Hi all, 

I have a 10-week-old holland lop named Ollie who has been with us for about a week and a half. When we first brought Ollie home, what I assume to be the stress of the car ride caused a few days of tiny, hard, poops and tummy trouble. During this time I found no cecotropes in his area, and also didn’t see him eat any. We were able to get him through the slight stasis episode with the help of simethicone and LOTS of belly massages. Since then, Ollie’s poop has been back to normal (although much lighter brown than my other rabbit’s) but he is leaving a lot of cecotropes around his cage, like 4-6 a day. My other rabbit has never left a cecotrope uneaten, so I don’t have much to compare them to, but they look healthy, just not consumed. 

I understand that leftover cecotropes generally mean that the bunny’s diet is too rich. Ollie is a great hay eater; we have him eating timothy hay because that’s what my other rabbit and chinchilla like. He is eating the pellets given to me by the breeder we got him from; I’m pretty sure they are Small Pet Select brand. I was planning to switch him to Oxbow Young Rabbit ASAP, but with these tummy troubles I am nervous to introduce a new food. He does not get any greens or treats yet. Because of this, I am unsure how his diet could be too rich. 

When I brought Ollie home, I was feeding him unlimited pellets as that’s what the breeder and House Rabbit Society recommend for young bunnies; but he is a little pig and I don’t think this is going to be suitable for him. If I am going to limit his pellets how much per day can I give him? He doesn’t even weigh a pound yet so I’m having trouble finding a measurement. This is pretty much the only solution I can think of for the cecotropes. 

Thank you for reading this long post. Ollie will be going to the vet this weekend for a checkup regardless of whether or not I can get the cecotropes under control before then, I was just hoping for some ideas and advice on what to do until we can get there or things to try to help his diet. I’ll attach a pic of Ollie because he’s pretty cute, lol.