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squidgy poo question

susie bun

Wise Old Thumper
I found two squidgy poos this morning. Spenser has had hardly any veg this week, becuase he will not eat the herbs I have bought him. He has had a very small piece of carrot and apple daily. Would I be better to cut these out and give him a small portion of greens I am more confident he will eat, like parsley?

He has been eating his hay slightly better, but mainly green oat. I wonder if this would make him do squidgers.

One of the squidgers was on my desk, and the other was on the side board of my bed. :mrgreen:
 
Apple + Carrot daily is probably too much sugar i'd say Susie and may have caused a slight gut inbalance, hence the mild dysbiosis you're noticing.

Oat hay may be quite rich for his tummy too, if he hasn't had it before? But if he has, just keep an eye i'd say :)
 
Apple + Carrot daily is probably too much sugar i'd say Susie and may have caused a slight gut inbalance, hence the mild dysbiosis you're noticing.

Oat hay may be quite rich for his tummy too, if he hasn't had it before? But if he has, just keep an eye i'd say :)

He's had oat hay before, but I think I should keep him off the apple, althogh he was only getting a small amount. I wouldn't have given the carrot daily had it not been that he wouldn't eat the sage, basil, rosemary or mint offered at varios points of that last seven days or so. It was only about an inch of quite thin carrot.

I think I might buy him coriander as it has a lower calcium content than parsley, but I know he would rather have the parsley. He has had some Excel Country Garden herbs this morning, but just picks out the bits he likes.
 
Poppy never has apple or carrot - both very sugary and for sensitive buns can spell disaster.

I really don't think that Spenser has a balanced gut flora Susiebun. Can you run down his diet with me, sorry :oops:

If he doesn't eat hay what does he eat other than his pelleted feed?
 
Poppy never has apple or carrot - both very sugary and for sensitive buns can spell disaster.

I really don't think that Spenser has a balanced gut flora Susiebun. Can you run down his diet with me, sorry :oops:

If he doesn't eat hay what does he eat other than his pelleted feed?

He has both Science Selective pellets and for the last three weeks also pro-fibre pellets.

He likes dried plantain (Burns). He used to like dried dandelion but has gone off it a bit. He will eat green oat hay if I waggle it in front of his mouth, but the current bag has a very rich smell. He used to like orchard grass hay, but is not impressed by the new bag. It is not so consistently green and a bit tougher than usual. He doesn't like ANY type of timothy hay, not even the expensive Alfafa King variety that looks and smells so good I could almost eat it myself.

The only time he eats hay voluntarily and with obvious relish is when he is offloading in his basin. Because of this, more than anything, I know he CAN eat hay, but either doesn't like what I offer or how I offer it.
 
As you have seen that he can eat hay have you tried NOT giving him any alternative for 24 hours ?

I am wondering if you might be pandering to his fussiness. If he can eat hay and you see him eating it 'with gusto' then there is no reason why he cant manage to do so more often if there is nothing else on offer.

Re the squidgy poo, definitely the sugars in the carrot and apple. Like PL, I never feed mine any apple and only a few get a tiny strip of carrot peel now and again.
 
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I will cut down his pellets again, and stop the apple and carrot.

The hay he has in his basin is Morrison's bedding hay. I have just run out but will get more this afternoon. I have tried offering it in his hay piles, but he will only eat it in his basin while going about his business. I suppose he would eat it at other times if he was hungry enough. I do wish he would eat all the nice hays I have bought him.
 
As you have seen that he can eat hay have you tried NOT giving him any alternative for 24 hours ?

I am wondering if you might be pandering to his fussiness. If he can eat hay and you see him eating it 'with gusto' then there is no reason why he cant manage to do so more often if there is nothing else on offer.


Re the squidgy poo, definitely the sugars in the carrot and apple. Like PL, I never feed mine any apple and only a few get a tiny strip of carrot peel now and again.


