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bunny not pooping

22 10:38:22

Question
I know that when a bunny stops pooping it is supposed to be serious.  But our bunny seems fine. He is active and alert.  ....and it has been a week.
Its a long story but we had to relocate our bunny, Snowball, out to my mom's house.  He was an indoor bunny living in a penned off area in a warm apartment.  Now he is in a hutch on a covered porch.  We tried to make it as warm as possible for him, with carpet and his familiar litter box and his soft warm bed.  He has shelter and it is not yet winter... so we are hoping he can adjust.  
We left him in care of grandpa who has checked on him daily and says everyday he is doing fine.  After a week we went to visit him and to clean his cage.... not one poop.  
he was bouncing around and smelling our hands, but no droppings!  he didn't seem bloated, and he didn't seem ill at all.  seven days!!!  
Because he does not seem ill.  I am wondering if his issue is not medical.. .but emotional.  And that perhaps after a period of adjustment he might start eating and pooping again. I don't think he feels abandoned because he wasn't a very affectionate bunny.  We tried and tried and tried to be social with him when we first got him, but he never warmed up to us much. We have tried hard not to neglect him, but he doesn't seem interested in us or the toys we give him. The size of the hutch is slightly smaller than his pen, but not too much smaller.
I know you can't make a diagnosis ... but have you ever heard of a bunny that stopped pooping... but wasn't acting sick???  
appreciate your help.
Thanks


Answer
Actually, it's not too uncommon that a rabbit still acts normal when it's having digestive system problems.  Some of them will go awhile until things get to a critical state.

You are correct in assuming that the cause could have been an emotional one for Snowball.  It is a big change to move and then become an outside bunny.  Some rabbits could get stressed by that, and when some rabbits get stressed they don't eat or drink normally or the stress causes some intestinal (gi) problems.

But when a rabbit doesn't poop for a period, an emotional problem can because a health problem.  And with gi issues, things can suddenly snowball(no pun intended) into a very serious issue.

The first thing to do is get Snowball into a vet to determine how blocked up things are.  Once that is known, the vet may prescribe some medicine or have Snowball's caretakers make a dietary change.

Until Snowball can get into a vet, his caretakers need to watch if he's still eating and drinking.  If he gets vegetables, they can rinse them with water to add some extra fluids to his diet.  If he hasn't pooped in a week, I would expect that soon, his food and water intake would change.

For more info on gi problems, you can check these sites for further info:
http://www.mybunny.org/info/gi_stasis.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

But the best thing for Snowball is to get into a vet very soon.