried corn and the rabbit doesn't chew it properly they can end up with lumps of it stuck in their tummys which can trigger gut statis - it's not very common but has been known to happen. Fresh corn however is apparently okay - but I've not tried my bunnies on that yet.

Corn on the cob is not appropriate for bunnies whether dried or fresh (no I don't know why Pets at Home sells it either :evil:) but baby corn is fine although sweet so just as a treat.
 
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