occasional loose stool

Question
I have recently acquired a Rex rabbit that someone dropped off at my former employer. He is very hea;lthy considering his nails were 5 inches long and he was living off of guinea pig food in a guinea pig cage. Since aquiring him we have placed him on the correct food, as well as gotten him placed him in a more suitable cage. Even though I have been very cautious about what I feed him, he still on a daily basis gets diarrhea, however most of the time he has normal stools. I have completely taken him off of fresh vegetables and left him with fresh timothy hay and Nutriphase rabbit formula. I have taken him to the vet and they calimed it was an upper respiratory infection. He went through the 7 day treatment and there seems to be no change, other than the fact since he has been off the anitbiotic he has had the diarrhea less. He has been given the pro-biotics religiously to keep the healthy bacteria in his system. I am at a loss, and the vet seemed to be really confused about it. I live in Oklahoma and have had no luck finding an exotics specialists. Do you have any idea about what could be causing this problem?

Your help is sincerely appreciated.

-Rebecca  

Answer
Hi Rebecca,

first, thanks for taking on this little guy and taking care of him.  Five inches???  That is incredibly long for nails.  Are you sure it was inches?

I am assuming that you are not confusing cecal pellets with diarrhea.

I have several rexes so I am aware of some specifics that apply to them over other rabbits.  

I think first of all you probably need to get a different vet.  Diarrhea that is caused by an upper respiratory infection is not a sound diagnosis, in my opinion.  Usually if anything a URI may be caused by bacteria from somewhere else, not the other way around.  

The antibiotic has messed up the bacteria balance in his gut because it kills both good and bad bacteria.  It is good you have given him probiotics (acidophilus I assume) to help replenish his gut bacteria.  Until this balance gets back to normal, he may have problems.

It also is good you took him off greens as they too can cause loose stools.  Not every rabbit can handle every green well.

Basically what I do for my guys.  No high carbs/high sugar treats.  No greens until the problem is over.  Increase hay and reduce hay cubes (longer fiber is better).  timothy pellets (only!) and no more than 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight.  It would be better to split this up to 1/8 in the morning, 1/8 in the evening (so that if he's still hungry, he eats hay).  

Is he a good hay eater?  If not, that is part of the problem.  You can try to switch brands of Timothy hay to see if he likes one more than the other.  Our guys eat more if they like it.  Oxbow timothy hay seems to be the favorite among ours (and others I deal with).  Kaytee is a second or third.

I don't exactly know where you are in OK, but there are rabbit vets recommended in bordering states, if you check here:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

It appears there are recommended rabbit vets in TX, AK, MO and AZ.

You could also contact your local shelters and see if they recommend a vet that is good with rabbits.  Often they can point you to someone.  

Also you could contact the two Missouri House Rabbit Society chapters:

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/index.html

and see if they can recommend a rabbit vet near you, or you could even contact the national HRS and see if they have some recommendations.

Write back anytime.  Lee


PS - I found a rabbit rescue group in Blanchard, Oklahoma that may be able to help you get more info on a good rabbit vet:

http://www.heartlandrabbitrescue.org/