my rabbit had diarrhoea a few days ago but now it's cleared up....?

Question

i aksed about it here, and ppl were saying 'take her to the vet now! she will die! please learn from my mistake! ' etc etc
but i didnt bring her (cuz i never read those answers til just now)
and she seems to be completely better for the past 2 or 3 days. i fed her dry food and her poop is completely normal now. she is also behaving completely normally. is she ok, or should i still bring to the vet? is it still likely she will die?

maymie -- i thought rabbits were supposed to eat mostly veggies?

Answer 1

Hi, no dont worry about the vet this sounds perfectly normal.

A rabbit can get an upset stomach by eating too much green food. Its perfectly fine to give them veg and fruit, but too much of it for them is not good (much like us). Putting them back on dry food for a few days will sort that out (like you did)

Answer 2

I study Animal Care at college so I know a little bit about Rabbits and their diets. Normally it's a good Idea to just keep your rabbit on it's normal dry food and also the odd carrott a couple of times a week as this is good for their teeth also thats fine and always make sure that she has plenty of water. If you did want her to have some green vegetables ie greens then only give her a small amount about once a week this will add to her vitimin intake also. Rabbits have very delecate tummies and anything green given to them to offten will give them the runs. You did the right thing by giving her just the dry food keep her on this for about a week then gradually start introducing the other veg again, don't worry she won't die but comes back and you are worried take her to see the vet then. Hope this helps

Answer 3

Hi Fifi,
Since your bunny has seemed to recover, and sounds like she's feeling fine. Unless she begins to have diarrhea, again, and it lasts for more than a few days, I would say the Vet is not necessary.

Your bunny likely had diarrhea because she has too much fiber in their diet.
Buy your bunny some high quality, packaged rabbit food, and packaged hay. (Timmothy Hay is a good brand). Rabbits need lots of varying roughage. Hay is the best roughage food for rabbits, along with vegetables and fruit, to supplement her diet.
There are some vegetables and fruit; you should never feed her, and some, in sparring amounts.
Actually, Dark green vegetables are most recommended for rabbits, and won't give them diarrhea. Romaine lettuce, Collard greens, turnips, parsley, and basil.
Don't give her Cauliflower or cabbage because they cause gas, which can lead to gi stasis, which can be deadly. Also, avoid starchy foods such as potatoes and corn.

Fruits should be given as treats but some high in fiber can cause diarrhea. Grapes, Plums, Nectarines, Peaches, all are high in fiber and given in very small amounts, very rarely. Many fruits are high in sugar, and should be given in small amounts; bunnies love sugar. My bunnies love bananas, and get about 1/4 - 1/2 of a banana, each, once a week.

Pellets should also be part of her diet, again as a supplement. Pellets offer a source of protein, which serves as a source of energy. Look for Pellets that have no more than 16% protein. Many brands sold in pet stores are higher than 16%, and are not "ideally" suitable for most pet rabbits. Too much protein content, can lead to obesity, if given over long periods.

Here is a great site for owners of pet rabbits.
http://www.rabbit.org/

On the same website, here is the link for the house rabbit's diet.
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

Good luck,

Kat

Answer 4

I have been raising and showing rabbits for 25 years and I've studied up about rabbit diseases and have studied animal nutrition at Purdue University. Below I've listed some common causes of diahrrea and I've also described in a summary fashion how a rabbit gets diahrrea in certain instances.

Diahrrea is the #1 disease that kills more domestic rabbits each year than any other rabbit disease. However, typically it isn't something to get real worried and immediately rush it to the vet and go on about how if you don't rush it to the vet it will die. Diahrrea over a prolonged period of several days will kill the rabbit, but typically it can be caught and cured fairly easily.

As the one person mentioned, vegetables can cause diahrrea. And TONS of people who haven't raised rabbits for very long tend to feed their rabbit too many vegetables and the inevitable happens...diahrrea. Diahrrea can be caused by more than just feeding it too many vegetables, but it is a very common mistake by beginners. They think that the vegetables are good for the rabbit when in actuality they are not. And they have many people who raise rabbits as pets and don't know better tell them that it is good, just don't feed them too much.

If your rabbit has dried up, I'd say it's ok. Just don't go back to feeding the vegetables. Or if you do go back to feeding the vegetables as a snack, keep the amount very regulated.

Diahrrea is a bacterial disease technically called bacterial entertitis. What happens when you feed it too many vegetables, fruit, or grass is that it changes the make-up of the food in the digestive system. This change in the make up of the food in the digestive system allows certain types of bacteria to reproduce more easily. So the more vegetables, grass, or fruit you feed the more you increase the chance of your rabbit getting diahrrea because the more it offsets that balance and the more it allows certain kinds of bad bacteria to reproduce far faster than they should in the digestive system. Once the bad bacteria builds up to a certain level, your rabbit gets diahrrea. It's basically the rabbits immune defense to get that bad bacteria out of its system. However, diahrrea can cause your rabbit to become dehydrated so you need to make sure it has plenty of water.

