Arg! Not another problem!

So I spent the past week dealing with Bertha (baby flemish giant) and her GI problem. I finaly decide to cull her Monday if she can't eat, drink and poop on her own by Monday morning. Great, she's doing it! Yipee, I get to keep the little sweetheart. Then, clean cages, I put Thumper (neglected hand-me-down lionhead mix I got from a teenager last month) into the little yard pen to munch on grass while I hose down his stuff. He had no intrest in grass, sun, shade, Bertha, Pepper... nothing. Hmmm... since he's experienced a real life, he's been a very happy go lucky bunny. Not right now. He smells like a skunk, so I cleaned his scent glands in the rear, not as bad as the video on youtube, just a small amount of beige/white film, smells a bit yeasty. I'm worried about his testies, I think they look odd, firm at one end, shriveled at the other end (Is this normal?) Poops are not good, dry and small, so now I get to deal with rehydrating Thumper. And since he was bought by a teen 2 years ago, and then she dumped him on her parents and siblings a year ago, he's had nothing to chew on, junkfood type rabbit kibble which he rarely got fed... what I have seen of his front teeth is very dirty yellow. I wonder how bad the back ones are.
For the past week he's been caged beside his future mate Pepper, a NZ doe. Is this bad? He can't mate her until Nov... could this cause him any problems? Stress?

Not sure what his problem may be, but caging him next to the doe should not be a problem.

Is he eating and drinking at all?

If he hasn't had anything to chew for a long time, it is possible that his teeth may have grown so much he is having problems eating. I have never seen this in a rabbit, so can't really advise on what to look for, so I hope someone else will chime in. There may be pictures on the Internet.

I'd give him a piece of a branch off a safe tree: hard maple, willow, elm, poplar or apple are all good. Make sure it has the fresh bark on it... It may entice him to wear his teeth down to a proper level. If it is too late for that and it is an overgrown tooth problem, they may have to be clipped. Again, I have no personal experience of this... My rabbits get lots to keep their teeth worn down, so it has never come up as a problem here.

He's been offered willow branches, and barely touches the leaves. He only chews away the twigs that get in his way. So I'm a bit worried about his mouth... the yeasty smell might be a normal smell, I tipped over Pepper last night to clean her scent glads, and the same light build up and type of smell was coming from her.
I spent most of last night cleaning Thumper's butt, his poop is like toothpaste, and it's full of his hair (the lionhead part of him is shedding like crazy). No amount of corn starch was getting it out, so he has to live in the house until we get it all clean (I won't risk fly strike). So, he was in a box all night, and there are no normal poops on the floor, the food was barely touched, but he is up and active, and interested in Bertha. I have another long day of liquids, massage and butt cleaning ahead of me I hope he throws good looking babies to make this all worth it.

Hello IBS,
are the rabbits teeth overgrown at all[Wolf-teeth]?
Small droppings indicate some sort of Blockage.
Is the belly tight? I am thinking fur-block/hairball.
This can cause a rabbit to die of starvation in a matter of days.
Feed some green feed/root crops, [EX] Carrots Mangles, sugar-beets.
Feed lots of grass-hay. Deficiencies of fiber may result in
fur chewing/swallowing. Pineapple will aid in getting the hindgut
working properly again. Two teaspoons per day for three consecutive days.
The enzyme Bromelain breaks down the proteins which are
holding the hair-ball together, allowing the hairs to pass through the digestive system.
You will see what is called "string of pearls" or "cling-ons".
Sweep these from the cage floor within 24 hours to help prevent
a possible case of Coccidiosis. It takes 24 Hours for the Oocysts
[Eggs] to become infective.
This should help/solve your problem.
Dennis, C.V.R.

You need to check his teeth. A rabbit's front teeth keep growing and need to be worn down. Compare his teeth to the other rabbits' teeth.

