Excess cecatropes but good hay eater

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi everyone,

My account is new, but i’ve been reading posts for a while. I can’t find anyone with the same problem as me though – most bunnies with this problem don’t seem to eat enough hay, but she definitely does. 

I have a 12 week old rabbit, who is happy and healthy, but who leaves cecatropes lying around a few times a day. Her diet is pretty much entirely grass hay, and she happily eats hay all day. She has a couple of spoonfuls of pellets a day. Initially, I stopped giving her fresh veg (I normally give them a mixture/rotation of romaine lettuce, kale, celery, broccoli and herbs), but I didn’t see any improvement. When I took her for her vaccinations I asked the vet about it, and she said it was important for her to have vegetables at this age to get her gut used to it, so I’ve gone back to giving her a handful of veg a day too. 

I’m pretty sure that she eats some cecatropes as she should, and that these are extra ones? But i’ve also noticed that if I leave them she’ll sometimes go back and eat them from the floor. She also does normal poos. 

She also seems to always do the cecatropes on the sofa, even though she is otherwise litter trained, which makes it extra frustrating!

Any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks

[Azerane]

Sometimes pellets can cause excess cecal poops. I know you’re not feeding very many, so stopping them may not change anything. I would also be hesitant to stop them for a growing rabbit. The fact that she is only 12 weeks, she may actually not be overproducing, she may just still be learning to eat them all and sometimes just doesn’t do it straight away.

[Sirius&Luna]

Thank you. Maybe I’ll just have to wait and see if it improves as she gets older then. I’ll keep her diet the same for now, and experiment if it doesn’t improve with age. Do you think I should keep her on the veggies?

[Author]

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