Yucky poo

[siddsaysgimmie]

I have two junior does that I am concerned about. Both Hollands, one is almost 4 months old, the other is a little over 5 months. Both smaller in size, unrelated, I purchased one over a month ago and the other was born here. Both don't eat very much at all. They're not super skinny but they do need to put on weight. Both are drinking and are active. Biggest cause of concern is that they have a lot of yucky poos/cecotropes. It's not runny or anything, they just have a lot of it. They have normal poos too, but they are small.

Any ideas?<br /><br />__________ Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:11 pm __________<br /><br />Nothing?

 

[Flemishstar]

perhaps since they are not eating enough they are producing more ceotropes from them to supposidly eat, as way for their dobies to make em get more nutrition...I know ive been throwing this around alot lately...but feed them sime bread here and there,,,it will fatten them up and possibly in my experience clear up wet poop

Aldo

 

[AmysMacdog]

What kind of food do you give them? Do they get any hay or greens?

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Thanks, I will give them a little bit of bread to see if that helps.

I feed them pellets... that's all. No treats or greens for my younger ones. I have been having a hard time finding hay so none of that either.

 

[ladysown]

what percentage feed is it? sometimes I find with holland lop juniors that a lower percentage protein is actually better for them.

 

[HoppyMeal]

Feed Them some whole oats and that will put some weight on them.

 

[ottersatin]

Small poos is not a good sign and a large amount of cecotropes
is not a good sign either. The Rabbits may have Wool-block/Fur-block.
I would give them each a bit of fresh Pineapple or Some "Adolph's Meat tenderizer"
The enzyme in it will break down the Proteins holding the Hairball together.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Protein percentage is 17%. Is that high? I don't have oats right now so I gave them a Cheerio each and put some ACV in the water. I thought it might perk them up but was that a bad idea? Neither will eat pineapple but I'll try to get one of those small bags of hay in the next few days. I'm concerned because these are two very promising does.

I have a jr. buck as well who is not having any problems. He lived with the younger doe (who is the most problematic) until about a month and a half ago. She did have a lot of yucky poos back then too, but I thought it was both of them until I separated them. Here's some pics from today.

The younger doe is doing worse today. The other one seems to be doing better for right now. Yucky butt even though she has a wire bottomed cage.



Under the younger doe's cage. This is from overnight... you can see that some of the poo is abnormal.





Under the pan of the other doe... pretty much normal but I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

 

[AmysMacdog]

It wouldn't hurt to have a fecal done to check for coccidia. My vet will do one if I take in just the sample and tell them what kind of animal it is for 15 dollars. I've seen messy bums like that on bunnies with coccidia.
ACV was a good idea. I'd take them off feed and put them on old fashioned Quaker oats (not the instant oats)until their stools are back to normal and if you can, get them some hay.
Hope they feel better soon!

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

hay and oatmeal will clear that up.. but don't wait.

 

[MaggieJ]

I keep saying this but just in case it has not come your way, there are safe plants that can help with poopy butt.

The leaves of raspberry, blackberry and strawberry and the lawn weeds plantain (Plantago major or Plantago lanceolate) and shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) are all great and will NOT cause diarrhea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_lanceolata
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/weedguid/shepherd.htm

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

I got her some oats, she ate those. How much should I give her and how often? I have tried to give her a 16% extruded feed and she refuses to eat that. I'm unable to get hay at the moment, unfortunately.

I recognize the first plantain. I'll give her a leaf of that and a strawberry leaf. I hope she will eat it.

I don't know much about coccidia. Does anyone else think that this is a concern? How do I treat it and can I just go ahead and treat when I'm not sure? Our vet would charge a lot for a fecal check and I am not in the position to spend extra money with school coming up.<br /><br />__________ Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:57 pm __________<br /><br />She ate the plantain and the strawberry leaf. I cleaned up the pan, I'll let you know how they are doing tomorrow.

 

[dangerbunny]

that seems like a major gut imbalance.

Your mileage may vary but my practice whenever I have a bun with gut issues is to pull all feed except grass hay, a week or two on just hay seems to put everything right.

* I also keep some small animal probiotics on hand and that seems to help as well.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Okay, maybe gut imbalance... anyone know what could cause that? Could it be the feed?

I'm trying to figure out what to do. Most agree that I should pull pellets and just feed hay/oats. I contacted some people about getting some hay, not sure when it will be but I'm hoping it's soon. When I get hay, I will give her that and oats for a week and see what happens. Would that be bad, since she is a little skinny? Would she get enough nutrients to survive? I would be absolutely devastated if I lost this rabbit.

I think that coccidia may be possibility... I brought her to the show where I bought the other rabbit who was having problems (although she is still fine this morning and was never as bad as the younger one). How do you treat it?

 

[dangerbunny]

My theory behind the only hay feeding is rabbits are designed to have constant amounts of roughage in their gut, to restore gut health you want to encourage the healthy microorganisms to repopulate. Even plain starches will change the gut ph.

I had a case of weaning enteritis a while back, little doe was very bad off, lethargic and very skinny. She recovered fully

I am not really sure about coccidois in rabbits, I've never dealt with it. Maybe someone else can chime in? I know with chickens they pick it up (it is naturally in the environment, little microorganism) and if the animal gets stressed or is weaker it takes up residence in the gut, proliferates and causes issues and eventually death.

People having issues with pellets is one of the things that convinced me to using a forage/grain based diet. Some people never have any issues with pellet feeding but honestly you don't know what goes into them.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Thanks! Death? Geez, looks like I will want to treat her, I'll ask around and try to find more info.

Today she isn't really pooping at all. Sigh. She is eating some, turned her nose at the hay I was able to dig up. Is eating some oats and the plantain though.