Oh My Gosh!!! Why Are His Poops Like This?!

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Bad Habit

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One of 8 in the cage. He had a messy bum earlier(looked like he sat in something), so I gave him a bum bath, blew him dry, and went on my way. Came home 2 hours later and he's CAKED in poop. Acting fine otherwise.

His poop STINKS. Smellier than dog farts. And it's got no form, you can't see any proper poos in it at all. It is a lighter colour also, more like dog poop than bunny poop, really.

I took him out of the cage, and put him in a plastic bottomed carrier. He has water, and oats, and some hay, but nothing else. Nothing has changed in what they're being fed at all, and he's the only one with problems. He's the smallest of the bunch.

I feel bad, someone was supposed to pick him up on Saturday, I just emailed her and told her that I couldn't sell him yet. She opted to take another rabbit, and didn't seem upset that I was holding him back, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Is there anything else I can do for him?
 
If the rest of the litter is fine, then it's not anything you are doing. It sounds like he's got a messed-up digestive system. You could try some probiotics or life-culture yogurt in addition to what you are doing already.

Since he's the smallest, he may have a congenital defect of some sort. Or maybe it's his problems that have caused him to be smaller. The whole chicken and egg question. :?
 
Well, there were 3 that were smaller at birth. The other two are still a little smaller, but in the last week, everyone had a growth spurt but this guy.

I'll pick up some probiotics(where do I get those) in the morning.

I've never seen anything like it. Not ever. It's like... Stinky brown toothpaste. I had found some on the cage floor, but thought that the litter box needed changing, and someone was picking up old poo and dragging it out(on their bum). Then I picked that guy up, and he had SOOOOO much poop hanging off him.

It's scary :(
 
I know you can get goat probiotics at a feed store, but I have no idea how much they are, or what quantity they come in. You may want to try the yogurt, as it would be relatively cheap. I don't know much about probios, I just know that they have been used by members here with success.
 
it'll be HIS particular genetics.

I would not let him go to a breeding home, and I would not sell him (would most likely just bury him as critters won't eat them when they are like that).

If you want to sell him, hold on to him until he's well past 12 weeks of age and only if his digestive system settles down really well. I find though, that when they are young with digestive issues, that they will easily develop gut stasis as adults, and it's generally better to cull them.

you can get probiotics meant for cats (they are dry and are kept in the fridge) that bunnies tolerate well. They mix well with oatmeal or you can mix it in some yogurt or even into a slurry that you administer.

you can find the ones I'm talking about at Pet Valu.

(sorry, having dealt with gut issues for years it's an issue....99% of the way issue free!) Thank the Lord for that. :)
 
See, I was thinking there could have been something in the hay that bothered him, or he might have gorged himself, which made him sick.

If this is a genetic issue, would it have come from one of his parents? This is the first litter I've had by Snow.

---

I stand corrected. There is now two in the litter like this.
 
tailwagging":3w2bcnc1 said:
what brand of feed are you feeding?
Click to expand...

TSC Rolling Acres Breeder Feed. I've been feeding it all along, though, and am halfway through a bag, so it's not even like I just started a new batch. Only the younger litter(6wks) is having issues, and only 2 of them.
 
who puts out TSC feed?
when ever i have issues with anything I wonder if it is the feed.
 
It's milled locally, in Cavan(which means nothing to you, I'm sure :p)

I would think it was the feed too, but I'd expect others to show signs if it were.

Soooooo. They seem to be getting better. Their poops now have a cecal shape, rather than just mushy grossness. I'm still not selling them, but could it have been something they'd eaten that either the others didn't get into, or didn't get affected by? I sterilized all of their dishes to be sure it wasn't caused by that. No one else is showing signs of any sort of illness.
 
Anything growing up your way yet, Bad Habit? If you can find some beginnings of plantain, that might help. I saw some here the other day that is beginning to show signs of life. Also some of last year's wild strawberry leaves starting to green up. The other useful plants for diarrhea (blackberry and raspberry leaves and shepherd's purse) are not up yet, but it might be worth looking around to see what you can find.
 
No plantain yet, my back yard is just a muddy mess at the moment. I'll take the mutt for a walk and have a look, I know where there is a thicket of wild blackberries that may be leafing up, and there's always plantain in the park.
 
BH - since you use litter boxes, do the kits ever get a chance to nibble on moms poops? It really sounds like their gut bacteria got out of balance. I don't know how you feel about this theory of mine, but I have not had any gut stasis or weaning enteritis since I started adding that to the kits diet before/during/after weaning. I just drop a few from an adult into the water dish. I also notice the kits drink more water when I do that too.
 
Poops in the water dish?? I assume the babies do. Hannah always poops in the nest box, and I have seen crystal do it too. Maybe just those two didn't have enough? They cleared up fine, after just a couple days, though.
 
Have you treated the litter for coccidia? Sometimes one in the litter will have a higher load of cociddia and in shows in such a manner. Many treatments available. We use a sulpha drug in the water (sold for chickens, turkeys, swine) as a coccidiastat. The name of it escapes me at the moment.
 
I know it's tough but sometimes you just have to swaller hard and cull. I'd bury the little guy deep as a precaution.
 
I'm about 99% sure that the two just got into something, probably a weed that was in the hay, and it upset their tummies. The poopy bums were only there for like, 2 days. They were also the last 2 to come off the doe, and had only been off the doe for about 4 or 5 days when it happened.

The doe actually went to her new home on Tuesday. She only had one incident of poopy bum, and I washed her up and then she was fine. The buck has not had an issue since the first 2 days either. He's hopefully going tomorrow.

It might have been cheerios. I often throw down a handful when the buck is out(to get him to move around), and if he didn't get them all, those two might have found and ate some.
 
I use sulmet in my goats to treat cocci if I suspect they have it. The smelly poop does sound like it's possible its cocci.
 

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