Bunnies with tummy pain tend to lie down differently from
their norm.& don't want to move. We talk of being hunched up when it's really bad. They breath more quickly than normal too, sometimes in waves of rapid breathing but we've got to make sure that they're not just having a smell of what's going on around them. They wrinkle their noses when they're doing that.
The breath much faster when they're hot too.
But the truth is, that we get to know our buns. Mine is normally very communicative, & loves running round the garden - he didn't want to know!
I don't think that mucky bum issues are painful for bunnies unless they go into stasis which is painful.
I suspect that "stress" is more important as a basic trigger than we realise. It could have easily started before you got her,and any change of environment even for the better, was enough to slow things down a bit & she just got an overgrowth of the wrong bacteria in her caecum. Some types of bacteria produce toxins which slow the gut down even more. We can't ever get rid of them completely because bunnies have to recycle their caecs. They won't eat their caecs if they smell wrong (too many wrong bacteria in them) The whole key is to keep the system well flushed through with a high fiber diet & discourage the wrong sort of bacteria - just as you are doing, by seeing which foods set it off.
Donnamt's Alvin is basically a stress bunny cos he's deaf. (hearing is much more important than sight to a bun) He had a lot of trouble with stasis last year but as soon as his diet was changed over, he's been fine this year!
Snowberry's Snowbun is more like Thumper (megacolon bun), but was stressed by being an indoor bun & partnered with Strawberry. Stasis has much improved since she's been outside & on her own, but able to see another bun.
Thumper is stressed if he's out in the garden on his own, even if I'm watching all the time indoors!! He's scared of any bird bigger than a blackbird overhead, & airoplanes He's even scared of cats when he's safely indoors & will run upstairs. He's just got bunny instincts & only feels safe if away from the
sound &
smell of predators.
ETA he's also bonded to me & goes into stasis if I stay away all night. Fortunately I don't have to. But there are 3 buns I know of like that!
Often we never get to the bottom of bunny psychology!!!
There are lots of commoner things though.
Add in a few more factors which can slow down a bunny's gut, & they start to hit problems. The big thing is keeping the gut moving naturally.
So don't blame yourself.
