Two months of mushy poop cant get it stopped.

Question
Dr. Kremples,
My rabbit Ms. C, a Netherland Dwarf, has never had normal poo since she became my companion a year and a half ago.  I  got her from an adoption agency so I don't know much about her before that other than she was a confiscation and based  on the ear tattoo probably came from a breeder.  The adoption agency did have her spayed.
The day she came to live with me her poo looked like the tiny rocks, hard and irregularly shaped, you use at the bottom of a  fish aquarium and two days later she was GI stasis.  Blood work was done and Xray were taken.  After 5 days of forced  feedings and Metoclopramide she was back to rather small and moist poop but at least it was round and larger.  It was  noted that she never ate any hay, I don't think she had ever seen hay before the confiscation, so her vet suggested giving  her oatmeal for the fiber.  The oatmeal did increase the size of her poop but it was kind of moist.
About two months later she again had a case of GI stasis which took about 10 days of forced feedings and Metoclopramide  (.5cc three times a day#  before she was finally pooping and eating by herself again.  During this two month period her  bedding was fairly often smeared with poop and wet from I believe mucus.
At this point her diet is reevaluated changing her pellets from alfalfa based to timothy based 1 teaspoon , 2 pieces of  parsley, 2 pieces of  cilantro, half dollar size of romaine lettuce, and a 1/3 teaspoon of oatmeal twice a day.  For reference she  weighs in around 2.5 lbs.  I also searched for a hay she would eat and found Orchard Grass to be the one she would  actually eat.
She now entered a 9 month period of fairly normal poop although some of it had a wet feel to it but the size and shape were  good.  Her bedding hardly ever had any smears or wetness to it.
She is a free roamer in my home and unfortunately managed to eat a small amount of an ice cream spill in the kitchen which  sent her right in GI stasis.  Due to her past history I had Metoclopramide on hand and administered it to her as soon as I  noted she was not eating.  She came out of this GI stasis in one day.  This is where she enters a period of GI stasis for a day  or two and then a week or two of being able to poop by herself.  I found I couldn't take her off of Metoclopramide without it  leading to GI stasis.  I was gradually reducing the amount of Metoclopramide  a little every other day or so and got down to  around .25cc morning and .35cc evening when she started showing signs of maybe going into GI stasis #poop became  oblong and quite mushy# so went back to .5cc twice a day.
She has now been at the point where she is not showing any signs of stasis #she is very interested in her food being  served) but the poop is quite mushy and mucussy for the last 2 months.   Her bedding needs to be changed almost daily  because of the wetness from mucus.   She needs butt baths to clean her up daily and I have lost that battle she is now  either pulling her fur out or it is falling out from the wetness around her tail and legs.  She has had more blood tests and  X-rays.  Her vet notes signs of a back issue so Metacam was tried for a couple weeks to see if that helped any and it didn't.  I  tried taking away the oatmeal for the last week with no change.  Her vet now wants to try LASER treatment or perhaps  acupuncture for her back.
I am at a loss as to how I should proceed.  Was something overlooked that should be tried or done?
Thanks for any insight you can offer, Jeff

Answer
Dear Jeff,

Your bunny appears to be suffering from chronic cecal dysbiosis, a condition not uncommon in rabbits for several reasons.  You can read more about it here:

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

Note that the most common reason for this condition is incorrect diet.  You can check here to compare what your bunny is getting with what is a healthy diet that promotes intestinal health:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

Cryptic health problems also can cause stress, and this can trigger GI slowdown in rabbits, resulting in cecal dysbiosis and messy bottom.  Anything from urinary tract infection, arthritis, or dental problems may be responsible.  Dental problems are especially common triggers of GI slowdown, especially in short-faced rabbits such as lops and dwarfs.  You can read more about this here:

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

You will need the help of a good rabbit vet to figure out the problem and treat it appropriately, and you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

In the meantime, here are some tips for keeping him clean until you can get him to a rabbit-savvy vet:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

I hope this helps.

Dana