Ongoing digestive problems (long post, sorry)

hi all,

My 2 year old house rabbit is having on going problems with his tummy: he had a very brief bout of stasis at the end of last year and has not been quite 'right' since then.

Every day he leaves excess cecal pellets (that are in themselves normal looking). I have only very occasionally seen him eat these, so whether he is producing too many, or just not eating them I'm not sure. He also occasionally does tiny spots of wee on the floor - he is not really litter trained (that's a whole other saga!), but this looks more accidental, rather than him deciding not to use the box.

He is a good hay eater, and also has one or two science selective digestive health 'sticks' morning and evening. I've tried cutting them out too, feeding small amounts of bramble and herbs, cutting out all veg, and nothing seems to have made a difference. He eats masses of hay (and anything else you put in front of him!) and the other poos he does are golden brown and the right size. He consistently drinks an above average amount (maybe 350ml in 24 hours), but I think it is partly behavioural (he likes the bowl...:roll, and may also be because he has so much hay.

He is 'ok' in himself, but at times in the day is clearly uncomfortable and his tummy gets very bloated. He is just not quite right and I wish I could get him feeling better again. He has a lot of other health problems: his eyes constantly water (damage from previous home), and his nose is sometimes also runny (I think part of the same problem). He is in-bred and was kept in cramped conditions for the first year of his life, so is a slightly twisted shape and has very little muscle mass. With all this, it's hard to tell what's 'normal' and what may be a symptom of this problem.

I have just finished a 28 day panacur treatment in case of EC but this has made no difference to his symptoms.

My vet has checked teeth, and suggested the panacur, but doesn't know what else to suggest. He muttered about kidney failure, liver failure, diabetes, cushings disease, but said he didn't know how he would even check for the presence of any of those problems. I don't think they know a lot about bunnies, but I have already changed vets 3 times since moving here (East Devon) so I'm not sure where else to go to: it is difficult for me to travel too far afield as I care for my dad who is terminally ill, and therefore I can't leave the house for very long.

Sorry, this turned into an essay. Any help very gratefully received by myself and Hugo

Update: Just to add (as if this wasn't long enough) - this afternoon he has done both types of poo together at the same time (so the 'hard' poos mixed with the cecals). I'm sure this is not how it's supposed to happen......

Has the bunny had a x-ray to check his tooth roots. His teeth may look fine on the outside but the fact you have eye/nasal issues aswell would seem to suggest a tooth issue somewhere.

Hi Amy, :wave:

Yes, he had tooth root x-ray last summer just before I rehomed him from the RSPCA. (the eye thing is from damage due to incense sticks being constantly burned in front of his cage....). I know that this can change over time, but I would certainly be surprised if he had teeth problems as he eats anything you give him with great gusto, and munches on hay almost non-stop!

Have you tried him on pro-fibre pellets to see if they help?

I was on SS pellets, then gradually moved to fibafirst, now on the digestive health version. They are 32% fibre, 14% protein, and because they are long sticks they are meant to make him eat them more slowly (so, in theory, get less bloated)...

I used the SS Dietry pellets for my tummy bun and they actually made her worse.

There is no magic formula unfortunately, sometimes its just trial and error to see what works and what doesn't.

Profibre pellets are a probiotic so help the gut.

I suspect he may have some degenerative spinal arthritis, this would account for his inability to get to his bum to reach his cecals, his poor litter tray training, his muscle wastage and his episodes of apparent discomfort. The fact that his poos, both cecal and fecal, look normal makes me doubt that it is a digestive problem at all.

Has your Vet mentioned this and considered trying him on a non steroidal anti-inflammatory such as Metacam ?

Thanks for this suggestion Jane - I am going back to the vet within the next few days and will mention this. I did see him try to eat a cecal pellet yesterday and he fell over, so this could well be right.

Would it (or could it) account for the bloatedness? E.g. if he is not eating cecals it affects the health of his digestive system?

Shula said:

Thanks for this suggestion Jane - I am going back to the vet within the next few days and will mention this. I did see him try to eat a cecal pellet yesterday and he fell over, so this could well be right.

Would it (or could it) account for the bloatedness? E.g. if he is not eating cecals it affects the health of his digestive system?

Click to expand...

Yes, it could also be that his GI tract has some sluggish times as a result of him being in discomfort from arthritic pain.

It may be his hips aswell as his spine that are a problem.