Flax seed gave my rabbits loose stools.. Help!

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equinox

equinox

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Bloomington, Indiana
Hey all! I raise and breed Netherland Dwarfs for show. I began feeding them about 1/2 teaspoon of flax seed yesterday evening for its health and conditioning benefits, and I made the mistake of placing it in their mostly empty food dishes in the evening. This morning, at least two of our rabbits - our herd buck and an eight week old doe - have evidence of soft stools. It's not like pure diarrhea, but it is soft and loose (not pellets). They have plenty of hay and fresh water and their normal feed. Anything else I can do to make sure they're ok? I'm worried!
Thanks!
 
Flax seed is laxative for people too. I'd put them just on grass hay for a day or so--that should fix it. You could also feed a bit of one of the regulating greens: the lawn weeds plantain and shepherd's purse, or the leaves of raspberry, blackberry or strawberry.

(Latin names for these greens can be found in the Safe Plants for Rabbits sticky in the Natural Feeding for Rabbits forum.)
 
MaggieJ":1hrbhzv5 said:
Flax seed is laxative for people too. I'd put them just on grass hay for a day or so--that should fix it. You could also feed a bit of one of the regulating greens: the lawn weeds plantain and shepherd's purse, or the leaves of raspberry, blackberry or strawberry.

(Latin names for these greens can be found in the Safe Plants for Rabbits sticky in the Natural Feeding for Rabbits forum.)
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Thanks! So is the amount of flax I'm giving them ok and I just made a mistake when I added it to empty food dishes, or do I need to reduce the amount of flax in their feed?
 
I would reduce that amount of flax. I prefer black oil sunflower seeds, if you were going to use a seed for conditioning, though.
 
SableSteel":1pefrcp8 said:
I would reduce that amount of flax. I prefer black oil sunflower seeds, if you were going to use a seed for conditioning, though.
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Thank you! I'll reduce the amount of flax. I've been feeding black oil sunflower seeds for a while now and haven't noticed a difference.
 
Equinox - I have just got two buck 10 week netherland dwarf rabbits -feeding them sweet muesli mix -apart from hay any suggestions what could also give ... was advised no carrots as 'it's like giving children sweets/candy' iam a newly rabbit person
 
Tcwrx":1ncb6eur said:
Equinox - I have just got two buck 10 week netherland dwarf rabbits -feeding them sweet muesli mix -apart from hay any suggestions what could also give ... was advised no carrots as 'it's like giving children sweets/candy' iam a newly rabbit person
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If that sweet muesli mix contains sugar, corn syrup, honey or any other sweetener, it is not suitable for rabbits. Far worse than carrots.

Is there a reason you are not feeding them a good quality pellet? It is certainly possible to feed rabbits a natural diet of hay supplemented by fresh foraged greens, a bit of whole grain and a trace mineral salt block, but it does require some knowledge of safe plants for rabbits. The Natural Feeding for Rabbits forum has lots of information, but it is not something you can dive into quickly without prior knowledge.

A "complete" rabbit pellet from a feed store (rather than a pet shop) supplemented with hay would work in the meantime and you can make a long slow SAFE transition to natural feeding if that is how you'd prefer to feed them in the future.
 
__________ Sun Jul 02, 2017 2:24 am __________

Lose stools can come from having to much richness in thier diet, like others said, so... If they got the flax seeds and also the same amount of pellets they usually get - it might added up to create too much richness in their diet which causes them to produce an excess of cecotropes (night time poos they usually eat before you ever see them), so maybe mushy poos you saw were excess cecotropes they didn't eat? Also, Like others said - if they eat more hay it will balance it back out.

I really like feeding flax seeds and my rabbits go crazy over them- they go nuts when they hear the bag crinkle. They don't seem to like sunflower seeds or oats as much as the flax seeds. I always feed it to pregnant does, I think the richness of it helps them produce milk.

And I've never even had any enteritis or mushy poos yet after feeding adults or babies flax seeds.

I even feed flax seeds to very young kits- when they are first starting on solids at 4 weeks I crush up their pellets to make them smaller so they can eat them easier and sprinkle flax seeds in.
 

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