The bacteria feeds off the food in the digestive system and that's what it reproduces and grows off of. So what's a simple way of getting rid of the bacteria? Pulling the rabbit off its food for about 24 hours so the food is excreted out of the rabbits digestive system and along with the food goes the bad bacteria.

Foods that tend to cause this to happen are foods with a lot of starches, sugars, or carbohydrates...basically foods that are high in energy. Green grass, vegetables, fruits, corn, etc all fall into this category. Also that extra energy when it is not used gets stored as fat, making your rabbit fatter. So your veggie snacks, even though they are good for humans are bad for rabbits. They tend to make rabbits fat as well as give them diahrrea.

That's why it's best to stick to just the rabbit pellets (which are specifically formulated to their nutrional needs), water, and possibly some timothy hay.

Foods that are high in fiber and contain roughage are good to fight diahrrea. Timothy hay, straw, and orchard grass hay all fit that category (basically narrow leafed hays). They reduced the energy content in the digestive system and the roughage helps get the bowels moving like they should.

Another thing that can typically cause diahrrea is coccidiosis. Coccidiosis normally occurs in the summer to young rabbits, especially ones kept in solid floor cages. Coccidiosis can be treated with liquid amprolium.

Stress can also cause diahrrea. It is not a good idea to change feed on a rabbit often, especially during summer or to move it around a lot or change the water. That's why many people who show rabbits will take their own feed and water with them from home to the show. Normally if you are going to move the rabbit it is a good idea to cut the feed ration by half and keep them a little on the hungry side. If you give them full feed, they tend to go off their feed when you get them back home and fair worse.

Two other things that really help prevent diahrrea are a clean pen and clean water. Never under-estimate the importance of these two points.

PS - Don't listen to Kat. She has know idea what she is talking about. Fiber helps PREVENT diahrrea. It doesn't cause it. Timothy hay is full of fiber and is a very good means of helping prevent diahrrea.

Answer 5

Most rabbits bred today never see any veg.

The reason for seeing a vet is that the diarrhoea in rabbits is a virus and yes it kills rabbits.

Owner and breeder of rabbits since 1974

Try http://thebrc.com

Answer 6

Were you feeding your rabbit a lot of vegetables before it happened? Rabbits should not have vegetables more than once a week or it will get wet tail (diarrhea.) If you were feeding it veggies more than once a week and it has stopped, I wouldn't worry about taking it to the vet yet. If you weren't feeding it much veggies, you should take it to the vet.

Answer 7

im an exotics vet tech
this bunny if getting soft runny stools, has the beginnings of GI stasis...u need to get your bunny to an exotics vet, asap, cos this can lead to death if not treated right away. you bunny sounds like he has teeth issues (back molars, not incisors)...what happens is, bunnies who eat lots of pellets after being weened from their mom, dont get proper nutrition. their lower jaw grows slower than the upper jaw, causing a malocclussion. which causes an overbite so to say. this creates points on the back molars, cos the molars (which are meant to grind greens), so ware down (back teeth constantly grow and need to be worn down by grinding of plant matter). if they grow points, when eating, the points will rub up against their tongue and cheeks, which is very painful, causing the rabbit to slow down on eating or stop. (a rabbits GI track is made to constantly have plant matter move thru it, slowing down or stopping of this food mov't can be detrimental). i reccomend u find an exotics vet asap (no matter the distance from u) and get what is called a teeth trim ( make sure they specialize in trimming the back molars, many dog and cat vets trim them incisors, and this does not solve the problem). the exotics vet, should give u a rundown on what to feed your bunny...if not, this is what they SHOULD eat.......
lots of leafy greens like kale, rommaine, chickory, dandilion greens, arugula, parsley, collards, stuff like that, you can find that all in the produce aisle of your local grocery store. you can give fruits as treats (like berries, pineapples, mango, papaya, etc...carrots fall into this category too.) make sure all veggies and fruits are fresh....NO DRIED FRUITS, THEYRE HIGH IN SUGAR, TOO MUCH SUGAR IS BAD FOR A RABBITS GI.
when giving treat foods, make sure u give 1 heaping tablespoon for every 2 pounds your bunny is. example, and 10pound bunny can have 5 heaping tablespoons of treat foods a day. STAY AWAY FROM PET STORE TREATS....LIKE YOGURT DROPS. THEY ARE HIGH IN SUGARS, AND ARE VERY BAD FOR RABBITS.
never feed your rabbits pellets that have colorful things in them or seeds and dried corn...also very bad. starches are bad for a rabbits GI and can cause GI stasis (the shutting down of the gastrointestinal tract), which can lead to death. also, no wheat, or grain type foods, like breads, oats or cereals. if you have any questions, contact me at any time, and good luck
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Answer 8

this could be something that is reoccuring. You should take it for a well bun check up anyway. http://www.rabbit.org