I'm a bit confused. One minute you say his poops are small and dry and the next you say they are like toothpaste. It's hard to give feeding advice, but you can't go wrong with providing lots of grass hay. If the poops are small and dry, then I agree with Dennis, but if the rabbit has poopy butt then he needs things like plantain, raspberry, blackberry or strawberry leaves. It could be he has a blockage and the soft poop is oozing past it. Massage may help.

well, when I brought him in last night at 6 the poos were small and gravely. I gave him pineapple juice and watered down acai berry V8, and an hour after cleaning his glands he started the toothpaste poops. I poked it a bit and noticed hair, so I'm treating him for a blockage (he hasn't had any poop since midnight last night). Pineapple juice, acai berry V8, water, hay, plantain, dandilion, kale, a thurough grooming, and a trip to the vet to have a look at his teeth at 2pm and they'll clean up his out-of-control nails.

I just compared his teeth to Bertha's... they are very long. So I suppose I'll have to have them trimmed. Expensive? I bet.

When treating for a blockage make sure he gets lots of liquids, fibre and moisture keep the bowls moving. Even though hay is fibre it's moisture content is way to low to aid in getting the blockage to clear out (it'll end up just adding too the blockage).

If you can I would dissolve some powdered fibre (for people) in water and give that to him. Our vet said the great majority of blockages he's removed from rabbits consisted mainly of hay and a bit of hair.

DevonW":3mor8tta said:

Our vet said the great majority of blockages he's removed from rabbits consisted mainly of hay and a bit of hair.

Click to expand...

Not all vets are knowledgeable about rabbits. I have never heard of hay causing a blockage in rabbits. On the contrary, I believe that rabbits fed a hay-based diet are far less likely to develop GI problems of any type.

I have never had a totally "blocked up" rabbit. but when I have seen them have struggles, it is usually always due to hair. It can be especially a problem at this time of year (or any time) when rabbits are shedding and getting a new coat. It can also be a problem with a doe that is pulling lots of hair for a litter. Hay has always been the best preventative, and the best relieve when the get partially blocked up. A fully blocked up rabbit is beyond my experience and may require a whole different approach.

One thing that will be a help to any breeder sooner or later, is finding a liquid that your rabbits enjoy so much that they will drink it when they are normally not thirsty or not drinking. I have not found any one thing yet. Tea and apple juice have been suggested among other things. There are several occasions when you will want your rabbit to drink more; problems with constipation or blockage and low milk production are two that may come up. It would be good to find what such liquids appeal to your rabbits before a need arises.

hay is not going to cause a blockage if the rabbit is chewing it .. I suppose if a rabbit could eat it without chewing it it might happen - but I don't know how a rabbit could eat hay without chewing

A rabbit couldn't eat hay without chewing... it would choke long before it caused a blockage. I've watched my rabbits eat hay... Their front teeth go clip, clip, clip as the stalk of hay disappears about a millimeter at a time.

A vet removing a blockage from anything would obviously know what the blockage was made up of. Actual real blockages are rare in rabbits and ALWAYS require surgery to remove them period.

Well, Lauren...the HAIR would cause the blockage, and the hay would get blocked and rolled up with it. The hay doesn't CAUSE the blockage. One of the vets at the vet clinic here is a rabbit/cavy specialist. (her kids show in 4H and she does the work for the local 4h group) She's told me that what usually happens is that the person starts to feed hay too late. The block is already there, and the hay just gets tangled up in the hairball (as it were). And of course, being drier than the surrounding stuff...if absorbs all the liquid that comes in. ... at that point feeding hay will make it worse. BUT she also said that you can see the signs of blockage before the hay is fed.

I do agree that a LOT of liquid is a good thing in the case of blockages. In any animal. Would you believe that my rabbits like...LIKE gatorade? The grape stuff goes over better than the orange. I cut it a LOT...like 1/2 tsp powder to 1 gallon water.

hmmm. moisture AND roughage....fresh timothy. It's still got all the roughage/fiber that the dried hay has, but it's also very moist and easily rotted (digested)

As to teeth and not eating hay without chewing...I bet they could do it. I've watched horses pull in grass and not chew...the front teeth shear off the blade, and then it's just swallowed because the back teeth are nasty inflamed. I wonder....

eew, that woul honestly suck, to swallow hay whole (then again, I tend to think it would suck to eat branches, too, so I'm no expert, lol.)