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Mucus in droppings

22 9:46:22

Question
Dropping with mucus
Dropping with mucus  

Single with mucus string
Single with mucus stri  
Hello
I'm writing you from Denmark and hope you can help me or shed some light on what could be wrong with my rabbit.
I got him about 2 months ago from my brothers kids. He is a dwarf rabbit about 3 years old. When I got him he had not eaten for about a week. I took him to the vet, thinking he had a tooth problem. As far as they could see, his teeth was fine - further examination would require sedation, and we came to the decision that he wasn't strong enough for that. So I took him home and fed him with a syringe with dissolved rabbit food mixed with carrot mash. After some days his digestion got functioning again and he started pooping. He had been with me for 5 days without pooping at all.
After that he started eating his food and generally was very active and looking fine. Although he was - and still is too thin. I fed him Critical Care, Fibreplex and Bio Lapis for a while until he was eating enough by himself.
For about 3-4 weeks ago one morning I found a dropping totally encapsulated in a clear jelly like substance. There was only one of them but before that one, his droppings had been a bit soft and he had been a bit more silent than normal. But after the jelly thing he went back to normal and was fine again. Now I'm worried because over the last week he has been leaving droppings with mucus around them -  its different than the jelly one - but definitely with mucus and not normal looking -  a bit smelly too. My question is what could be wrong with him? Otherwise he is very active   - he is running round the house and also goes up the stairs. He is very cuddly - seeking contact and loves to be stroked. He is drinking normally and eating - not as much as I would like - since he is too thin, but he eats everything green I give him - dandelion, grass, parsley, weeds from the garden etc, besides that occasionally carrot and other hard vegetables plus a piece of apple. I now feed him Burgess Excell for dwarf rabbits - but have also been giving him Vitakraft Immun plus and Regular (big nuggets). Besides that he gets hay (which he only eats sparsely) and I've just tried Readigrass (pure dried grass) but he doesn't eat that much of it.
The home he had before, he lived on a terrible diet with no hay - and was fed carrots, rye bread and raw potatoes. Hygiene wasn't too great - and he had an eye infection when I got him - that is now gone.
Besides the droppings with mucus his droppings are shifting from soft to normal.
I've read about Mucoid Enteritidis but can't get it to fit, whith his condition otherwise - since he is eating and seems to feel fine. He has no growling tummy and doesn't show signs of pain or to be bloated. As far as I can tell he has a normal temperature.
Then maybe it could be some sort of parasite..? But maybe you have some experience with that kind of condition? I really hope so -and am thankful for any answer you can give me. I try to add some pictures of the droppings.

Answer
Dear Tina,

Mucus in the stool indicates an irritation of the intestinal lining, but that can be caused by many different things, from poor diet (not a problem any more) to parasites to certain pathologies.  So without taking him a good rabbit vet for a little detective work, you might not be able to find out.  

Bring a very fresh sample of poop with you, if possible, and ask the vet to do a fecal flotation test to check for parasites.  

If you see this only intermittently, it could be that he is still recovering from his ordeal with the kids, and he will gradually continue to improve.  I'm glad you were able to rescue him.

Ask the vet about medications that can soothe the intestinal lining, such as sulfasalazine or even a dose of barium.  That might be all he needs to set things in order and break the cycle of inflammation. But the veterinary exam will tell you more.

Good luck!

Dana