Holland Lop leaving a few unwanted cecotropes behind.

[Peachy Keen]

My holland lop is 2 months shy of 2 years old. He is healthy overall. He eats lots of hay (unlimited supply), the small half handful of greens that I give him, and 1/4 cup of oxbow pellets every day. He is neutered. He had his incisors removed 4 months ago due to malocclusion (perfectly healed up now). His molars are perfect.

He eats almost all of his cecotropes. Almost. For the last two months or so, he’s been leaving 2-3 fully formed, non-mushy cecotropes a night uneaten. He then squishes them onto the plastic cage floor with his usual milling about the cage.

Is there anything I can do to end these few unwanted cecotropes? They wouldn’t be such a bother, but I live in a very small house, and I really don’t like that my house smells of cecotropes more often than not.
 
I asked my vet (who is the best rabbit vet within a 4 hours drive, and is highly recommend by house rabbit society) about it, and the doc said it’s normal for some rabbits to have a few extra cecotropes that they wont eat. Does anybody else’s rabbits have this problem? I would accept my vet’s answer, but I guess I just don’t wait to accept that it might be normal and unavoidable. It’s no fun smelling cecotropes first thing in the morning while eating breakfast.

I’ve heard of people going hay only or hay with only a tablespoon of pellets, but I’m afraid that my bun will become underweight, because I used to feed him 1/8 cup of oxbow (which is recommended on the oxbow food bag for a rabbit his size) about 8 months ago, and he was pretty underweight, unbeknownst to me, until the vet told me he was underweight. It is to be noted that he didn’t eat a lot of hay back then, but he does now. I got his weight back up to a healthy weight now with the 1/4 cup of food. So yeah, going hay only or hay with a tablespoon of pellets kinda scares me, especially since I don’t have a scale to weigh him on.

Hopefully I didn’t dump too much info on you guys, I just wanted to insure I gave you proper background info. What it comes down to is the question ‘Is there anything I can do about the few extra cecotropes that my rabbit won’t eat?’

I’m just wondering if I need to line the spot where he leaves them and throw it out every day, or if I can do something diet wise that would stop the extra cecotropes from happening in the first place, the latter being soooo much more ideal. Thank you for your help!

[Gina.Jenny]

I would try maybe a very small reduction in the pellets, the greens, or both.

Some bunnies, like our first bunny, can’t stomach any greens at all.

Generally, surplus cecotropes means the bunny’s diet is a bit too rich.

[Ros]

Hi there! I have a male Lionhead that producing lots of Cecotropes and mostly after giving him treats.  The only treat he gets is Oxbow Simple Reward Timothy treats.  They look like a cheerio and I’ve only been giving him one at night.  Today he left a pile of squished together Cecotropes in his pen and on the outside of his pen.  The only thing I can think of is that it’s those treats!  He can’t have greens either as it does the same.  He’s playful and active and I feel so sorry for him having this issue!  Any suggestions PLEASE!?
I’m also thinking that a LionHead Breed has a very very sensitive digestive system.
I have 2 bunnies and the other is a female Havana bunny who can have everything a bunny should be able to have. It’s so hard giving a treat to one and not the other. It’s also hard to give my female bunny greens as my male Lionhead comes running out to get some but is not able to have them.

please help me with my issue!

Thank you so much!!!

[DanaNM]

Hi Ros, this is a very old thread, and since you have your own issue it’s recommended to start a new thread with your topic. The short answer to your question is it sounds like the treats are the problem, so I would cut those out. You can experiment with other types of treats to see if that helps. Some buns do well with dried herbs or greens as a treat, even if they can’t have fresh ones.

I’m going to lock this thread to avoid confusion, please start a new thread if you would like! To do that, go to the section you want to post in, and click the “Create Topic” button.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Peachy Keen]

Thank you for your response. How long do you think it would take to see a reduction in the amount of cecotropes if I did do a reduction in the pellets and/or cut out the greens?

[LBJ10]

I agree. Cut back on the pellets. If it helps, you should see a change within a few days.

[Peachy Keen]

Thank you for your response! It’s good to have a second person confirm that it’s most likely the pellets that are causing the extra cecotropes. I’ll cut back his pellets and update this in a few days with the results.

[drwil]

If a rabbit gets heavier than he should be it makes them hard to reach down to get them as they come out. We had the same problem with a female we gave treats. Neutering will also cause weight gain.

