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Bad Habit

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So, I've been holding out on you guys. I got the grey kit I was considering about a week ago. I got pellets and hay with him, and have been slowly switching him over to what I feed. Now, he's a lionhead, so he's a little puff ball, and when I got him, he had some poo stuck to his bottom. Normal looking poos, it looked like either he had been sitting in his own waste, or they simply got tangled in all the fluff. I've been checking daily, and every day he's had a couple of poos stuck to his bum. I put a fresh layer of hay in his litter box several times a day, to make sure he's not picking them up by laying on them, and it doesn't really bother me to pick them off for him. It's become part of our daily routine.

Today, I pick him up, and he's got this weird clump of poos stuck to him. They're about a quarter of his normal poo size, and were all gathered together, almost into a poo log. You can clearly see that they're different poos all stuck together, they're normal consistency, not wet or runny, just small and all clumped together. I immediately thought it was diarrhea, and googled images, but found nothing like what he's got going on. He had the one poo log stuck to him, and I found another in his cage, and I'm waiting to see if he's going to produce any more. He did also have some normal poos stuck to his fur as well, and I don't know which was produced first.

Anyone got any thoughts? Advice?
 
If he is on wire, then he has some tummy trouble going on, if not, others can help more.<br /><br />__________ Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:06 pm __________<br /><br />
 
Just a wild guess from a beginner here, but could they be the edible poos the rabbit ingests before pooping out the ones that fall to the ground or into the tray?
 
I didn't even think of that, PatS... I just googled Rabbit Cecals, and that's exactly what they are. I'm still going to keep my eye on him, and make sure that no more show up, as I would think he needs to be eating those, doesn't he?

And he's not on wire, but on a carpeted floor, though he prefers to sleep in his litter box.

I feel dumb now, it didn't even occur to me to even look up cecals, I think I forgot that rabbits do the poo eating thing.
 
I have a rabbit going through the same thing...boyfriend got me a pet store holland lop for my birthday and it's been like that since I've had him. I might put him down/cull him. He was suppose to be a just pet but it seems like these overload kf nurtrional poo is stunting his growth and making him and his cage a nasty an stinky mess. I'm trying him on a basic diet of alfalfa cubes and soon oatmeal.... Not sure which way he is going to go although he is precious! :(
 
Which problem are you having? Cecals sticking, or just poo sticking in general? Dobby's a pretty clean boy, poos just get stuck in his incredible fluff. I haven't noticed any smell because of it, just a little extra work.
 
Cecal type poo is getting stuck and matted ino his fur but almost ALL his poop is Cecal type. The smell coming off this rabbit is just awful >.< and it gets squished into the floor of the cage and it's excessive. My boyfriend held him for a while in the back of the store because he had problems but got him cause I was considering taking in one more pet( I was planning in keeping a rabbit from a favorite liter) but he suprised me with him. I know he meant well so I'm working hard to get him better. He was taken away from his mom wayyyy to early ( I hate the person who mills these rabbits to this store...I also hate most pet stores) and I'm paying for that now >.<
 
In my experience, any animal that smells really bad is a very sick animal.

Instead of investing so much time and energy (and money) in to an animal that will probably never thrive, and will merely "exist", I would encourage you to focus that passion on animals that can actually improve the future of the generations that come after.

Many viruses and bacteria can live in the environment for a very long time, so you are risking the health of any of your present and future animals by trying to save one sickly one.
 
Cecotropes do smell quite awful. Sometimes, a rabbit on a rich diet will skip eating his cecotropes, leaving them to stink us out. He could be getting more nutrition than he needs from his diet.

I wouldn't be concerned over a single uneaten cecotrope now and then, but if he does it a lot, you may want to review his diet. :)
 
Peach":2609xpq8 said:
I have a rabbit going through the same thing...boyfriend got me a pet store holland lop for my birthday and it's been like that since I've had him. I might put him down/cull him. He was suppose to be a just pet but it seems like these overload kf nurtrional poo is stunting his growth and making him and his cage a nasty an stinky mess. I'm trying him on a basic diet of alfalfa cubes and soon oatmeal.... Not sure which way he is going to go although he is precious! :(
Click to expand...

