Feeling better about bunnies again...

[ladysown]

I HATE when my bunnies get stressed and show it how they eat and how they defecate.

Sometimes when it's bad enough I just want to get out of bunnies.

AND THEN.. when I lose one makes that feeling even worse.

BUT tonight... I have two bunnies eating their pellets AND don't have poopy butt.
One eating hay again who went completely off feed.

I still have two that are ONLY eating hay...but we'll see how they go - and one of those frequently does that and seems non-stressy just a finicky rabbit who is just a very odd junior. The other was with another junior who developed poopy butt and I isolated her just to keep a close watch on her. I suspect she's missing her roommate. They are both eating hay and drinking water just avoiding the pellets. As long as they are eating and drinking something I feel a bit encouraged.

So feeling a bit better about rabbits again....but not completely happy yet. Time will tell how they all do...

 

[Pickles]

So glad you are feeling better about your rabbits again.
Want to ask... what is "poopy butt"? (I giggled a little just typing that, but I seriously want to know)

 

[ladysown]

oh... when they get goopy poop stuck to their butt fur and you need to clean it off.

It's like a cecatrophe mixed with slightly loose poops (at least that the impression I get from them). Clean it off, feed lots of hay and they generally improve. I see it usually only with kits under stress...and I've mostly bred that out (or so I thought). These last four days have shown me otherwise....

 

[Pickles]

Thanks for the info... I learn something new on this forum everday. Much appreciated.

 

[avdpas77]

Hang in there LS, as long as they are drinking and eating hay everything should be fine...
They obviously have some kind of digestive upset. They are drinking, so that eliminates a lot of worrisome possibilities, and you know they will stay hydrated. Straight hay is the absolute best thing they can eat, so, short of being "perfectly" healthy, they should do fine.

I usually feed a little bit of calf-manna to my lactating does and the kits manage to get some of it too before momma can scarf it all. In some of my rabbits it causes either the does or the kits feces pellets to be slightly pasty, but it doesn't seem to cause any real problems. I did have one doe, that would get very loose dropping any time a gave a little to her, so I discontinued it with her. She is gone now.<br /><br />__________ Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:23 am __________<br /><br />Hang in there LS, as long as they are drinking and eating hay everything should be fine...
They obviously have some kind of digestive upset. They are drinking, so that eliminates a lot of worrisome possibilities, and you know they will stay hydrated. Straight hay is the absolute best thing they can eat, so, short of being "perfectly" healthy, they should do fine.

I usually feed a little bit of calf-manna to my lactating does and the kits manage to get some of it too before momma can scarf it all. In some of my rabbits it causes either the does or the kits feces pellets to be slightly pasty, but it doesn't seem to cause any real problems. I did have one doe, that would get very loose dropping any time a gave a little to her, so I discontinued it with her. She is gone now.

 

[Anntann]

I've been noticing something with my does...after they kindle they go to the grains (or pellets depending on what they're being fed) and then a couple of days later they eat ONLY hay. With the colony girls, they go to the TIMOTHY and leave the alfalfa alone for a few days. It's almost like they have an overload of protein after they kindle, and they just need the timothy for a few days.

Over the years I've gotten more and more convinced that if the animal (any animal) is allowed to choose it's own food from a smorgasbord, it will choose that which it's body needs. Our chickens will totally leave the protein alone and JUST eat the corn when it's cold, or it has just snowed. Takes a couple of days and then they go back to eating anything that doesnt' move fast enough.

With the rabbits, mine will nibble at the pellets when I first put them in the feeder, but then go over to the hay and will finish that up before they go back to the pellets. BUT if I put a mineral block in with them, the pellets are the very last thing they eat and then only if they are completely out of hay.

 

[avdpas77]

Over the years I've gotten more and more convinced that if the animal (any animal) is allowed to choose it's own food from a smorgasbord, it will choose that which it's body needs.

I totally agree with you Ann.

But when I tried to put a steam table in every cage it just wouldn't fit. :lol: