Poorly bunny (not Smudge)

We went to Swanage at the weekend and went to visit Dan's family.

His cousin (who is 12) asked me to have a look at her bun as she had some poo stuck to it.

So there's me thinking, it would just be a bit of caecal poop and I would get it off with a bit of warm water. How wrong I was. The lump of poop was about the size of a playing card, and hanging off her bum. There was poop stuck in her bum and it was swollen. And the smell!!!!!! Not alot makes me retch but that did!!!!!!

I told her Dad that the bun needed to get the vets asap as it is an emergency and he said that he would take her TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I asked what she was fed on and she does has a supply of veg and hay but as she is kept with a piggy they feed her guinea pig food and apparently the pet shop advised this and the vet said it was ok. Surely that can't be right!!!

She looks a bit overweight so I am presuming she can't reach her soft poop and that is what has caused the problem but the smell did really concern me.

I hope they have got her to the vets today. I will be able to find out later.
And I really hope she will be ok. She was in such a state.

Why are some people so bloody useless at looking after animals.

Poor rabbit. It sounds like her bad diet is the cause of the problem. Guinea pig food is no good for rabbits. The vet sounds useless if he told them it was fine. I've seen a couple of rabbits like that and they died not long after so it really needs sorting out.
Can you try and talk them out of feed her guinea pig food?

The guinea pig food would be lacking in fibre too so could be a cause.
When I used to work at a petshop with buns, a lot of them were fed on rubbish mixes and too much of it so ate that in preference to the hay. As a result they weren't getting enough fibre and often had caecal poops around the cage and stuck to their bum. Changing to something like SS or Excel pellets and limiting the intake (since they were babies they still got a lot but we tried to make it so they had a short amount of time without pellets to encourage them to eat the hay)
Before I took Squishy home he had terrible problems with a messy bum. However it turned out he had dodgy incisors so this probably put him off of eating hay and he just ate too much food (he was better but not 100% when on SS). At his worst stages I was having to bath him daily to clean up his bum, but once I got him home and had his teeth out and got him on a high fibre diet he was sorted, and he's not had an 'episode' since.
Did you get a look at her teeth? I think the main culprit would probably be the diet though. Did they have lots of hay between the two of them? Guinea pigs are such haymunchers it could be that he/she is pinching most of the hay and not leaving enough for the bun to munch on either.
Perhaps point the dad or the girl herself in the direction of some websites or leaflets explaining why buns and guinea pigs shouldn't be kept together and bun diets, and hopefulyl the dad will have got the bun to the vet to get to the bottom of it too.
I'd also find out what veg she's feeding as it could be that she's feeding a lot of sugary veg like carrot that isn't ideal in large amounts.

I have told them that it is no good for rabbits and that they should be separated.

I am trying to find a good site or some info on the net that I can send them. If anyone can help it would be great.

I have a horrible feeling that the poor bun won't live, the smell was horrendous!!!!

I know what you mean, Squishy used to smell disgusting. However he's now coming up for a year old and doing great!
Perhaps warn them of the horrific damage flystrike can do and urge them to fix the problem before the warmer weather comes along?

I did tell them about flystrke. I will try to find some pics (graphic i know) to send them!!!!!!!!

Its really hard isn't it trying to advise friends/family about rabbit care when really most of them wouldn't be too bothered if they had the rabbit or not. My nephew has a rabbit that isn't looked after to what I could call a good standard, I tried to tell his mum that bunny should be cleaned out more than once a week and was told that its different for mine because he lives inside, eg. theirs is okay to be cleaned weekly because if its messy/smelly then it doesn't matter because its outside and they don't have to see/smell it!! Every time I see their rabbit I just want to kidnap it, bring it back home with me to live in clean conditions and get it a friend and I even asked my nephew if he was bored with the bunny, but he said he wasn't and didn't want me to take it, so there's not much you can do. I did buy their bunny a nice hutch and run combo to give her more space and I treat her to nice hay when I'm buying things off websites for my one, but I just wish they would look after it properly themselves. My nephew is 11 now so I'm sure a pet rabbit won't be seen as cool in a couple of years, so I may get my hands on her yet! Its so frustrating telling people things when you know they have no intention of changing what they're doing and they just think you're an interfering saddo for caring about animals!

