Megacolon Syndrome?

Joanne Jenkinson · Aug 15, 2014

Hi all

Need some advice re one of my mini lops. Over about 4/5 months ago he started to pass mucus in his poo. It was not much so I didn't worry too much about it. It got worse of over the months and I took him to vets who were not helpful. They put him on Fibreplex and it didn't help.

In early July he went into stasis, not eating or wanting to move but also when you looked at his tummy the sides were moving in like a rippling wave effect, almost like there was something inside him moving, I went to vets with him and they gave him shots and a week's worth of Zantac and Septrin. This worked and he was fine for about 3 weeks, then the same thing happened again on Monday this week. I took him again and the vet says he has something equivalent to humans having Crohns Disease. He is now on Zantac for a month and a week's worth of Septrin.

I have been looking into Megacolon when a friend suggested it to me.

He has large misshapen poos, along with mucus which is similar to the megacolon symptoms.

I have changed his diet to just hay and grass (no veggies as this seemed to make him worse) and a very small amount of pellets.

His bum is messy from the mucus, I try my best to clean him up.

Any ideas if it sounds like megacolon and if so what can I do to help him and stop him having stasis so often?

Thanks
Jo

Jack's-Jane · Aug 15, 2014

It could be megacolon. Has the Vet suggested any diagnostics such as fecal analysis, a full blood profile and an abdominal ultrasound ?

What pellets do you feed him ?

Have you tried removing grass from his diet, feeding just hay ?

Is he maintaining his weight ? Is his coat in good condition or is it very coarse and 'staring' ?

Joanne Jenkinson · Aug 15, 2014

Jack's-Jane said:
It could be megacolon. Has the Vet suggested any diagnostics such as fecal analysis, a full blood profile and an abdominal ultrasound ?

What pellets do you feed him ?

Have you tried removing grass from his diet, feeding just hay ?

Is he maintaining his weight ? Is his coat in good condition or is it very coarse and 'staring' ?

Hi Jane!

No Vet just said like Crohns disease in humans, can't do anything, just have to try and manage it!

I feed him Science Selective but he has half an eggcup of them a day.

Haven't tried removing grass, he goes on the grass in his run.

He is losing weight slowly. His coat is ok he looks like he's moulting a bit.

Jack's-Jane · Aug 15, 2014

Joanne Jenkinson said:
Hi Jane!

No Vet just said like Crohns disease in humans, can't do anything, just have to try and manage it!

I feed him Science Selective but he has half an eggcup of them a day.

Haven't tried removing grass, he goes on the grass in his run.

He is losing weight slowly. His coat is ok he looks like he's moulting a bit.

Is finding a Vet more willing to do some diagnostics an option ?

In the meantime you could try a higher fibre feed - eg Fibafirst

http://www.supremepetfoods.com/fiba-first-2/

and Pro-Fibre Pellets

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/prote...1xfh0H8JQEYS71gSOz4lu2S39yqH8G6wxrhoCXMDw_wcB

MightyMax · Aug 15, 2014

I had a megacolon bun a few years ago. He was the typical white with black spots, which seem to be more prone for some reason. (I don't think yours is this brand??!)

I found that the key was managing his diet to keep a good gut motility, once I found what suited him. In the colon, the nerves aren't functioning right, so the bowel contractions are irregular and cause a 'back up' of the poos. So they end up in odd shapes and sizes.

I always had a bottle of lactulose on hand for periodic dosing, to keep the bowel contents hydrated.

You do also have to keep his weight up though ..

Jbun · Aug 15, 2014

MightyMax said:
I had a megacolon bun a few years ago. He was the typical white with black spots, which seem to be more prone for some reason. (I don't think yours is this brand??!)

I found that the key was managing his diet to keep a good gut motility, once I found what suited him. In the colon, the nerves aren't functioning right, so the bowel contractions are irregular and cause a 'back up' of the poos. So they end up in odd shapes and sizes.

I always had a bottle of lactulose on hand for periodic dosing, to keep the bowel contents hydrated.

You do also have to keep his weight up though ..

I've found the same thing with my megacolon bun, that it's finding the right balance in his diet to maintain good motility, that has made the most difference. My bun doesn't have any problems with small amounts of herbs and forage, so he gets a bit of that each day. He also gets a small amount of oxbow adult pellets, but not too much as he'll start to have mushy cecals. But the most important aspect of his diet is his hay. He has to have the right balance of stalky vs. leafy hay. If he gets too much of the leafy bits, his poop gets extremely large, moist, and log shaped. So as long as he is getting enough indigestible fiber from the stalky hay, his poops look a lot better and closer to a normal rabbits poop. There is still the variation in large and small, with some oval shaped ones, but not such the drastic difference as when he is eating too much leafy hay. Though I do still make sure he gets some leafy parts for the higher nutrients. On this balanced diet, he does quite well and is able to maintain a good weight. I don't know if the balance in the diet will be the same for every megacolon bun. I mostly discovered what worked best for my bun with a little trial and error.

