My rabbit is stressed...

Question
Three days ago, I moved out of my apartment and I haven't set up at my new one. So at the moment I am staying at my friend's house. My rabbit has been at my friend's house a couple times but I think the move upset him and he does not seem to be adjusting well. He has stop eating and his poop has become very small. I offered him his favorite treats and he has nibbled on a dried apricot and a couple small leaves of romaine, he also drinks water fairly regularly. I don't know whether to think his condition is serious or not. He still moves aaround and licks when I scratch his favorite spots but he seems irritated. I'm worried because he has lost weight and his poop is very small. Tomorrow morning (Monday the 12) I am going to take him to the vet, but I was just wondering what you thought and if you think it is serious. Thank you for you time.  

Answer
Dear Nicole,

You're a good bunny mom to be observant enough to see his signs of stress.  One very common physiological response in rabbits subjected to pain/stress is a slowdown of the GI tract, and this can result in both smaller fecal pellets and mushy cecotropes.  You can read more about this here:

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

If the bunny does stop eating and pooping altogether, it is very serious:

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

Be sure you take bun to a good rabbit vet, since only somone familiar with rabbits will know how to recognize signs of incipient ileus and cecal dysbiosis.  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope that helps!

Dana