Bunny Diarrhoea!! Hi. I wrote this before but think I must have put it in the wrong section or something! Anyway, hope it's helpful! When I first got my bunnies 4 years ago I fed them the same mix the breeder did, BunnyBrunch, which they were fine with. Unfortunatly, after about a year they stopped selling this in my local pet shop, so I had to change their diet to Russell Rabbit. As it was a mixed feed, they only picked out their favourite bits, which of course wasn't very balanced, so I changed them to a complete diet, Suparabbit Excel. They were doing ok with this, and seemed to enjoy it for several months. Then I noticed that they were having Diarrhoea, and making an awful mess of themselves and the shed in which they live. I was having to bathe them everyday! I switched back to Russell Rabbit but that had no affect. I then found their original feed, BunnyBrunch, in another store but that too didn't help. In desperation, I was looking through Carolina James' book, 'The Really Useful Bunny Guide' (For those that don't have it, it is the rabbit keepers BIBLE), when I came across this suggested diet of feeding, not pellets or mix, but only hay, grass and fresh fruits and vegetables. Well, my bunnies have come on in leaps and bounds, (no pun intended!) and are so healthy and full of beans now. They never have Diarrhoea anymore, and you wouldn't think they're getting on a bit! I think if you have bunnies with a similar problem, you should seriously consider this, (althought it is a lot more expensive than buying rabbit pellets), because it can have such a good affect on them. My boys are now completely living life to the full, which is great to see! From the topic: Comments Post a comment in this discussion: 04 Feb 2008 15:32  Sooty ,an english cross,who i had for 9 years, had lots of stomach and digestive problems and eating greens was one of them. She could not eat Cabbage in any form, or fruit. I fed her on excel and supplimented her water with rabbit vitamin drops. She also had carrots on a regular basis with plenty of hay, and twice a week she would have a big bunch of curly leaf parsley, she also had charcoal biscuits to help her digestion. She had no runny bum side effects. Keeping to a strict diet with plenty of fibre(weetabix is good Vicky Coppard) is the key to coping with runny bottoms. If you keep changing their diet it will just carry on. I don't think it matters if the dry food is colourful or not. If it smells and tastes good they will eat it. You cannot Sometimes suppliment thier food it must be on a regular basis. If you are just feeding dry the rabbit will end up with dietry deficancies like lack of calcium. This happened with Sooty when I first had her problems diagnosed. 31 Jan 2008 12:28 Member Removed Rabbits have a very sensitive digestive system,don"t they Vikki, I know that my bunny doesn"t like too much of a good thing either.If she has too much broccolli it gives her diarrhoea so i have cut it down, same goes for cabbage and fruit.I have introduced her very gradually to the SupaRabbit junior and dwarf mix as she used to have the other one so i mixed them in the tin together .She seems to like it,so thanks to Vicky,Patch"s mum as well!I do let her have treats but I encourage to eat lots of hay as well. 31 Jan 2008 01:48  My rabbit seems the complete opposite ! He was on pellets in the shop, which I gradually phased out because he's far from a fussy eater and doesn't selective-feed anyway, and I think he prefers the colourful stuff because it doesn't look exactly like his own pooings. Anyway, sometimes I'd supplement this with fruits and veg, but it seems every type I've tried him on, gives him a runny bum. He can have apples but only really occasionally. Anything else makes him pooey. 20 Jan 2008 17:29 I feed my rabbit sxcel, my rabbits have never had a problem with it. I do not over feed it and give plenty of hay a balance amount of greens and root veg, and occasional fruit. Jasper, my english spot buck who has recently passed away was always on excel and i have never had a problem with it, which is good considering his tummy could be very dodgy and he was a sick bunny when i rescued him. The only problem i did have was that when they forst improved the product the r abbits were more wary of it as it has a horrible oily texture to it. I perservered as i did not want to change their diet and got them to eat it again. I still agree with the fact that they should not keep introducing more ingredience into these mixes, whether it is a rabbit or a dog. I worked in a pet warehouse with pet foods (no animals) when i left school, for four years and regulary had to deal with complaints from owners whose pets had problems with do called improved foods. It can be distressing for the owners and the pets. 27 Dec 2007 15:23  I feed my bunny the SupaRabbit mix, but the Junior and Dwarf one, and he seems fine (he only get the runs when i give him too many treats!) But it clears up when I give him some Weetabix- he loves it! 15 Dec 2007 15:59  This is very handy to know and yet make's perfect sense as a rabbit's ideal diet,should be just totally natural,after all that is exactly what would they eat in the wild,greens,shoots,veges of most description and such like. All my rabbits have 'Burgess SupaRabbit Excel' but do occasionally get the runs,in one or two of them ever since the company so called 'New Improved' their original recipe. My rabbit's tummies normally clear their selves up within two days but I do give Dandelion Leaves whenever there is a digestive upset and that clear's up anything pretty quickly. I wish pet food companies would STOP tampering and trying to improve their products because we buy the original that our animals are fine with for ages and then all of a sudden they get digestive troubles......it does so annoy me and they should state clearly what exactly they have changed or added to any feeds,rather than just labelling it 'Improved Recipe' or what not. |
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