Cancer in Bunnies

Question
I adopted a 5 year old female holland lop from the humane society about a month ago, upon spaying her they found cancer in her uterus, but since they removed the uterus during the spay they thought she should be fine. They said the tumours didn't look too aggressive and that they were fairly low grade. Lately however her stools have been very unusual, instead of the normal appearance they have been made up of about a dozen teeny tiny poops all mushed together, and have sort of a gummy sticky texture. Last night there was one in her cage that looked like a cow patty, about the size of half a playing card. The tests for cancer are really expensive and i can't afford them, but she doesn't seem in pain, still runs around and eats and drinks. My other two rabbits eat the exact same diet as she does so I don't think it's the food. Can you help me?

Answer
Dear Madeline,

I think a lot of your questions will be answered by this:

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

The sticky, clumped poops you describe sound like normal cecotropes, though the big, mushy one is a sign of cecal dysbiosis.  It's not very likely to be due to cancer.  Two of the most common causes are a diet too high in starch and too low in fiber and dental problems (especially the invisible ones involving the molars!).  You can read about the former here:

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

and the latter here:

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

Note that the diet could well be the culprit.  Some rabbits are simply more sensitive to starch than others, though it's not good for any of them.  Please read the "feeding" article above for more details.

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana