Mucus and red/brown goo

Question
QUESTION: Our 7yr arthritic/e.cun'd Petal (has daily metacam and quarterly panacur) - has been having little strings of mucous round her poops, and more recently reddish bubbly stuff, separate to the poops, which has no smell.  Our English vet is always glad of any info.I can get to help treat our rabbits - may I ask what you'd recommend should be done?  She rarely has pellets, preferring kale/willow leaves/dandelions and herbs/dried pumpkin seeds/banana slices throughout the day - never gets an upset tummy, as underweight if anything. Free range indoors with her partner and girlfriend.

ANSWER: Dear Dinah,

I would ask the vet to test some of the mucus to see if the color is due to blood in her GI tract.  If so, further testing such as bloodwork, radiographs and other analytical tools the vet feels may be helpful should be employed.  It's not normal to have bloody mucus, but there are many different causes of enteritis (i.e., inflammation of the intestinal lining).  Identifying the nature of the problem is only the first step.

If you are not sure your vet is experienced enough with rabbits to handle this, then you might check the listings here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to find another vet for a second opinion.

Hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I wondered about stopping the metacam for a week, say, in case it's that which is irritating the lining? If the mucus then stopped, maybe she could have an antacid (?) so that the metacam can continue? (for her arthritis).  How long would it take for the lining to settle, if that is what's causing it?

Answer
Dear Dinah,

Intestinal mucosa repair themselves, quickly, and might be better after only 3-4 days.  But it might not hurt to ask the vet about adding an antacid now, to prevent further damage.

There's no guarantee that this is due to ulceration (metacam is supposed to be a Cox-2 inhibitor, which would reduce the risk of ulcers), and I still would get the vet on the case to see what is the cause of this problem.

Dana