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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 22sd replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 6 months ago by Monkeybun.

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- 08/09/2010 at 12:46 AM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  I was just sitting watching Dustor sit eating his cecals, watching his little cheeks munch up and down from behind him, when it popped into my head a memory of my first bunny Lash. Not to be gross or anything, but she would sit up on her haunches facing me when her cecals started appearing between her legs, like on a little conveyor belt, and she would let me pick them up as they appeared in her anus, and feed them to her and she would eat them from my fingers -with washed hands, of course. Does anybody else’s bunny do this with you? That’s how close we were! Ah, my little Lash, may you binky in the green carrot patch pastures where you are!…
- 08/09/2010 at 12:54 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Ah Lashkay, that’s so sweeet!
  
  We do know a little too much about bunnies don’t we?! It’s funny as I nearly made a cecal report to the BB community a few days ago. For the 1st time ever I actually saw Jerseys. I had doubts she ever produced them. Anyway, only on a bunny forum could you share this,
- 08/09/2010 at 1:10 AM
  Karla
  Participant
  1624 posts
  LOL, right only on a bunny forum Not sure I would do the same, but then again…it is just hay and veggies. I know some people find it absolutely gross that I let Freddie lick my entire face.
  
  I hope you and Dustor will bond just as much as you and Lash did.
- 08/09/2010 at 1:29 AM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  Karla, that’s such a sweet thought! I think it’s sweet that Freddie licks your whole face …just so he doesn’t get overly gregarious and nip your nose! lol
  
  Jerseygirl, I thought it was sweet too. A cecal report …is that anything like a “fiscal” report? Er, no I guess not! lol
- 08/10/2010 at 3:19 PM
  bunnytowne
  Participant
  7538 posts
  Ok Lashky lol.     That is just nasty    lol.   all kidding aside……
  
  In my 3 years of rabbit ownership I have finally gotten over the eeeew factor.   So now when I see Cotton poking around his rear and come up chewing I can now say ohhh a squishy poop. Getting your vitamin B’s?    Instead of turning away and going eeeeew. Gross.
  
  I never see Ruby’s. On rare occassion do I see Cotton’s cecals.
  
  I read somewhere this is also beneficial to a rabbit for when they are in their burrow and they get hungry and it isn’t the dawn or dusk time they dont’ have to go out to eat they just enjoy a cecal.   INstead of dealing with predators.
- 08/10/2010 at 3:54 PM
  ARCandFUFU
  Participant
  4 posts
  What the heck is a cecals? And is that a stupid question?
- 08/10/2010 at 7:44 PM
  blackfang
  Participant
  392 posts
  Posted By Karla on 08/09/2010 01:10 AM
  LOL, right only on a bunny forum Not sure I would do the same, but then again…it is just hay and veggies. I know some people find it absolutely gross that I let Freddie lick my entire face.
  
  I hope you and Dustor will bond just as much as you and Lash did.
  
  You aren’t only one! I let Romeo lick my entire face, legs, and arms
  
  Oh my gosh, I have to tell all of you! Once, Romeo was licking my face with cecel in his mouth! I didn’t realized it until few minutes later.
- 08/10/2010 at 8:39 PM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  Arc&Fufu, it’s a good question especially if you’re caring for a rabbit. The way I understand about cecals, Rabbits recycle some of their food. Rabbits have an organ in their digestive system, called a cecum. It’s like a little fermenting vat. Some of the hay and veggies they eat go into the cecum where they’re like fermented into vitamin B-rich recycled food. It exits the anus as a dropping just like their regular poop (excrement), but is dark and moist and is called a cecal or cecotrophe. A rabbit can tell when he is having a bowel movement of a cecal versus a regular poop. When his system signals him that a cecal is about to come out, he reaches past his legs, takes it into his mouth and chews it and ingests it. The recycled food cycle is complete and he benefits from the vitamins he gets from them. I’ll let someone else explain better about it.
- 08/10/2010 at 8:43 PM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  LOL Taurus, just curious… Did he have “cecal-breath” or did you see it in his mouth? Not to be gross…
- 08/10/2010 at 10:24 PM
  Michelle&Lolli
  Participant
  2347 posts
  I watched Eddie eat his this morning. I normally don’t see mine eat theirs, so I wasn’t sure what he was eating and thought maybe he had gotten a hold of chocolate or something. LOL
  
  And i let Eddie lick my face and ears except for my mouth, nose, and eyes. He nipped me on my eyelid once and omg it hurt so bad. It was just the little “love bite” but still. I thought for sure he ripped my eyelid open. Sure felt like it. lol
- 08/11/2010 at 4:52 AM
  blackfang
  Participant
  392 posts
  Posted By lashkay on 08/10/2010 08:43 PM
  
  LOL Taurus, just curious… Did he have “cecal-breath” or did you see it in his mouth? Not to be gross…
  
  Well, I smelled something funny.. something smell like poops.. Then I saw Romeo go nom nom.. lick lick..nom nom.. lick lick..nom nom.. Then I freaked out!
- 08/11/2010 at 5:15 AM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  Arc&Fufu, lashkay explained it really well. I just want to add that nature is brilliant. The cecals are a way for bunnies in the wild to survive when food is scarce, like in winter. They can live off of the nutrients their own bodies make for them. Much the same way a bird will regurgitate food for its babies when they can fend for themselves yet.
  