He wasn't precious to the person that dumped him on the pet store.
There is a reason that one should buy directly from a breeder
rather than a Pet-store! Often the rabbits that end up in a pet store
are there because thay have something lacking in their makeup.
Don't purchase someones obvious outcasts! I would cull the rabbit
and purchase from another source.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
ah, but sometimes Ottersatin... sometimes people don't put their culls in the pet store. Sometimes the pet store calls because they are desperate for bunnies and the breeder sells some in order to maintain good relations. AND sometimes pet store bunnies are the result of small breeders just selling the offspring for what they can get because they don't know other ways to sell them. SOME pet store bunnies are lovely lovely creatures.

That said. a bunny producing too many cecals is having a hard time handling the protein load of the food that he is getting. Feeding grass hay and oatmeal and giving probiotics can boost their bodies abilities to handle it. that said: if the bunny is over 8 weeks old and continues to have problems I would be starting to wonder when enough is enough. For a pet bunny I'd trim ALL his hair really short. Keep him on a wire bottomed cage to minimize the ability for it to stick to him, I'd keep him loaded up on grass hay in a feeder (not on the cage floor) and then ignore him. he will either get better or after about two weeks I'd probably cull him.
 
Yeah this rabbit would be something I would never buy. I look to breeders, while my boyfriend, didn't know better at the time. I've managed his diet for several weeks now and it doesn't ever seem to improve.Like otter mentions, I believe too that he is only existing. I have to keep in in a room and cage near nobody because I don't want my rabbits to be at risk. I even make an example out of him when people visit to see the difference between someone who cares about the health of their herd and someone who is trying to push the youngest age limit,hardly handle,and have no regards to health. Mostly trying to just make a quick buck ( if that is possible). By now he is over 8 weeks but he is tiny! He hasn't been growing.
 
I hope that's not the issue I have with Dobby. I *think* he's done some growing since I got him, but I haven't had him long enough, plus I see him all the time. Definitely going to keep my eye on him.

I don't know if the hair trimming was suggested to me or Peaches, but I'll keep that in mind if he starts to smell. He doesn't smell now, and my panic was at the unknown poo, rather than the poo sticking.

Peach - I'll keep your bun in my thoughts, hopefully he pulls through this.
 
Did it look more like a Raspberry, or toothpaste?
Lately one of my buns have been doing some of both, which on is the actual healthy Cecotrope? Noob question. :D
 
I would say more of a raspberry than a toothpaste shape. If you google rabbit cecal and go to images, it looks exactly what's labeled as cecal. I'd take a photo, but the ones he had have been disposed of, and I haven't seen anymore.

He gets free choice pellets. We're on a ratio of 2.5tbsps old : 1.5tbsps new, just started this batch today, he's got about 3 days worth before we step it up again. For hay, he's got a mix of commercial Timothy hay, and some of the grass bale I got when I bought him. I'm not sure what all is in the mix, but the breeder grows it herself, uses it for both her horses and her rabbits. It's 2nd cutting horse quality though, and I think she said there was 4 or 5 different types in there. No leafy greens yet, as the internet says he's too young, and he didn't eat them at his old home - mum was taken out to get her greens.

I'm not too worried about the poos getting stuck. He doesn't smell bad, I clean them regularly since I don't want them to get really matted up, and the majority of them do come free on their own. I was just worried that the cecal I found was the start of diarrhea, as I've never had a small animal with diarrhea before, and wasn't sure what it looked like.
 
I don't think you need to worry too much... just keep an eye on the situation. Since he is young yet, free-choice pellets should be fine. The hay sounds excellent for a rabbit that is also getting pellets. Rabbits do normally consume the cecals, but not always... so unless it happens often I would not be concerned.
 
Lol, if I'd had my brain working, I would have thought about the cecals and googled it, and I wouldn't have even ended up posting.
 
A normal CECOTROPE resembles a dark brown mulberry, or tightly bunched grapes. It is composed of small, soft, shiny pellets, each coated with a layer of rubbery mucus, and pressed into an elongate mass. The cecotrope has a rather pungent odor, as it contains a large mass of beneficial cecal bacteria. When the bunny ingests the cecotrope, the mucus coat protects the bacteria as they pass through the stomach, then re-establish in the cecum.

cecotropes.jpg
 
Bad Habit":1maa2egj said:
Lol, if I'd had my brain working, I would have thought about the cecals and googled it, and I wouldn't have even ended up posting.
Click to expand...

:lol: Sometimes I forget I have a brain at my disposal too! When you are worried though, the hopes of a quick answer from someone that has seen something similar is very alluring. :)

I'm glad you did though- I've never seen a cecal log myself, just the occasional small shiny poo berries.
 

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