Asked on the Rabbit Forum by MommaBunny on 3/10/2005, 5:59 pm
Q: New rabbit concerns
I just got a new female Holland Lop & she was in a cage w/out a wire bottom. She was sitting in her own puddles of mess & water. Her hind legs & bottom were soaking wet! Luckily the girl gave me 2 cages......1 of which had a proper wire bottom so I switched her. After about an hour after she had been able to get a little adjusted I went & looked at her & noticed that she didn't have the usual pellet poo on the bottom....there was just 1 long one that looked like a bunch of poos were squished together. What should I be looking for if she is sick? Or is it normal? She has been eating the brand Kaytee food which is good & then alfalfa hay. She is a year old. I'm so glad to have this pretty girl among my handsome boys!
Answered by Meeka on 3/10/2005, 6:35 pm
A: Meet the cecal pellet
Question
I just got a new female Holland Lop & she was in a cage
w/out a wire bottom. She was sitting in her own puddles of
mess & water. Her hind legs & bottom were soaking wet!
Luckily the girl gave me 2 cages......1 of which had a
proper wire bottom so I switched her. After about an hour
after she had been able to get a little adjusted I went &
looked at her & noticed that she didn't have the usual
pellet poo on the bottom....there was just 1 long one that
looked like a bunch of poos were squished together. What
should I be looking for if she is sick? Or is it normal? She
has been eating the brand Kaytee food which is good & then
alfalfa hay. She is a year old. I'm so glad to have this
pretty girl among my handsome boys!
Answer
Congrats on your new bunny! It sounds like she is just producing cecal pellets. Don't worry - these are completely normal.
See, bunnies produce 2 different kinds of droppings : fecal pellets (the normal bunny poop), and cecal pellets - also called cecotropes. Cecal pellets are not really bunny poo - they're special items full of nutrients and food that have gone through the rabbits digestive tract and are partially digested. They're very nutritious - rabbits actually eat them! It's not just a strange habit, though, a rabbit needs the nutrients that the cecotrope provides to survive. She eats them as the exit the anus; and they give her the extra nutrients that she needs. Cecal pellets are smooth, wettish looking, and formed close together in a long 'string', unlike the fecal pellets which are harder, and seperated. Cecal pellets are also smaller. You can find pictures of Cecal pellets and read more about them by going to the following links:
http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/diet/cecals.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
*As just a little sidenote -- if your rabbit is a year old, I would switch from alfalfa hay to grass hay - such as timothy, burmuda, or oat. Alfalfa is very high in calcium and could cause kidney problems with rabbits over 6 months (as a general rule of the thumb), but for rabbits under 6 months, it's a great dietary supplement. If you can't find any other hay, then feed alfalfa in very small amounts.
For one more quick suggestion - if the Kaytee food taht you are currently feeding has little 'extras' in it - such as berries, nuts, or other treats, then switch to a different brand that is higher in fiber and lacks the prescence of the other treats - they are not good for your rabbit*
I hope that I helped!
Answered by cinni on 3/10/2005, 7:09 pm
A: New rabbit concerns
> I just got a new female Holland Lop & she was in a cage
> w/out a wire bottom. She was sitting in her own puddles of
> mess & water. Her hind legs & bottom were soaking wet!
> Luckily the girl gave me 2 cages......1 of which had a
> proper wire bottom so I switched her. After about an hour
> after she had been able to get a little adjusted I went &
> looked at her & noticed that she didn't have the usual
> pellet poo on the bottom....there was just 1 long one that
> looked like a bunch of poos were squished together. What
> should I be looking for if she is sick? Or is it normal? She
> has been eating the brand Kaytee food which is good & then
> alfalfa hay. She is a year old. I'm so glad to have this
> pretty girl among my handsome boys!
>
Meeka gave some good advice, but I just want to add a few things. Cecals, as was mentioned, contain a lot of nutrients. Your rabbit needs to have access to them. You need to make sure that, when your rabbit excrets them, that they don't just fall through the wire bottom and become unaccessable to her.
Answered by cinni on 3/11/2005, 7:12 am
A: New rabbit concerns
MommaBunny,
Rabbits do not always eat cecals directly from their anus (if you notice, the excellent sites Meeka posted do not say rabbits *strickly* eat them from their anus). I have had a dozen rabbits and have seen them excret a cecal on to the floor and then turn around and eat it.
Every cecal that falls through the wire and into the tray (like you said you saw some in there) is a nutrient that the rabbit has lost access to. Most likely, if that cecal that you saw in the tray was accessible to your rabbit, she would've eaten it.
I apologize that my other message was vague, but what I meant to suggest is that you place a blanket or piece of tile in part of your rabbit's cage. With having a solid surface in the cage, the rabbit will usually spend most of his time sitting on it and it will up the chance of his catching more of his valuble cecals.
Good luck!
