Cecotrope issue – not (able?) to eat it all.

[JuJooGuppy]

So our little Bug has had an issue of not quite getting all of his cecotropes when he bends down the last couple of days.. he did have excess cecotropes a couple of days ago from too many seeds in his oat hay (I reduced the oat hay drastically and cut out seeds from it), but he seemed to not have that issue last couple of nights… instead, though, today and yesterday I noticed when he goes to get them, he has been dropping some which also caused him to get a little smeared into the fuzz around his bum. We have tried to clean it a bit, and its better than it was, but he still has a little in his fuzz it looks like (He is a pain about it, surprise surprise, I wouldnt want people whiping my bum either!)

My question is, why is he dropping any of them when he bends to get them? He doesnt seem quite as flexible as he did when he was only 10 weeks, having to lay on his side almost to bend down, I am worried he is having flexibility issues but he doesn’t  appear obese at the same time… he is now 16 weeks old so 4 months. Last we weighed him he was 2 lbs, but the last time we tried again he threw a fit, and nearly hurt himself and we have been unable to weigh him since (Need a lower scale), so we figure he is at least up to 2.5lbs by now if not more. His diet is as follows:

Unlimited hay of a wide variety, but also a fair amount of alfalfa (Not quite unlimited, however. I have seen back and forth on this issue..)
NO pellets as he cant tolerate them.
About 1 1/3 cup leafy greens mix, not super far into the process of introducing new ones.

Do people figure he is just dropping pieces out of disinterest from over producing still, or is he having difficulty perhaps..? He is quite active and such, really gets going when he is excited. I have been increasing the alfalfa a bit since he is still growing and getting bigger, but I worry I should maybe cut back… or that perhaps I need to cut the greens down.

His ceco’s looked normal to me, too, fyi. Guess he made another while relaxing that he didnt eat… so maybe it really is still over production… aside from the oat seeds, what else would trigger a slight over production? Would alfalfa do that? Greens?

Thanks in advance!

[LionNPumpkin]

Hiya! I had a similar problem with my bun, Lion. Kinda opposite but kinda the same? He too was leaving excess cecotropes and some just mushy poo, but that’s beside the point as your bun isn’t doing that. He ended up needing pellets reduced due to his old age, but again, not your bun’s case as you don’t give him pellets.

With your bun it might be too much alfalfa or too many greens, like you mentioned. I know sometimes Lion leaves extras around after I’ve given him certain types of veggies. Perhaps experiment and not give him as much alfalfa and see what happens over a few days. If that doesn’t seem to solve the problem, perhaps reduce the amount of greens your giving him and see what happens.

Hope I helped! It sounds like its just a dietary problem, at least to me.

[Author]

Messages