overweight rabbit with mushy poop and chronic blockage

Question
i have to questions about a 6 1/2 year old rabbit.  one is that he seems to get stomach blockage.  i feed him greens (lettuce, parsly, brocolie, colliflower leaves, kale), three almonds a day, table spoon of rolled oats in the morning, blueberries and raspberries as a treat everyday, sometimes apple, carrot and rasins.  when he  gets sick he sits and doesnt eat, soemtimes shivers and later his stomach gurgles and he drinks water and then gets better.  he has had that a few times in his life.  soemtimes it seems very serious and i have had him at the vet but it seem that they never no what they are talking about.  he also gets a very dirty bum.  he cant reach his bum and clean it.  he is a little over weight.  he loves to eat and also wants food.  he also scratches his ears alot.  very lovable, likes to lick and cuddle.  he has full run of my house.   i really love and am concerned.

Answer
Dear Stephanie,

The bunny's diet is probably contributing to his problems, which is not intestinal blockage, but cecal dysbiosis.  You can read about this here:

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

and about a healthy, balanced diet here:

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

It sounds as if your bunny is getting far too much sugar and starch, and this will make him gassy and painful--which is when he sits in a hunch and won't eat.  If this continues, it could become a chronic ileus problem, which you can read about here:

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

If you improve his diet, he will also trim down, which will help the whole situation.  

It's evident that your vet doesn't really know too much about rabbits if they don't know what you're talking about when your bunny has this problem, so please use the list linked here to find a better rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Dental problems also can cause chronic GI tract problems, so please read:

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

and ask the new vet to do a full wellness exam including a deep oral exam to check for molar spurs.

Hope this helps.

Dana