I agree with Jane, that if at all possible, finding a different vet might be a good idea. Especially if you can find one that has experience with megacolon buns.

Joanne Jenkinson · Aug 16, 2014

Jack's-Jane said:
Is finding a Vet more willing to do some diagnostics an option ?

In the meantime you could try a higher fibre feed - eg Fibafirst

http://www.supremepetfoods.com/fiba-first-2/

and Pro-Fibre Pellets

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/prote...1xfh0H8JQEYS71gSOz4lu2S39yqH8G6wxrhoCXMDw_wcB

Hi Jane! Thanks for your advice. I have some fibafirst and I wil get some pro-fibre pellets for Casper too.

I will also ask the Vet to do some diagnostics. I feel so bad for poor little Casper I want to do all I can to help him.

Joanne Jenkinson · Aug 16, 2014

MightyMax said:
I had a megacolon bun a few years ago. He was the typical white with black spots, which seem to be more prone for some reason. (I don't think yours is this brand??!)

I found that the key was managing his diet to keep a good gut motility, once I found what suited him. In the colon, the nerves aren't functioning right, so the bowel contractions are irregular and cause a 'back up' of the poos. So they end up in odd shapes and sizes.

I always had a bottle of lactulose on hand for periodic dosing, to keep the bowel contents hydrated.

You do also have to keep his weight up though ..

Thanks for your advice!

Casper is a mini lop white with orange patches

He doesn't seem to drink that much so am trying to encourage him to drink more. Have put a bowl of water in with him as well as his usual bottle.

It;s so tricky trying to keep his weight up without aggravating the problem

Joanne Jenkinson · Aug 16, 2014

Jbun said:
I've found the same thing with my megacolon bun, that it's finding the right balance in his diet to maintain good motility, that has made the most difference. My bun doesn't have any problems with small amounts of herbs and forage, so he gets a bit of that each day. He also gets a small amount of oxbow adult pellets, but not too much as he'll start to have mushy cecals. But the most important aspect of his diet is his hay. He has to have the right balance of stalky vs. leafy hay. If he gets too much of the leafy bits, his poop gets extremely large, moist, and log shaped. So as long as he is getting enough indigestible fiber from the stalky hay, his poops look a lot better and closer to a normal rabbits poop. There is still the variation in large and small, with some oval shaped ones, but not such the drastic difference as when he is eating too much leafy hay. Though I do still make sure he gets some leafy parts for the higher nutrients. On this balanced diet, he does quite well and is able to maintain a good weight. I don't know if the balance in the diet will be the same for every megacolon bun. I mostly discovered what worked best for my bun with a little trial and error.

I agree with Jane, that if at all possible, finding a different vet might be a good idea. Especially if you can find one that has experience with megacolon buns.

Thanks for your advice. It's so tricky trying to find out what works for him and what doesn't.

I have changed vets twice as the previous vets were not helpful and quite rude to me. This vet is really nice and I think he would investigate further for me if I asked.

catxx · Aug 17, 2014

Joanne Jenkinson said:
Thanks for your advice. It's so tricky trying to find out what works for him and what doesn't.

I have changed vets twice as the previous vets were not helpful and quite rude to me. This vet is really nice and I think he would investigate further for me if I asked.

It might be worth the vet investigating further. You could email Caroline at Rabbit Residence Rescue on rabbit_residence@hotmail.com, she has several mega colon bunnies at the moment at the rescue and could offer advice.

Santa · Aug 17, 2014

I would suggest asking for a faecal test for coccidia. Coccidia is sensitive to septrin (although it's not the 'best' drug for treatment), so the fact that you're seeing improvement after courses of septrin suggests to me that might be a line of enquiry pursuing further. Cocci doesn't always show up positively on faecal tests, but if it does, then that gives you a positive diagnosis. It can cause exactly the symptoms you describe, and if it's one of the milder strains, it is perfectly possible that it could cause this sort of ongoing problem. There is a sticky about cocci here on the forum which it might be worth you reading. Until you've had some further diagnostics of one, I would advise not letting him out onto (or eating) a patch of grass which he has used before, as this would be a prime way that he could be reinfecting himself if it is something like cocci.

Good luck xx

Suzi Wong · Aug 17, 2014

Jack's-Jane said:
It could be megacolon. Has the Vet suggested any diagnostics such as fecal analysis, a full blood profile and an abdominal ultrasound ?

What pellets do you feed him ?

Have you tried removing grass from his diet, feeding just hay ?

Is he maintaining his weight ? Is his coat in good condition or is it very coarse and 'staring' ?

Just wanted to ask you Jane, what did you mean by his coat being coarse and staring? I have noticed in the past with poorly buns coat seems different as in gathered together at the ends and pointy like :?

Megacolon Syndrome?

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