My rabbits...

[Ptbunny8087]

Today I came out to the barn and I see my rabbits have diarrea they all eat the same thing and they all have it...
Any suggestions on how to stop it?

 

[ottersatin]

DIARRHEA
Ptbunny8087
This is from my Disease page on my Website.
I believe this will be your answer.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:
Take immediate action at the first sign of diarrhea. This could be a life and death situation for any rabbit especially the very young. STOP ALL treats as they are the most likely cause of the problem. Feed plenty of long-fiber grass-hay and oats will work well. You may even want to stop the pelleted feed. when the stools return to normal slowly add the pelleted feed back to the diet while continuing to give grasshay on a regular basis. Two to three times a week if not more often.

 

[Ptbunny8087]

Is there anything I could give them?

__________ Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:58 pm __________

I was also reading around and I found a couple things it could be...so I thought I could discribe it
it is tiny little balls stuck in a pile, It is its normal brown. She does have hay and water. she dropped 5 of them today.
anyone know what it could be?

and should I try this? I found it online

First of all, I mixed up a cup of rehydrating fluid. I put about 4 ounces of clean water in a cup and added a teaspoon of sugar, one eighth a teaspoon of salt and one quarter teaspoon of baking soda. I then tipped her onto her back, and fed her this liquid with a syringe. I tried to get her to take some every hour and, slowly, she began to drink more of it.

After about eight hours of her still continuing to take the liquid, I slowly added some food to her diet. I made up a mixture that would hopefully stop the diarrhea. Rice and bananas are very good for this as rice dries up the diarrhea and banana adds potassium, which animals need when they're sick as they lose potassium through watery feces. So, I mixed up a mixture of cooked rice, rabbit pellets and some banana and fed her a little bit a couple of times an hour. She liked the mixture and would take at least a quarter teaspoon every time. It was laborious work, but at least she was eating.

 

[ladysown]

cecaltrophes? (Not sure of spelling right now).

like a cluster of grapes? if so, that's totally normal. If they are not eating them, then they are overproducing.

 

[Miss M]

Ladysown's right, sounds like cecotropes to me. Looks like a cluster of grapes, or a mulberry. Like lots of smaller-than-normal poo balls stuck together.

These are to rabbits what cud is to cows. They are supposed to re-eat the cecotropes directly from the anus. It is partially digested food, and they eat it a second time, and their body is able to absorb way more nutrients from it the second time through.

If she is not eating these cecotropes, it probably means that her diet is too rich. She's getting so much nutritional value from her feed, that her body doesn't need the cecotropes. You would want to cut back on the feed, or mostly remove rich things you are adding (black oil sunflower seeds, for example). She should starte eating them.

You do want her to eat them. It's better for cleanup, and cecotropes stink.

 

[MaggieJ]

There is a difference between diarrhea (runny, unformed stools) and cecaltropes (the soft, stuck together poop that Ladysown and Miss M described).

Here is a very good article that will help you understand your rabbit's digestive process better.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html