Baby Bunny Butts....

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Susie570

Susie570

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Our babies will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. The last couple of days, I've been noticing some of them having poop clumps on their bums. I've given them little butt baths and the ones who had the clumps yesterday didn't have them today, but some others did. This APPEARS to be the cecotrope type poops... is this normal? I've not changed anything in their diet. They have free access to pellets and hay. They might still be nursing some, but aren't plaguing momma like they were a few days ago. I removed the nest box yesterday. They all seem fat, alert and otherwise healthy as far as I can tell. Thoughts?
 
Thank you, Homer. Glad I got a response before I filled up the pellet feeder again. I would guess this transitional time is hard on baby bunny digestion. I will look into the benebac. I guess I can find it at tractor supply?
 
From Drugs.com;

Directions For Use

Initial Feeding: Provide one feeding from table below on days 1, 3, 5 and 7, and then one feeding per week until weaned.

Body Weight - Amount of Bene-Bac Plus

<1/2 lb (227g) 1/4 level teaspoon

1/2 - 1 lb 1/2 level teaspoon

1 lb - 5 lbs 1 level teaspoon

5 lbs - 20 lbs 2 level teaspoons

20 lbs+ 3 level teaspoons

You can try mixing it in their water but some won't drink it. Mine always get a little Cilantro (their mommas) once they come out of the nest. I dampen it with water and sprinkle the powder on it and... GONE! :)

If used in water it must be removed within 8 hours, bowl washed and returned.
 
It sounds like what I see when my kits get into their mother's boss. Maybe just cecal overproduction.

With no feed changes at all, I'd still worry about the feed. Make sure your hay isn't dusty or moldy. Take a long hard look at your brand of pellets. They can be different bag to bag, with some brands being more stable than others. Chances are, with Homer's advice, those little backsides will clear right up and be fine.

If they look thin at any point it may be due to dehydration. For that, you can give unflavored pedialyte, or another electrolyte solution. They usually love it. If things get worse, consider switching onto just old fashioned oatmeal and hay for a little while.

It's possible that a pathogen is at work, but...it's REALLY hard to identify things like that from only one symptom. You might be careful about who handles them for a while (clean hands, compromised rabbits can get sick from e-coli, from contact with humans.) Observe them closely and be ready to act quickly if anyone takes a turn for the worst.
 
Thanks everyone. I'll keep an eye on them. The hay is dusty, it's just grass horse hay. I haven't noticed any obvious mold. The pellets are the same they have been eating since they started solid food.

They seem to alternate between hopping around the cage and sleeping in a clump of bunnies, I guess that's normal at this age? I know momma has snagged, maybe 2 or 3 cheerios from the floor when my kid was eating and dropped them... but I wouldn't think that would affect them. I'll try to get out and get some of that benebac today. Right now, I have them on just hay and water. Unless it's the hay itself causing a problem, I hope this will help. They do seem to have been plowing through those pellets. Maybe they've just been over zealous in their eating. I'm sure it's good to be proactive though, they're so fragile when they're this young. :p

-- Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:55 am --

Looks like I have one baby with somewhat mushy poops again.
Actually, I think the mushy butt incident kind of passed this one over last time, it was one that I didn't have to give a butt bath to. I gave it one today, but fortunately it didn't have a big clump of mushy poo like the babies did last time, just a little bit and enough to make me want to wash it off.

I won't say that NOTHING has changed, but very little has changed. I started gradually increasing the pellets for the babies (just decreased them again - I gave them about half a cup of pellets to share between 9 kits). I did start introducing some timothy hay I had in a package from the pet store, before I figured out that I could buy orchard grass hay much much cheaper. Of course, the babies are tearing it up, but I've been giving it to them gradually. I also went out an purchased one of those big compressed bales of 'Timothy Grass' from Tractor Supply yesterday and I'm starting to give them a tiny bit of that too. I'm almost completely out of my Orchard Grass hay (the cheap, dusty stuff). I would have gotten more, but it's impossible to get to the place that sells it due to the weather, so... I'm doing what I can. :/

How likely is it that the new hay is causing a bit of tummy upset? Darn it, they need to have access to hay all the time, what else can I do?? :/ At least it only seems to be the one kit this time. I'm still watching them all closely.

As a side note... I find it interesting that they all seem to actually enjoy the butt bath process. They sit there and go almost limp while I clean them off. I mean, it was only the one kit this time, but I had to do that with all of the others previously.
 
I upped the hay content while downgrading the amount of pellets I'm feeding (with lots of oats mixed in) and I still get some mushy poo, but it may be cecals since the pans are littered with tons of normal dry berries. Nobody is in distress over here, so I've decided to keep an eye on it, but not worry about it. Thanks for keeping us posted (and me too!)
 
It's good to know, EnglishSpot! Since it sounds like we're at about the same stage with our kits, it's good to hear what's happening with yours. :)

On the other hand, I'm still fearful of the Big P over here. :/

I'm still hearing the occasional bunny sneeze. In addition to that, my buck, who has never shown any symptoms whatsoever, has shown up with slightly moist, rough looking fur around his right eye the last couple of days. His eye hasn't been obvious enough to really even notice, except that I'm super paranoid and I'm always checking their faces. Worse than that, my son told me he heard the buck sneezing during his floor time today. I rushed over to check him, didn't see any sign of mucous and he was near the water dish, so maybe he had been drinking. I know he was pretty frustrated about not being able to get near the doe. Anyway... this stress is just driving me nuts.

I honestly don't know what I will do if I do confirm that the little herd has P. I don't know how they could have gotten it, they've all been clear of symptoms since I've had them. We've had the buck about 6-7 months and the doe about 4-5 months. I guess if so, I will try to get them to a vet and get them on antibiotics to see if they can fight it into remission, unless one of them becomes seriously ill. I'm just really hoping it's nothing serious. The only things that keep me feeling hopeful are the facts that the rabbits act fine, healthy and spry, happily playing during their floor time, doing binkies, eating great and I haven't seen any colored mucous (saw a bit of clear mucous one time on the doe when she sneezed).

Well, here's to continuing to hope that all bunnies are fine and this is just a result of the dusty food I've had. :p
 

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