Absolutely. I know it feels cruel but this method can work wonders. Poppy ONLY has hay and dried forage and access to the garden. Any fresh veg is a rare treat if ever and she never gets pellets. Sometimes a few profibre handfed as a treat and that is all she ever eats. Hay, hay and more hay and she thrives on it. :wave:
 
I will cut down his pellets again, and stop the apple and carrot.

The hay he has in his basin is Morrison's bedding hay. I have just run out but will get more this afternoon. I have tried offering it in his hay piles, but he will only eat it in his basin while going about his business. I suppose he would eat it at other times if he was hungry enough. I do wish he would eat all the nice hays I have bought him.

He is holding out waiting for the pelleted feed that fill him up. If he can eat in his litter tray no probs then if he is hungry and there is nothing else I promise you he will jump in there and eat but he may test you for a while and hold out not eating. Poppy did this back in the Autumn as it was so mild at the begining of Dec. She was so used to being outside grazing everyday that she would literally not eat all day waiting to go out, when it got cold and wet and she couldn't go out for more than 20 mins at a time she went into ileus. I took away everything treaty which for Poppy is all dried herbs and forage. She literally had one type of hay, none of the treat hays. Eventually she gave in and switched to winter eat hay only mode and was not so reliant on grass. It took determination on both parts.
 
Absolutely. I know it feels cruel but this method can work wonders. Poppy ONLY has hay and dried forage and access to the garden. Any fresh veg is a rare treat if ever and she never gets pellets. Sometimes a few profibre handfed as a treat and that is all she ever eats. Hay, hay and more hay and she thrives on it. :wave:

We had to do a lot of this for Ginger when her gut issues were really bad, and she ended up with some vile dysbiosis - the poops :shock: They were smelly, looked all manner of wrong, but 2 weeks of a hay only diet and her gut was 'stable' again. Admittedly, a lot of this is due to her other health issues, but the theory was the same, and Jane/Sky-O and PL were the ones to help me with it. Try hiding pellets from Ginger when yuo're trying to give them to Biscuit :lol:

Sometimes, you really do have to be cruel to be kind.
 
I will cut down his pellets again, and stop the apple and carrot.

The hay he has in his basin is Morrison's bedding hay. I have just run out but will get more this afternoon. I have tried offering it in his hay piles, but he will only eat it in his basin while going about his business. I suppose he would eat it at other times if he was hungry enough. I do wish he would eat all the nice hays I have bought him.

Once he gets into the mode of eating hay regularly and in large quantities he will be more likely to try the new ones. I would give him just the stuff you know he eats and nothing else for 24 hours minimum and watch what happens!

It might take a few weeks of hay only (maybe a few pellets at bedtime but ONLY then) after the inital 24-48 hours of hay only, before he will be ready to try new hays. Alfalfa King Timothy although it smells nice neither of my two have ever touched it with a barge pole. I recommend Oxbow Timothy instead and definitely West Wales Willows - but until he is eating larger quantities it is not worth the price. Burns Green Oat and Readigrass/Pure dried grass, Orchard and that's it really. Have you tried dried dandelions alongside the plantains?
 
He used to like Burns dried danelion, but has recently gone off them. I bought him a meadaow hay with added dandelio just before this happened, and am using it up in his basin! He had a few nibbles first time I opened a packet of Oxbow Timothy hay, but none since. I haven't heard of West Wales Willows, but he has had Welsh meadow from The Hay Experts, and wouldn't touch it at all. It's quite ironic that such a fussy rabbit will eat hay that costs £!.60 from the local supermarket.

I should say that most of Spenser's poops are well formed, although quite dark. It's just the odd squidger we are talking about.
 
I have bought two bags of the supermarket hay this afternoon, topped up Spenser's basin and put a little pile on the fleece mat in front of the bookcase (he likes to sit there). He is not interested at present, but it is the afternoon so his sleepy time.

I did buy some coriander while I was out in case I need to tempt him, but I will only give him a little, and no carrot or apple.
 
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