I agree with you 100%, I havent been in that situation, luckily! but i can imagine it must be very awkward, on one hand you dont want the poor bunny to suffer/but on the other hand you dont want to affend family :?

I do understand that are level of care, is way higher than most people :wink: . But then again, for the poo to be the size of a playing card it must of been left like that for a while .

Just have to thank god it was now, rather than the summer.
I remember when i was little we had a bunny, who's hutch and run combo was against the fence, on the other side of the fence students lived and we did not knw that up against there side of there fence were piles of black sacks of rubbish, which attracted the flies, and my poor buny got fly struck.....But she survived, past away now though , bless her (Drumond) xx
I have my fingers crossed for this poor little bunny

Update !!!!

Have just spoken to the little girl and bun is at the vets now. She has to have her teeth burred, she has mites and her bum is going to be cleaned up.

I am going to chat to her later about the food situation!!!!!

Hopefully she will be ok!!!!

It is difficult with family like you say, I really wanted to have a go cos obviously the lump of poop had been there for a while to have gotten so big, but at the same time, I wouldn't want t fall out with them. But luckily, I pointed out the problem and they took notice which alot of people don't!!!

Thanks to those that replied

Thats really good news, maybe now they might understand that if they clean it out less and dont look after that well it costs them more money in vet bills!
Also they might not want to spend money on it again, so might give the bunster to you :wink:

pepsi said:

Thats really good news, maybe now they might understand that if they clean it out less and dont look after that well it costs them more money in vet bills!
Also they might not want to spend money on it again, so might give the bunster to you :wink:

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I doubt it. She does love the bun loads, but just needs a nudge in the right direction as regards to looking after her properly. To be honest, they were given some bad advice by the pet shop :x as no doubt many of us have been at some point, and if you don't know any other, you presume that these people know what they are talking about.

The bun and piggy have a lovely big secure run so get plenty of exercise and fresh air.

I'll sort her out don't you worry!!!!

It might be worth printing off some stuff about incisor removal, if it's those that are the problem. Though an expensive op, it means it's over and done with and there's no worry about having to remember to take the bun down the vet every so often to have them burred (and if you think about the ongoing costs throughout the buns life you safe a lot of money by having the teeth removed anyway)
Perhaps print off a bunny menu? My step-sisters (-to-be!) are 8 and 10 and love coming shopping for the buns veg - I printed off the big list of bunny safe veg and we go around picking up the stuff as my mum and bf do the rest of the shopping. It's headed with stuff they can only have in moderation too so the girls know that the buns can't have lots of carrot, cauliflower, etc. or it may make them poorly.
I use measuring scoops at home for feeding my animals so the girls have been told how much the buns need and stick to this amount if they feed them for me. I've explained why they need the hay and why certain types are better for them than others, and why they can't have too many pellets. I think it's important for kids to know why you have to do things certain ways as it makes them realise there are and consequences if you don't do it the right way - the girls know that the rabbits can get bad teeth and upset tummies if overfed pellets so they're careful not to do it.
Explaining this to her may make a big difference - I know I didn't treat some of my pets ideally when I was younger but I didn't know better - my dad said it was OK so I assumed it was, but now I know that isn't the case. She sounds as if she does like having the bun so educating her about it may be all she needs, and then she can encourage her dad to listen to her if she thinks the bun is poorly, etc.

I have already sent her a small menu. I shall copy the one off here and send that to her. I am going to explain about the selective feeding thing too and try to get them to change to pellets.

I have just sent some stuff about why you shouldn't keep buns and piggies together too x

Perhaps you could send her a little sample of pellets and say how much your buns love them and how much better they are for buns' teeth and tummies?

Melndan said:

they feed her guinea pig food and apparently the pet shop advised this and the vet said it was ok. Surely that can't be right!!!

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I was reassured to be given a leaflet by my vet that says not to keep rabbits and gp's together and that they have different dietary requirements and should be fed appropriately.


PS - At least Dan's cousin had the sense to ask you for advice - that is a step in the right direction.