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Lots of squidgy poops, messy bum

Hi, I'm new here, first post and looking for advice on how to help out with by bun (Reggies) messy bottom.

He's 3 years old, a rescue rabbit which we've then adopted off my partners sister as he has more room to explore in our house, but lately over the last few months we've noticed a lot more soft, wetter poops (cecotropes so google says they are called). More so in the evening though, and he's tending to just sit on them during the night causing a lot of hay and sawdust to build up around his bum.

We try to pick him up and clean around there when we can see it's not looking good, but he hates being held so doing so is stressful for both us and him.

He has hay, a cup of pellets and then in the evening we feed him a varied lot of veg, such as spring greens, basil, coriander, cavolo nero. I'm wondering if it's the veg we're feeding him and what should be stopped?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Tom
 
i'm not an expert but suspect it may be the veg.
could try just feeding hay & a small amount of nuggets (max 1/2 a cup a day) for a few days & see if the situation improves.

btw, be mega alert for flies while he has a messy bum. flystrike happens so quickly. do any seem to be on him at all ever?
 
No I haven't noticed any, I do check regularly throughout the day now that i'm working from home full time it's easier to check. He spend the evenings with us in the living room also where he seems to be happiest, but he tends to get too comfortable and leaves poop stains on the carpet.
 
When you say a cup of nuggets - how much would these weigh? I'd actually not worry so much about the veg & concentrate on reducing the nuggets. Not eating cecos can be due to a few things 1) ability to eat them direct from source, so if a bun has mobility probs like arthritis they may not be able to reach them. Equally so if bun is overweight 2) most bunnies find their cecos tasty but may ignore them if there is tastier food eg nuggets available 3) some meds will make cecos taste weird & they may be avoided .I think this may apply to certain health conditions too -eg cecal dysbiosis
Encourage as much hay eating as possible, grass is good too

Does he appear healthy otherwise?
 
Yes he looks and seems his usual self. The nuggets would be around 80grams, but he would never eat all of that in 1 day. I wouldn't say he's a fat rabbit, but he is quite big. He used to live in the cage the majority of the day and locked at night before living with us.

Now we let him have free roam of the dining area which is hard wood flooring, but he started sleeping under the dining table rather than in the cage, so we put a blanket down for him to use rather than the wood floor and that's where we tends to do most of his soft poops and just stays in the same position throughout the night causing it to cake around his bum.

We feel terrible because we thought we were giving him a better life being able to run around more, free roam, a better diet eating fresh greens, but it turns out it's possibly making him miserable if he's got a bad bum.
 
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Yes he looks and seems his usual self. The nuggets would be around 80grams, but he would never eat all of that in 1 day. I wouldn't say he's a fat rabbit, but he is quite big. He used to live in the cage the majority of the day and locked at night. We let him have free roam of the dining area which is hard wood flooring, but he started sleeping under the dining table rather than in the cage, so we put a blanket down for him to use rather than the wood floor and that's where we tends to do most of his soft poops and just stays in the same position throughout the night causing it to cake around him bum.

We feel terrible because we thought we were giving him a better life being able to run around more, free roam, a better diet eating fresh greens, but it turns out it's possibly making him miserable if he's got a bad bum.

My medium sized bunnies have 10g max so I do think reducing these would be a brilliant place to start & see if it helps. Mine eat them in about 5 mins. Feeding as natural a diet as possible is ideal for rabbits. You are doing good by him, please don't beat yourself up. A tweak to his diet (nugget side of it) could well give great results. It doesn't help that pet food manufacturers advocate feeding loads more than they need. Less nuggets means they'll eat more hay which is great for their digestive system
 
I would say if he's not eating all his nuggets then he's maybe getting too many.
how much nuggets would he eat in an hr do you reckon? perhaps feed him that many, twice a day.

as mentioned before, I am NOT an expert :) but my instinct would be to try and find out if it's a food causing the trouble - by eliminating certain foods for a few days (by groups initially e.g. eliminate fresh veg for a few days) and see if there's an improvement.
if (for example) stopping fresh veg improves the situation, try re-introducing certain veg 1 at a time & see if you can isolate the problem further.
 
I agree with all the advice given so far.

First step I would do is definitely reduce the nuggets. My rabbits have a tiny amount (not weighed) twice a day, but if it's not eaten within 5-10 minues I remove it.

If this doesn't help (and I'd be surprised if it doesn't), then tweak his green food a bit, by concentrating on herbs and forage, if you're confident collecting it. I'd also consider whether he finds it easy to access the cecos.

Let us know how you get on :)
 
Great ok. Thank you both, i'll get on it today... and also attempt to get him settled on my lap for a bum clean :(

good luck :love:

I agree with all the advice given so far.

First step I would do is definitely reduce the nuggets. My rabbits have a tiny amount (not weighed) twice a day, but if it's not eaten within 5-10 minues I remove it.

If this doesn't help (and I'd be surprised if it doesn't), then tweak his green food a bit, by concentrating on herbs and forage, if you're confident collecting it. I'd also consider whether he finds it easy to access the cecos.

Let us know how you get on :)

:thumb:
 
I think he can access them ok, because whilst we're watching a film he'll just start eating his poop which weirds us out a little bit, haha. But i'm going to concentrate on sorting his food quantity out and see how it goes.
 
As well as the dietary advice you, I would look at his mobility. Is he happy to hop around on the wood floor? Some rabbits would find it too slippy and he may prefer a surface that he is more confident running around on, which in turn may help with the messy bum situation. The other thing is he may have a physical problem that is stopping him moving about and cleaning himself properly, which would require a vet visit to check him over.

If he's not eating all the pellets in a day, I would suggest he is getting too big a portion. Mine get about a handful each per day (which are demolished in minutes), unlimited hay, and assorted greens (mainly forage from the allotment ie weeds). Sprinkling the pellets on the floor may also encourage him to move about more.
 
It is a bit slippery for him to hope around on with ease. we have the blanket we put down for him and rugs. he spend the day just sleeping and chilling in his cage though (which is open 24/7) and then in the evenings when were both in the house and downstairs he has the roam of the front room too which is carpet.

It looks like he's moving freely and able to clean himself also, his head is often between his legs cleaning himself etc.
 
Everyone has given very good advice. It's usually excess carbohydrates which cause a messy bum, ie pellets and veg, so cutting back on both these should help the problem. Lots and lots of hay in his litter tray will encourage him to eat the hay. Shavings is not good for bunnies. Have a look on the Rabbit Welfare Association's website for lots of excellent advice.
 
What nuggies do you feed? Most of my buns have had quiet a lot of mess after eating Excel Burgess nuggets with mint
 
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