• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.
  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Jacob had a hard tummy - Update

Morrigan1981

Mama Doe
Hi all

I let Jacob have a run around the playroom earlier today. She was charging about as normal, but I noticed that some of her poos were quite small. Given the information that Jane gave on my previous thread about small poos (my previous bun used to produce a lot of tiny poos :() being produced by slow digestion, I gave her a gentle tummy rub. She showed no obvious signs of discomfort and now, an couple of hours later, she's producing big poos again and her tummy feels normal. She's still charging about!

It scared the life out of me - why would this suddenly happen? Her diet hasn't changed and she doesn't have any obvious problems with her teeth (she's young - 13 weeks - and eats a lot of hay)

I'm a nervous wreck :( Rabbits are wonderful pets and I wouldn't change my buns for the world, but it's so frightening when things go wrong.

Does she need to go to the vet, even if things seem OK now? We have a 24hr emergency vet locally.
 
If she is now eating/pooping and behaving normally she should be fine. Sometimes a Bun with a gassy tummy produces small poos. Make sure she continues to eat lots of hay

Janex :D
 
Thanks Jane :D She does seem fine now in general - she's munching on her Timothy hay and her poos are normal sized again. Thank goodness - I was terrified!

However, she's running around the room carrying her (VERY loud) jingle ball in her mouth, which is a new one on me! She's also trying very hard to climb on my lap (I'm sat on the floor) and then when I stroke her she's grinding her teeth as normal, but then digging at my jeans (which hurts!) and biting and pulling at my sleeves (which also hurts! Ouch!)

She's always been a bit of a princess, but it's not like her to be such a little madam and certainly not to act this clingy :?
 
:shock: waaaah! She is acting like a stroppy teenager! :shock:

Next it'll be waiting to stay out late (all her friend's mums let them, apparently :roll: ), get her ears pierced and her hutch painted black! :lol:

She's booked in to be spayed at the start of Jan... sounds like the timing will be about right!
 
Morrigan1981 said:
:shock: waaaah! She is acting like a stroppy teenager! :shock:

Next it'll be waiting to stay out late (all her friend's mums let them, apparently :roll: ), get her ears pierced and her hutch painted black! :lol:

She's booked in to be spayed at the start of Jan... sounds like the timing will be about right!

Just dont let her have a tongue piercing at the same time!! :shock: :roll: :lol:

Janex
 
An update on this... Jacob has been fine since the hard tummy incident, but I did notice that she left a lot of uneaten cecaotrophs the next day :? I gave her some Herbage Timothy hay and I think that upset her tummy... it's the second time I've noticed her have excess caecotrophs after having timothy hay. Can certain types of hay disagree with some buns??! She's fine with meadow hay and meadow hay with herbs.

I'm also considering reducing the amount of Excel pellets she has, now that's she older. I was feeding it ad-lib given her age, but she's never really been great at eating all her caecotrophs - she goes through phases where she doesn't, even though her diet hasn't changed and her teeth are fine. The only thing that varies is how much pellet she eats over hay. On the days where she scoffs more hay (fairly often, tbh, she's good like that :D) she's fine.

I'd like to change her on to SS, but for now can I start limiting the Excel and encouraging her to eat more hay? She's just over three months old.
 
i would think its ok to start switching over to SS now - i did with frida when she was 10 weeks old and she has never had any problems with excess caecotrophs etc

i personally dont think there would be any problems reducing her pellets - my vet told me that frida should only be fed what she could eat in 10 minutes twice per day (and that was when she was 3 months old) - she has been fine and i think reducing her pellets encouraged her to eat more hay

:)
 
Thanks Sarah :D I gave Jacob less pellets yesterday and she ate plenty of hay instead - I noticed that already this morning there were less caecotrophs in her cage.

I have a mini bag of SS, so I'll start switching her on to that now and see if it makes any difference :D
 
Update on this - I started moving Jacob over onto SS and the excess caecotrophs have disappeared :D She loves the SS too, which made weaning her on to it nice and easy for me :lol:
 
Morrigan1981 said:
Update on this - I started moving Jacob over onto SS and the excess caecotrophs have disappeared :D She loves the SS too, which made weaning her on to it nice and easy for me :lol:

Thats great !! I feed my Buns SS and they all love it :D

Janex
 
SS is a brand of pellets called Science Selective :D I wanted to move my bun off Excel as some people suggest that it can cause sticky bottom in rabbits and Jacob does seem to have a particularly sensitive tum, even by rabbit standards! :lol: She used to leave lots of uneaten caecotrophs, but that seems to have cleared up since the switch to SS.
 
I think if you overfeed on pellets (or veg!!) that can cause a problem with runs, but my vet advised only a small handful per day per bun of ANY sort of pellet and there shouldn't be a problem. If there is, you can just cut down a bit more and find the right balance for each particular bunny. Is SS cheaper than Burgess? Now that I've got an extra bun........ :lol:
 
You're right - I've cut down on the amount of pellets Jacob has now too, especially as she's getting older.

I think SS and Excel are about the same in terms of cost, although don't quote me on that :lol:
 
Back
Top