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Help with excess cecals.

22 9:45:11

Question
Hi there. I have a rabbit, Fred who I got from a rescue sanctuary. We live in Australia. He has produced excess cecals since we got him in April so it's been nearly 6 months. When he first came to my house he was drinking exclusively and his urine was dilute so I took him to the vet and we did some blood tests and the only thing found was an elevated GGT of 46 which I understand is way hire then usual. However he started concentrating his urine better and was settling in fine so other then a good diet, no further treatment was pursued.

I have tried all sorts of diet ratios for Fred. He's always had 24/7 access to oaten hay that I buy by the bale. At first he was getting 1/4 cup of oxbow pellets and around a cup to two cups of green leafy veggies each day. I've never fed carrots or other really starchy veg. Sometimes he would get really mushy poos from the veg so I thought, maybe I'll simplify things and he can stay on just pellets and hay for a while, no change. Then just veggies and gay, no change.

Then I read an article about intermittent soft stools so I discussed it with my vet and put him on a hay only diet to see if there would be a change. He still produces excess cecals even after being on a hay only diet for three weeks. Some days it is a loooot some days it is one or two but there's always one at least. My vet has come up with nothing and she's not an expert so she rang a rabbit clinic in Melbourne and they said it was probably just him and that he must just not need the nutrients but this sounds crazy.

I am at the end of my rope. He's not unhappy but it can't be comfortable producing so much soft poo. I have seen him eat them so I'm pretty sure it's not a behavioural thing but it's so hard to be sure. Surely he shouldn't produce them after eating only hay. Is there some sort of medication we can use to help his gut or have you heard of a bun doing this and something added to his diet helped? You're pretty much my last hope at finding something to help. It's not easy to clean them up either and it will make it difficult to bond him because the other bunnies will have to deal with his soft poos all over their enclosure as well.

Any advice is most welcome. Thanks

Answer
Dear Lucy,

As your vet says, some rabbits do just produce a lot of soft poop, and there's no apparent reason or anything wrong.  But just to be sure, please check the article here for clues:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

A fecal exam might reveal parasites or other source of the problem.  But don't rule out the contribution of chronic pain from dental disease:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

We've seen this as a culprit for this type of problem time and again.

Hope that helps.

Dana