bunny pooping too much

Question
Hi,
I commend your site as having the best information I have found in months on bunny's. I have a mini lop bunny who is about 8 months old. Gender unknown. Bun-Buns has the sweetest disposition we could ever hope for. He is not overly curious, and hasn't been agressive. I had read that we shouldn't provide bunny's with anything other than 4-6oz of pellets a day and timothy hay. We had noticed nothing unusual until a month ago, where he began peeing excessively. We normally change his litter daily, and now were having to change it twice or three times a day. He would go thru 6 oz of water daily. Our pet store thought he may too bored. We gave him more out of cage time,and new toys. It seems to go away or not be daily. Then just last week he had a huge amount of poop, to the point that all of his bottom was packed with poop. We had to bath his bottom. It seemed like he had lite poop days until today. It was another huge mushy poop day. I have always fed him the same: all the timothy hay he wants, and a tablespoon of (17% protein) KayTee Forti Diet Rabbit Lapin pellets, twice a day.
We had done every day except for one day two weeks ago, when I gave him a long piece of celery and one fresh green bean. He was fine then, but isn't himself now. I am only giving him timothy grass and water as of today to try to settle his stomach. He has not been drinking as much water the last few days, though his stool is sticky and has mucous. He is eating some of the hay, but not with the fevor he attacks his pellets. His fur is sticking up above his ears, is that tenting? He is also sitting quietly with his back hunched up. He seems to be in the crouching poop posiiton even when he is not in the litter box. When I stroked his tummy he didn't fuss. He is grooming as usual, especially because he had his feet and bottom bathed. He is still pooping soft mucous covered pellets, that are sticking to his underside. Could it just be indigestion or should I go see a vet. Our local vet didn't know anything about bunnies. I am So Broward, West of 75. Is there someone you suggest that would know what he needs.  

Answer
Dear Teri,

Unfortunately, the best rabbit vet in our area (I'm in Miami) has just had a baby, and is out of commission as far as veterinary work is concerned.  But if you call (954) 968-7171, Dr. Kelleher's hospital staff (or the answering machine) might have a good referral for you.  She really is the only one to trust with rabbits.

Your bunny's problem is quite simple, however.  It sounds as if he's working on a good bout of cecal dysbiosis, which you can read about here:

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

The mucus is a bad sign, indicating that this has gone on long enough to cause enteritis (inflammation of the intestinal lining).  This is painful, and it is also possibly due to an overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the bunny's cecum.  Please read the following article completely:

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

and print the following for your vet:

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

It is imperative to get bun to the vet ASAP for Banamine (analgesic will make a HUGE difference).  You can start things improving now with pediatric simethicone drops (from any pharmacy), gentle tummy massage, and "support feeding" as per the instructions in the article.  He's hunching from pain, and that pain is probably due to gas and cramps.  

I have found that sulfasalazine can really help, and if you can find a good vet and give him/her that ileus.pdf article, you might ask about that.

In the meantime, you can read how to keep bunny's bum clean here:

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

You might be surprised to learn that this problem is often not related to diet, and sometimes is a symptom of some other health problem.  Although your bunny is young, his breed is often predisposed to molar problems such as spurs.  These can be painful enough to elicit ileus, and cause the problems you describe.  So whatever vet you find, be sure s/he knows how to look deep into the mouth to check for molar spurs, and to file them as necessary.

If you can't find a vet up where you are, then Dr. Will Chavez is seeing Dr. Kelleher's clients down here.  His phone number is (305) 670-0611.

I hope this helps for starters.  Please write back if you have more questions, but please also get started on the treatments in the ileus.html article.  They could save Bun Bun's life.

Dana