You could cut back on heavier foods (less sugar and pellets) and see what happens.

They will beg for food as you cut back, but they will beg no matter what you do. All pets regardless of species seem to do this.

[Peachy Keen]

Thank you for your message. I wouldn’t think that it would be a weight problem with him though, just because he pretty much just got back to a healthy weight last month.But who knows? Maybe he’s not used to being at the weight he is and so he is having some difficulties? I’ve cut down on his food, details in the next post down.

[Peachy Keen]

Okay! So it is now 5 days since I’ve cut down my bun’s food. I am now giving him about 1/8 cup of pellets a day and I cut out all greens. He’s left behind less cecotropes because of the diet change. It looks like he just left 1 1/2 cecotropes last night. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement! I will continue on this same diet of 1/8 cup of pellets and no greens and see if it improves more. I’ll give you all an update in a few more days. Fingers crossed that it’ll continue to improve!

P.S- I didn’t mention this in the original post, but he very rarely gets any treats, so that’s not a factor in this. He hasn’t had any treats in the 5 days so far and probably wont get any until this cecotrope thing is resolved.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My Bindi does this once in a while. Every other day I have to clean up a few mushy ones.

However, just to note, he leaves big piles of them when he needs his molars trimmed. This is a symptom for molar spurs in some bunnies. If the problem gets worse, my advice would be to have his molars checked. They can go from great to pretty bad in a short time.

Good luck with the diet change. Sounds like it’s working.

[Peachy Keen]

Thank you for your response. That’s a good thing to know to keep an eye out for! His molars were checked about a month ago, during which he was having this extra cecotropes thing going on. The Doc said that they were good, so I’m glad that molar spurs are not the reason for his current problem at least! I will keep that in mind for the future though if he starts leaving behind larger quantities.

 Thanks for the luck!  I’m hoping we found our solution! 

[Peachy Keen]

So it’s been another 5 days since my last update on this. He is still leaving 1-2 cecatropes a night uneaten. It’s an improvement from the original post due to the diet change, but no further improvement has happened since.

It’s been 9 days since his diet change (1/8 cup of pellets, no greens). Do you guys think I should try hay only, or cut his pellets in half again? If so, do you think I should buy a kitchen scale to make sure he’s not getting too skinny? I just want to make sure he gets all the nutrition he needs and not become malnourished.

Or do you guys think I should just not try anymore to get rid of the extra cecatropes? Sure, they smell up my house and are a pain to clean up, but I’m not sure I want to risk him becoming malnourished on a hay only diet. I’ve heard that some bunnies that can’t have pellets or greens for medical reasons do just fine on hay only diets though too.

Your help is appreciated!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I always monitor my buns weight. I try to take their weight once a month and record it on the calendar. It’s really a good idea since buns can lose a few ounces without you really noticing. And weight loss is another sign of dental problems and many other conditions.

I probably wouldn’t worry about the 1 or 2 little poos. Not if there are no other symptoms of concern.

[Bam]

It’s a good idea to get kitchen scales and weigh bunny in a bowl every few weeks. Write down the weight.
It would take an adult bunny a really long time to get malnourished on a hay only diet -nowadays it’s recommended you feed non-working horses hay only all their adult lives (until they get old and perhaps need supplements) so there are lots of nutrients in hay. You could ask you vet just to make sure it’d be appropriate for your bun.
1-2 extra cecals is not a huge deal, but if they stick to his rear so you have to give him frequent butt baths it’s not good (of course. Stressful for you both.)

[Peachy Keen]

Thank you for your help LittlePuffyTail and bam! I’m not sure what I’ll do yet as far as diet (leave it the way it is or go hay only), but I know if I do go hay only, I’ll be sure to buy a scale before I do so to ensure he doesn’t lose weight! I might buy a scale even if I don’t go hay only, since it seems like a good thing to have around when you have buns.

Luckily the cecals aren’t sticking to his bottom, so no stressed out baths here! It’s more of a difficulty cleaning/smell issue. Like you both said, it might not be worth pursuing a hay only diet if he’s healthy otherwise and just deal with the few extra cecals. Maybe I’ll see if I can somehow line where he likes to leave them with something bunny friendly for easy cleanup.

[sunshinesocks]

My boys have a couple of spots they occasionally like to leave things for cleaning up. Our local free newspaper is printed with vegetable ink and they love ripping it up and it’s free and makes clean up so much easier. Fully recommend it.

[Author]

Messages