  And since animal waste is fertilizer for growing things like greens and grasses, even waste doesn’t go to waste in Nature. Pretty efficient.
- 08/11/2010 at 10:14 AM
  Karla
  Participant
  1624 posts
  Posted By Taurus on 08/10/2010 07:44 PM
  
  Oh my gosh, I have to tell all of you! Once, Romeo was licking my face with cecel in his mouth! I didn’t realized it until few minutes later.
  
  Now THAT is true bunny love – trying to share a cecal with you Lucky you, eh
- 08/11/2010 at 2:14 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  All I can say is…. ew. Theres no way I am touching those lol.
- 08/12/2010 at 6:34 AM
  Bunnies_Be_Crazy
  Participant
  4 posts
  Cecals look like little poops, right. Like the size of mouse poop, but not as hard? Cause I think Jacob does that, and I still get grossed out by it. But last night he did it and he pee’d a little bit too. Is that normal?
- 08/12/2010 at 6:50 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Here’s a picture http://www.hopperhome.com/CecalFecal.JPG The cecals are shown in a clustered form but you might see individual ones from time to time.
  
  Maybe Jacob put pressure on his bladder when he bent to reach one. Have you noticed anything unusual when he goes to pee? Any straining?
- 08/12/2010 at 8:10 AM
  Bunnies_Be_Crazy
  Participant
  4 posts
  He goes pee normally. The times that he went in the wrong place, and I have had to clean it up, the colour was clear and actually had no colour, then another time it was cloud and browny/yellow.
  
  Can cecals be too runny? Well what happened, was he was just laying down, then he got up and there was poop there and some cecals and there was the tinniest bit of pee.
- 08/12/2010 at 9:01 AM
  bunnytowne
  Participant
  7538 posts
  Yuck Taurus. Eewww someone had poop breath. OMG it is my bunny . lol
  
  I share my food with Cotton sometimes he eats from the apple I am eating. If he groomed me I would be so pleased. Without cecals please.
  
  Never noticed him having poop breath thanks heavens. lol just parsley or hay breath
- 08/12/2010 at 8:05 PM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  I remember Lash’s cecals that she would let me pick up from her anus and feed to her from my fingers while she sat up on her haunches, were about the same size as regular poops – fecals. But I have no doubt they were cecals because she would eat them. There were times I would offer her one that had come out that way and she would ignore it so I assumed it was a regular poop. But with all my bunnies, I have seen what I call the “bunch of grapes”-like clusters of much smaller ones that are in Jerseygirl’s photo – and thanks for those pictures! So I am puzzled. When I find a “cluster of grapes” of cecals lying around, I wonder why they’re there and he didn’t eat them? Maybe they gross out the bunnies as much as us, when they come out in a cluster like that? lol Seriously though, I’m puzzled by the size of the largish ones Lash would take from my fingers, and finding the “cluster of small grapes” lying around uneaten. Do they sometimes save those for later?
- 08/15/2010 at 9:37 PM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  Yesterday there was a cluster of only about 4 or 5 TINY grape-like cecals lying on Dustor’s bed, they were about the size of flax seeds. He didn’t touch them. Today, there were only 2 that were dried up so I threw them away. I read an article that said excessive cecals – when a bunny has more than it can eat so just leaves them lying there – are a strong sign that something needs to change or the rabbit will get sick. The something that needs to be changed was specifically removing pellets and just feeding hay and water for up to two weeks. When the excessive cecals stop, give back pellets, slowly. If excessive cecals appear again, take pellets away again and just feed hay and water. Has anyone heard this?
- 08/15/2010 at 10:12 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  I’ve been dealing with excessive cecals in Fiver for some months now. I find that ANY treat whatsoever (pellets, APD cookies, fruit or veggies) aggravates his system and causes him to make too many cecals. He will not get them eaten (though he tries) and then he’ll step in them and mush them everywhere (plus they are extra smelly) and I have a bunny butt bath planned for that day. (Which lately is EVERY day.)
  I also think he may have been eating pieces of his litter and that may be contributing to this as well. Plus he’s a little heavy, so he can’t always get to his bottom. But he’ll at least turn around and pick them up, sometimes.
  It could be a dietary issue with Dustor though, so a checkup might be in order.
  I also thought someone posted that if the cecals hit the ground before the bun can pick them up, he may refuse to eat them. So that your other bun would allow you to ‘feed’ them is extraordinary!
- 08/16/2010 at 9:42 PM
  lashkay
  Participant
  1548 posts
  Yes, Lash was quite an extraordinary bunny. She would sit up on her haunches when she was having her cecals, and one day she was near me and grooming her face with her paws while they were appearing, and I picked one up and offered it to her and she took it, chewed it and swallowed it. After that, she would let me feed them to her like that. If you can get it, Carefresh is a good litter and won’t hurt if they eat some, not that they probably would. I just had Dustor to the vet the other day and I told the vet about the little seed-sized “grape” cecals I found on his bed. She just asked if they were like little clusters of grapes and didn’t say to remove his pellets. Right now I’m transitioning him over from Kaylor Sweet Harvest rabbit pellets to Oxbow Timothy pellets so that may account for the excessive cecals. I’m not too worried since it was only 4 or 5 of cecals I found. He may have eaten a couple because when I looked later, there were only 2 left. Try Carefresh if you get a chance. I sympathize with your having to give them butt baths daily. Mimz looks so cute in that photo!
- 08/16/2010 at 9:57 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  Monkey will nibble at her carefresh when I change their boxes, thats the only time she does. I guess she’s making sure its fresh enough
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