What to Do If Your Rabbit Has Diarrhea? An Analysis of Two Major Causes and Treatment Methods

When raising rabbits, you may encounter diarrhea, which is also the most common disease in rabbits. Once this happens, it must be treated promptly, otherwise it can lead to the rabbit's death. So what should you do if your rabbit has diarrhea?

1. Causes and Symptoms of Rabbit Diarrhea

There are many causes of diarrhea in rabbits. When treating it, you must distinguish the cause and treat it accordingly. The main causes of diarrhea in rabbits are as follows:

(1) Caused by bacteria

Rabbit diarrhea is mainly caused by several bacterial diseases, including colibacillosis, Clostridium welchii disease, Tyzzer's disease, salmonellosis, rabbit rotavirus disease, Pseudomonas aeruginosa disease, rabbit mycotoxin poisoning, yellow urine disease in suckling rabbits, and rabbit coccidiosis.

Symptoms of colibacillosis: In the early stage, the rabbit's abdomen is noticeably swollen, with diarrhea, no appetite, fever, cold ear tips, depression, weight loss, teeth grinding, drooling, and cold limbs. Initially, the feces are loose and unformed; in the middle and later stages, the symptoms are feces resembling mouse droppings, pointed at both ends, in strings, coated with transparent gelatinous mucus, gradually turning into watery yellow feces with a slight fishy odor. Mucus or yellow-brown watery loose feces adhere to the hair near the anus.

Symptoms of Clostridium welchii disease: More common in winter and spring. In the early stage of this disease, the rabbit is depressed, does not eat, drinks more water, passes foul gas, and has thin watery feces, black (brown) water, and gelatinous bloody feces with a distinctive fishy odor; body temperature is not elevated. The abdomen rapidly distends, and when the rabbit's body is gently shaken, a splashing sound can be heard. When the affected rabbit is lifted, fecal water flows out from the anus.

Symptoms of Tyzzer's disease: It mainly occurs in young rabbits from 20 days to 3 months of age, and is more common in late autumn and early spring. It usually comes on rapidly, with severe watery diarrhea, brown watery feces, dehydration, and rapid weight loss as the main features.

Symptoms of salmonellosis: Watery feces, foamy mucoid feces, foul-smelling, grayish-white or light yellow.

Symptoms of rabbit coccidiosis: The feces are first dry and hard, then watery, or dry and hard feces alternate with watery feces, sometimes containing blood.

(2) Improper care or feeding

1. Caused by overeating concentrated feed

As herbivorous animals, rabbits should not have too high a protein and corn content in their daily diet. In particular, feeds rich in starch such as corn are not fully digested and absorbed in the small intestine, which inevitably increases the burden on the hindgut and causes digestive dysfunction leading to diarrhea.

Symptoms: Wet, mushy, and plentiful feces, in piles or long strips, with a sour odor. This problem appears at night, and the rabbit returns to normal during the day, or this kind of feces appears during a fixed time period and then the rabbit continues to pass normal feces afterward.

2. Caused by a sudden change of feed

This is commonly seen in early spring and early summer when green grass begins to sprout and grow. Rabbits that have long been fed mainly dry roughage are suddenly given green feed; young rabbits overeat and develop bloating and diarrhea, and some rabbits are even more prone to diarrhea. When changing feed, it should be done gradually, preferably completed within 7 to 10 days.

Symptoms: Fecal pellets become soft and enlarged, stick to each other, and are black or grass-green.

3. Caused by feed poisoning

There are generally 3 common situations: (1) The forage or feed itself contains toxic substances, such as certain poisonous weeds, cottonseed cake, raw soybeans, sprouted potatoes, etc.; (2) Feeding rabbits forage or feed contaminated by pesticides or drugs causes poisoning; (3) Forage or feed produces certain toxins during processing and storage.

Symptoms: The rabbit develops persistent and increasingly severe watery feces, or most of the watery feces contain a small amount of pasty feces.

4. Sudden temperature changes

Sudden weather changes, chilling from low temperatures, and various other stress responses (fright, sudden heat and cold, long-distance transport, etc.) can all cause diarrhea in young rabbits.

Symptoms: The rabbit's feces are unformed, with mucus or gelatinous material, or the surface of the fecal pellets has mucus.

5. Caused by indiscriminate use of antibiotics

Long-term continuous use of antibiotic drugs can easily disrupt the balance of normal intestinal flora, causing digestive dysfunction. The duration of each medication should be controlled, leaving a certain interval between uses.

6. Caused by indigestion

It occurs mostly in young rabbits around weaning. Eating too much food overwhelms the stomach and intestines, resulting in indigestion and food stagnation.

Symptoms: Decreased appetite, listlessness, body temperature generally normal or slightly low, feces of varying sizes and irregular shapes, with a small tail or long strip shape.

2. What to Do If Your Rabbit Has Diarrhea?

1. Treatment methods for diarrhea caused by improper care or feeding

Keep the rabbit hutch well ventilated and dry, and keep the rabbit warm. It is recommended to place the rabbit lying on an electric blanket to help relieve the symptoms. For diarrhea caused by indigestion, stop the rabbit's grain for 12-24 hours, but do not stop the hay; continue to supply forage grass and drinking water as usual. Feed lactasin once in the morning and once in the evening, 4 tablets each time, for 2-3 consecutive days, until the feces return to normal.

2. Treatment methods for diarrhea caused by bacteria

For diarrhea caused by bacterial disease, feed montmorillonite powder once in the morning and once in the evening, half a packet each time. After an interval of 3 hours, feed two-thirds of a norfloxacin capsule, for 3 consecutive days; feed the rabbit one vitamin C tablet every day for 3 consecutive days; give oral rehydration salts or glucose water, 5 milliliters each hour, no less than 40 milliliters per day; at the same time, feed lactasin tablets once in the morning and once in the evening, 2-3 tablets each time, for 1-2 weeks, to help the rabbit regulate its intestinal flora.

In fact, most of the main causes of rabbit diarrhea are feeding the wrong food or problems in the feeding process, so feeding correct and clean food is the most effective way to prevent rabbit diarrhea.

The above is a related introduction to rabbit diarrhea. The causes of rabbit diarrhea are complex and relatively difficult to treat, so it is a difficult problem for breeders. You must treat it according to the cause. If you are not sure how to do it yourself, be sure to promptly ask a veterinarian for treatment.