Is it normal for baby bunnies to sit in their cecotropes?

[Elizabeth]

My 3 month old rabbit has a habit of sitting in her cecotropes, which then hardens on the bottom of her cage and sticks to her feet. She poops and pees in her litter box normally, but not her cecotropes. Is this normal? It makes her smell awful! 

[kurottabun]

Do you see her eating her cecotropes? If you’re seeing cecals around it could either be that she’s not eating them, or there is an excess of them.

If there’s an excess, her diet needs to be changed. What’s her current diet like?

[Elizabeth]

I’ve seen her eat some – but I’ve also seen her ignore them. I would definitely say there is an excess amount. Her current diet is Blue Seal Furry Friends bunny 16 pellets and orchard grass hay. She doesn’t eat much of the hay. The breeder told me to give her free choice of pellets until she is 5 months old and then cut back to 1/2 cup of pellets a day.

[kurottabun]

Often bunnies tend to eat less hay if they’re given too much pellets because pellets are tastier. If it’s affecting her hay consumption and causing extra cecotropes, you should definitely cut back on the pellets. Hay is the most important part – it helps them digest better and wear down their teeth as well.

Try cutting it by about half of what you give her now to encourage hay consumption. Doing this should also get rid of the excess cecals.

[Elizabeth]

Will do – thanks so much!  

[Author]

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