bunnies!

[BBMommy]

hi this is BBMommy’s daughter! i just wanted to ask, our bunny has been pooping in front of his food. why would he do that?

[ScooterandAnnette]

Some bunnies tend to eat and void at the same time. For example, they’ll eat in their litterboxes when they can, which can actually help in littertraining.

[osprey]

Bunny may also be saying “This is my place, other bunnies stay away” near his food.

[Toki+Pumpkin+Elmo]

I put both their food and hay in the litterbox which helps a lot

[rabbitsmba]

Many bunnies will poop when they eat. I’ll bet your bunny was eating his food and pooped at the same time. This happens all the time with my bunnies when they eat hay. So I put the hay in one corner of the litterbin so when they sit to munch on it, the little pile of poops they leave are already in the right place.

[BBMommy]

I’ll add to my daughter’s post here…Brownie has his food and water on a second level, and he does seem to leave cecotropes right in front of his food bowl…it’s the only place we ever find them. He does have his hay in his litter box. Wonder if I should move his food bowl down to that level as well?

 

Thanks for responding to my daughter’s question…she is 7 and is quite the Internet hound!

 

Kim

[Beka27]

she is such a sweetie! it’s awesome that she’s curious about the bun. it’ll be a great learning experience for her, providing of course you are the primary caretaker. you might try moving the food down if possible. the bun may use the second level more as a “lounge”… kitchen and bath on the first floor. lol…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Are you sure they are cecotropes she’s leaving? Here’s a picture of normal poos with cecotropes, the cecotropes are the shiny ‘bunch of grapes’ poops and the other poops are of course the normal ones…

[BBMommy]

Yes, it’s one bunch of “flattened-by-morning” cecotropes. I have seen Brownie take care of other cecotropes, but for some reason, he always leaves one small flattened area right in front of his food bowl…

Kim

[Jyka]

I have a ‘poo and chew station’. Fred’s litter box is full of hay and I put his food bowl in the corner of it. They do like to relieve themselves as they eat. Sometimes Fred leaves poops inside his bowl. I think his way of saying “Mine. Don’t touch!”
Sometimes I’II see cecotropes around his bowl but I figured he was full and didn’t want to eat them.
(My friends think it’s gross that he eats his poop! I tell them it’s like a cow cewing their cud.)

[kimberleyanddarren]

do u have an update? have u moved the bowl?
also.. thanks K&K i was just having my breakfast!!! lol hehe

[Gravehearted]

wow Kokaneeandkahlua – what an action shot

so back to the cecotropes – they’re often caused by an overabundance of carbs and such in the diet. What kinds of treats is he getting / amount / frequency? Also – what kind of pellets are you feeding? Some pellets have cereals, nuts and fruits that are not healthy for buns. If he’s older than 7 months he should be getting a timothy based food – but if you’re going to switch pellets it’s best to transition slowly over a few weeks.

[BBMommy]

We are using the Oxbow Bunny Basic’s 15/23 still. I was wondering when to switch him to the Timothy based pellets. he does get Timothy hay all the time. Treat are usually spring mix letuces (no iceberg), spinach, a baby carrot here and there…not all at once, mind you! I never find cecotropes anywhere else, just a smaill spot in front of his food bowl. For some reason he seems to prefer it on the second level of his condo. When I have tried it in or next to his litterbox, he moves it all around. He goes in to be neutered next Tuesday, so maybe that will help? He has pretty good litterbox habits as it is!

It doesn’t worry me too much at this point, but the advice is all good!
Thanks!
Kim

[babybunsmum]

both my buns stopped leaving ‘skid marks’ after i reduced their pellets to 1/4 cup per day (they’re 5 & 7.5 lbs) and they started eating more hay to fill up.  it was nice, not only to not have shmushed cecals to clean up (usually i’d find them when they had already dried & stuck onto the floor) but also because those cecals are stinky!

k&k that’s one excellent poo pic for differentiating between cecal & regular waste droppings!

[BinkyBunny]

The only thing I could think about why it would be happening right in front of the food bowl is I’m guessing that just about the time he’s getting hungry and would be ready for his ceceotropes, he instead heads over to his food dish, and it just happens at about the same time. Does he ever go back and eat them or does he leave them permanently? If he does not go back and eat them, then it could be due to his diet. Usually you can begin to wean off the alfalfa pellets at around 7 months. Mix in Timothy with Alfalfa pellets slowly decreasing over the next month or so.

Oh, and KK, dittos!  Great poo shot…wait, that just didn’t sound right.

[Author]

Messages