A lot of diarrhea like cecotropes

Question
We have a 10 year old giant checkered bunny named Marshmellow.  We were at a vet that specializes in rabbits this morning because she didn't want to eat this morning ... even her papaya that she goes crazy for ... and she was lathargic.  We monitor her VERY closely because of her age so we knew something was up right away and that it has only been going on for about 8-10 hours.

They did xrays at the vet and they thought they looked good.  But when he papatated her, there was a lot of sound.  He said it sounded like a lot more gas than the x-ray's showed.  We put her back on her mat and about 2 or 3 minutes later she did about 15 small cecotrops and then a lot of pure liquid cecotropesfor a minute or so.  (She had just pooped a few normal ones a few minutes earlier and the liquid stuff smeelled like her regular cecotropes so we are pretty sure thats what it was.)

He temperature is normal.  We are really, really worried about her.  Have you heard of anything like this before?  

Thank you.

Warren

Answer
Dear Warren,

Yes, this is not uncommon.  Marshmellow is suffering from a GI upset of indeterminate origin, and the most important thing now is to keep her GI tract moving and keep her intestinal flora balanced.  Please read:

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

The vet may want to check the cecotrope sample for parasites, but this isn't a common cause in house rabbits.  More common is GI tract slowdown that results in enteritis (inflammation of the intestinal lining) and runny cecotropes.  This can be caused by many different types of stress or illness, but in a bunny Marshmellow's age, my first suspect would be pain from molar spurs.  Please read:

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

But it sounds as if your bunny is really suffering from a case of incipient ileus, which can be life-threatening if not treated aggressively and immediately.  Please read:

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

It's good that her temperature is normal, but please also read:

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

so you'll be able to monitor this.  A bunny with a lot of abdominal pain will often go hypothermic and shocky, and this, too, can be life-threatening.  It's important to keep her temperature in the normal range so any medications will be properly absorbed and metabolized.

Has the vet placed Marshmellow on any medications for intestinal motilty?  If not, please ask about that immediately.  In the meantime, you can give her gentle abdominal massage and pediatric simethicone suspension (as per the ileus article above) to make her more comfortable.  Also ask the vet about pain medication, which is critical in a case like this.

If her cecotropes continue to be runny and she's losing a lot of fluid via her GI tract, subcutaneous fluid therapy will also be a wise supportive measure.  And if she develops full-blown diarrhea (rare in adult rabbits, but not impossible), then we have had success in stopping it to "buy some time" while other therapies take effect by using Immodium at a dose of 1mg/kg.  Please ask the vet, of course, before administering any medication.

Another very common cause of GI upset like this is incorrect diet, so also check:

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

But for now, start the ileus article and procedures you can do at home, and be sure to ask the vet about the medications and treatments I've mentioned above.  If you're not sure the vet you're seeing is truly a rabbit expert, you can find more listings here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to find another vet for a second opinion.

I hope this helps, and that Marshmellow is well soon.

Dana