Is this a cecotrope?

[Vicky]

Hi, I found this in my rabbits litter box. Is this a cecotrope? She leaves this every evening at the same time. Sometimes like this together and sometimes its fallen apart.

Other are normal poops, round and full of hay.

[Bam]

Yes, those are cecotropes. They’re often stuck together like a bunch of grapes, but they can also be separate.

If your bun is young, this is nothing to be worried about. If your bun is an adult, her diet might be a bit rich.

Buns “should” eat the cecotropes as soon as they emerge, but if there are too many cecos, the bun wont eat all of them. (Sometimes they do come back and snack on one though, which is fine).

 

 

[Vicky]

My bun is already an adult. She is one year old.

But that’s the thing, she eats plenty of hay, greens twice a day and limited amount of pellets. Her other droppings are completely normal. She eats her cecotropes just not these ones which she leaves once a day every evening.

Could this be even from greens?

Because it happened suddenly, I haven’t changed anything in her diet it’s weird. I have written already about it in another post but just now I could get a normal photo of it 🤔

[Bam]

Its not alarming, sonce theyre so nicely shaped. Its not nice if she steps in them of course, becausse they will stick to her feet if she does.

Lots of things can change the microbial balance in the cecum slightly, but with nicely shaped cecos like these Id not worry too much.

You can try and tweak her diet, f ex by  removing one type of green that she normally gets, and see if that makes a difference. If not, you can remove another type of green and so on. You can limit the pellets even more, or get her a new type of hay and mix with her normal hay -new hay can sometimes encourage the bun to eat more hay. Hay is, as you know, the best food for all the good gut microbes that the cecum is, and should be, full of.

You can add a probiotic, f ex Benebac,  to her water or sprinkle some over her greens and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Vicky]

For how long would you recommend to remove one type of green? Like a week?

 

Aw my bunny loves the hay, i even think she is eating too much of it. She is eating it literally always haha.

 

This is the amount of pellets she gets twice a day morning/evening. These are science selective rabbit food for adult. Is it okay? Can you tell from the picture, I’m not sure :/ sometimes I give her one or throughout the day if I play with her. I have seen rabbits eat a lot more tho

[LBJ10]

It would depend on the pellets. I’m not familiar with these. But what you have pictured seems like a good rationed amount. Honestly, I would not be overly worried if you see a cecotrope here and there. The look perfectly normal. Perhaps she has a 5 second rule for if it lands on the ground? LOL  I’m kidding. Bunnies sometimes just leave them for unknown reasons.

[Vicky]

The 5 second rule hahaha. Okay and one last question do you think it could just happen suddenly? That she is healthy, nothing changed and now she always every evening leaves one in litter?

I just want to be little sure I don’t have to rush to vet or that something is wrong.

[Bam]

You definitely don’t have to rush her to the vet for this!

It’s great that she eats a lot of hay! Supreme Science selective is a premium British rabbit food. I have used it for my buns and I use other products they make. Your bun could of course still be sensitive to some ingredient in the food, but from the look of the cecotrope I’d say she’s fine.

 

[Vicky]

Okay thank you very much !! ❤️

 

Sending love from me and my sleeping bun haha

[Vicky]

Sorry to bother but I have just found these in the litter box. Some of them are normal and other are moister and darker than usual. There is hay in it but they are moist inside and outside. Smell is kind of weird hah yeah I smelled them 😆 what is that? I don’t have an idea what this can be, I’m really frustrated right now as I don’t give her anything she cannot eat.

Can I feed for example cilantro every day? Or? Ugh

[DanaNM]

Those poops all look perfectly normal to me!

. . . 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.  

[Vicky]

Oh really? Doesn’t matter the consistency of them, color or smell?

[Vicky]

My bun has her palm leaf bowls and willow branches to chew on everyday. Is that okay?

[Bam]

Marking poops have a strong smell, often decribed as onion-like. All rabbits, intact or neutered, will sometimes produce marking poop. They tend to be slightly bigger than other poopies and they’re often shiny if you look at them closely. It’s oil from the scent glands that cause them to be shiny and smell strongly. Some buns like to place a small number of marking poops in an elevated place or along the border of what the bun considers his/her territory. Sometimes they just place a pile of them in the litterbox. It’s completely normal.

Cilantro can be fed every day. Anything that’s not hay should be fed in moderation though, not because it’s harmful but because we dont want the bun to fill up on anything but hay.

[Vicky]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Oh wow yes! It sounds like it could be that. There were only few dark and shiny with a weird smell. I haven’t heard about these poops yet and that they can look like that. Thank you !!
And do you give your bun pellets? Can you tell me roughly how much?</p>

[DanaNM]

Color and consistency do matter, but from what I see those poops are all in the range of normal healthy poops! Unless the broken up one was really squishy? It’s a little out of focus in the picture so maybe I’m not seeing it properly.  As Bam said, the darker onion smelly ones are probably territorial ones.

Her diet and everything seem great, and palm plates and willow are fine to give daily.

There are some bunnies that are really sensitive to pellets, sometimes even a specific ingredient, or some buns are sensitive to a specific veggie (I recall one member who’s bun would get gas if they ate even a single slightly browned mint leaf).  So if you really feel like something just isn’t quite right, you can try going pellet-free for a few weeks and see if things improve.

. . . 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.  

[Vicky]

Do you see it better from this picture?

They are not very squishy, i still can see the hay in it they are just like soft candy when squished idk how to explain haha they do not fall apart like the golden ones and leave (as you can see) some brown spotting on my hand so they are wet as I have described 🙂

Well I wouldn’t try going completely pellet free as she just demands them 😂 i limited them a lot. Maybe like 10-15 grams a day max. And she always nibbles on hay 🙂 Could all of this just happen suddenly? As she had only golden ones a month ago and now this is her “normal” litter habits.

Im sorry i know I’m too annoying but I have gone through a GI stasis with her and it was horrible. So now I’m too careful if anything seems just a little off.

 

[LBJ10]

Those look like territorial poops to me.

[Wick & Fable]

Agreed — that looks like normal, healthy territorial poop, which is fine! One of my rabbits pretty much exclusively poops territorial poops since I have two unbonded rabbits living separately, but in proximity.

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.

[Vicky]

Thank you very much fellow bunnies ! ❤️❤️❤️

[Author]

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