mucus in bunnies poop

Question
my bunny is about 3-4 months old... she is very active and loves to play (i try and let her play at least 3 hrs per day). This past week has been difficult with her... she has been biting grunting/growling and running from me and the other day i went to pick her up and she started screaming. Her normal diet consist of spinach, romaine lettuce, red and green peppers, cilantro, celery, and starting 4 days ago kale. sparingly fed carrots, brocolli, mango, grapes, apples, and bananas. last night i went to check on her she had pooped two poops that had a layer of a mucus like substance on it. im not sure if i should take her to a vet for this. i am very worried. she is still pretty active and i see her eating but im still worried being as her behaviour recently changed. please let me know what i should do. if this is normal or will pass or does she need a vet? thank you for your time

Answer
Dear Lisa,

Mucus in the poop is a sign of inflammation of the intestinal lining.  It's good that she's eating and acting fairly normal, but please read this:

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

and see:

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

Her aggressive behavior could be due to the onset of puberty, which is just about the right time at her age.  She may be in the throes of her first false pregnancy, which will make her moody and grumpy until she "gives birth" (17-21 days after the false pregnancy starts), at which point she'll become her old, cuddly self. But the moodiness will continue until she is spayed.

She's still a bit young for spaying.  I prefer to wait until a female is at least 8 months old (unless the vet leaves the ovaries behind; but that's a new thing still in its pioneering phase), as estrogen is important for skeletal development.  But a consultation with a rabbit-savvy vet is surely in order if her poops become really abnormal or she stops eating.  You can find a vet here:'

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana