bunny poo and cage behaviour

Question
Hi there

Please can you help me. I have a baby house bunny, about 11 weeks old, and Iv noticed that he has started to do quite a bit more mushy poo than he did 2 weeks ago when I first got him. He leaves the usual hard pellets, then tonight he laid about 3 big mushy poops, not quite diarrhea consistency, more like mashed potato!

Is this normal? I only worry because I dont know what to expect.

I am feeding him hay and small pellets every day but I notice that he seems to enjoy the pellets more. He also drinks alot of water. Could this be the reason and not some health issue?

Lastly, when I bought bunny, I also purchssed a small cage. But after 2 weeks I feel that the cage is like a small prison for my bunny. I let him roam the house all day when I am at home, but at night I have to put him in his cage. He gets so upset and runs to the bars and tries desperately to get out. He then looks at me and waits for me to let him out. I can just tell that he hates his cage. Is this normal? Or have I bought him the wrong cage and should invest in a much bigger one? Or do I indeed have a naughty bunny who is taking advantage of my soft bunny loving nature? I really am not sure. I just want to do whats best. He is too young to be left unsupervised out of the cage all night long but at the same time, I dont want him to be miserable.

Please help!


Answer
Hi,

thanks for asking questions that show your concern for your little guy.

Diet.  Cut back on the food pellets.  Half the amount.  Don't give all at once, give part in the morning, and part at night.  Breakfast and dinner.  He should not have more than between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of pellets a day.  For now put him somewhere in between this range.  He needs the hay more than anything, so if he's hungry if you cut the pellets he will then start eating hay.  Hay is what he needs to bulk up his fecal pellets.  Hay is THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD for all rabbits.  He can survive without any other food source.  Make sure you top it off with fresh hay several times a day.  Periodically just pull all of it out and replace entirely with fresh hay.

It is good he drinks a lot of water.  You want to see that.  He needs the water because of both the pellets and the hay.

Cage issue.  If you can afford the space, bigger is always better.  Prevue (aka Prevue Hendrix) cages are excellent and I would recommend the 2 ft by 4 ft cage for him.  Lots of space and he'll have plenty of room for a nice sized rectangular litterpan, you can put soft bedding down for him over the cage floor, and he'll have room left for food and water bowls, a hidey box in case he needs to go into a smaller space when he's scared, and plenty of room to stretch out and relax.  You will need to build a carpeted (or covered with something for traction) ramp for him to get in and out of the cage as it is off the floor, but these cages are great because they give a bunny a better view of what's going on in the room and not feeling like everything towers over them.  Also it you give him something to come home to at night when you want to tuck him in it's easier.  We give one of our guys the second half of dinner (we don't feed him meals or treats when he's out exercising) but he can have some hay and water, we'll put the 2nd part of dinner up when we want him to go up and he'll go up on his own mostly soon after that, sometimes it's a little longer.

But it's okay to put him up at night, it's a safety thing and if something happens at night you can get to him fast and always know where he is.  I probably wouldn't even let him roam the whole house during the day because you probably haven't bunnyproofed everything and I'd feel safer just giving him a room rather than the whole house.