stools

Question
I have a 1 year old netherland dwarf.  She is an indoor pet who has the run of the place. She has been spayed and she has no problems with her appetite.  She does however have stools that are usually soft.  They are formed as balls but are not usually dry like they are supposed to be.  She eats timothy hay/alfalfa, bunny pellets and hard chew bisquits.  I stopped giving her fresh vegs/fruit but it didnt seem to make a difference.  What can I do, or give her, to help out with this problem?  Thanks!

Answer
Dear Mariann,

Does she *always* produce these types of soft, large poops, or does she also produce normal, round fecal pellets.  If the latter, then she probably has a slight case of cecal dysbiosis, which is explained here:

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

There's a link in the article to healthy diet:

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

But note that the problem may have nothing to do with her diet.

In many cases, cecal dysbiosis is *not* related to diet at all (it's never caused by fresh vegetables, no matter what a pet store person or breeder might tell you), but rather to some underlying health problem  such as molar spurs (Probably the #1 non-dietary cause of mushy poop) that cause the bunny pain/stress.  This is fully explained in the poop.html article above.

If she *always* produced these to the exclusion of normal fecal pellets, then she may have a congenital syndrome sometimes called "Cowpoop Bunny".  This is somewhat analogous to "megacolon" seen in cats, and it can, unfortunately, lead to intestinal health problems down the road (many years down, I hope!).  

If she always produces the big, "marshmallowy" poops, then I'll ask another question:  what color is she?  If she is mostly white with dark eyes and some pigmented spots, then she might have the megacolon syndrome.  It is more often coupled with this color of rabbit than any other.

If you think your bunny has "cowpoop syndrome," please write back.  I have additional special information on that particular disorder.  You might also want to hook up with a good bunny vet now, before you need one.  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.  Please write back if you have more questions.

Dana