Oh sorry I thought I'd posted lots of those delightful images before haha - my phones gallery is full of images of his poop :lol:
Did your bunny always suffer with weird poops? from when he was little?
It's just Atticus had completely normal poop at 12 weeks old and continued to have the same up until he was maybe 6 months old? Then the first time I noticed there was something weird with his poo, was actually when he was running around the garden - lots of those huge dark mounds were everywhere (this was after he was neutered - and had a terrible reaction to vetergesic - which may be unrelated but I'm wondering what triggered this to happen..)
And from then on he's been the same - probably again not related but the reaction he had to vetergesic was severe and it changed his personality. it's taken me months to be able to stroke him without him attacking me (he's never been the same since but he is sweet in a different way now)
Today he's been inside (where he lives) he has a small cage with the door removed and has free range access to a lounge - which he does run around but he's more snoozy inside. His litter tray is a mess again - lots of the golden light poop - and lots of the dark mounds - so do you think these are his cecotrophs? I never see his anymore - so I assumed he ate them, or that the huge dark mounds were them. If they are his cecotrophs, is he missing out on nutrients?
I need to take him back to William I think, last time I spoke to him regarding Atticus he didn't seem to think prescribing anything was needed, or would help.
:lol: You may have posted those "delightful" photos before & I just missed them. There was a sticky of a gallery of Thumper's poohs once (photobucket stopped being free) Every type, except normal!! What our tummy bunnies do to us eh?
I hope you realise that Thumper
didn't have megacolon but areas of the caecum & colon stopped working so his symptoms, gut motility on ultrasound, bloods etc were completely identical to megacolon.
There seem to be 2types of megacolon. the genetic type n n genes is commonest in English spot rabbits with particular eye markings.
When Thumper was here, vets thought that there was a different type of megacolon where the rabbit got a viral infection but wasn't noticably ill with it.the virus stimulated antibodies but had a similar shape to the nerve cells in the lower gut. So the antibies to the virus started to attack the gut nerves. This could affect any breed of rabbit.
Some may disagree, but I think that all the unformed pooh is from the caecum. As rule of thumb with loss of caecal motility in megacolon, larger mounds are from low down in the caecum, & the thinner runny, mucussy stuff is from further inside the caecum & has been in there longer. (I'm still struggling with the computer & bifocals - sorry. Is there a small amount of larger fibres mixed in with the unformed poohs?)
Yes, Thumper had normal poop certainly for the 1st 6 months. He never took hay but loved fresh grass- his favourite. It must have been about 16 weeks when he started to literally eat his outdoor hutch & run (where he went for fresh air until he would come reliably! I also noticed that he'd scoff up fallen apple leaves from his run as soon as it was moved. He was a terrible paper, wallpaper, & cardboard eater, even opened the pedal bin for paper.
This craving for wood fibre is very typical of rabbits with poor caecal motility. They're using a non digestable fibre to increase gut motility. Once I gave him plenty of tree leaves & apple twigs he stoppedeating the things he shouldn't Then he started getting uneaten caecotrophs occasionally. Sorry it's a while ago now & I can't remember exactly when big trouble started.
Atticus is doing things differently from Thumper but the same idea. If I remember - the fibre is coming from the hay & the nutrients from pellets. If you've got his weight stable I wouldn't be too worried about vitamins - he'll get them from his pellets.
the pellets can be digested in the small gut before they get to the caecum.
The bacteria in the caecum are needed to digest the tough stuff in plants - cellulose. Most of the food released by bacteria in the caecum is absorbed through the caecal wall, IMO he's losing about 14% nutrients if he can't eat caecals at all but making up for it with his pellets.
Of the megacolon rabbits I've known on here, the diet that suits them is very idiosynchratic. I can only help with forage because that's what Thumper taught me. I know Atticus can't tolerate forage, so I have to leave that side to those with different experience
yes, you're right. If you don't see any caecals he's eating them. The mounds & yellow stuff are the caecals
I'm going to be worse than you!!! You'll know the normal smell of his poohs. Thumper's were quite nice & musky when normal. Are those loose poohs - mounds & yellow stuff either unpleasant/ different or even really stinky?
Lastly - do you want, or need to know about how the caecum & colon work together & how wastes are seperated from caecal material? When we understand this we can tell WHERE the lower gut isn't working properly but that's all.