Not your average cecals

[bunnluff]

I’ve had by dwarf Bella for about 7 years now and in all the time I’ve had her I noticed that she doesn’t produce cecotropes. Well not the normal kind anyway. My other rabbit produces them, pulls them out and eats them and sometimes leaves them in the litter box. They look healthy like a blackberry and stink really bad so hers have always been ideal. But Bella will pull normal looking poos out of her behind and eat those. To my knowledge she has never had a gooey, clustery looking cecal as per the usual. I asked the vet if that was okay or not and she said it wasn’t a problem and maybe it isn’t. But to me Bella has always been the constipated rabbit leaving tiny little poos in random places all over the cage rather than a large healthy pile in the litter box. Recently when I gave her some Bene-bac she DID end up producing an almost diarrhea looking cecal and also had more healthy poop piles in the box. But it was my other rabbit I was administering the Bene-bac to and Bella just got some in her food. Should I possibly start her on probiotic as well? Thoughts?

[Jessie1990]

I would let everyone know what your rabbit’s diet is like first. It might just be a diet issue, and if it’s not, that should be ruled out. I don’t really have much advice other than that. Sorry

[Sarita]

It’s possible you may never see her eat her cecals.

[Jessie1990]

Oh yeah, I have never seen cecals, and I VERY RARELY see the rabbits reach down get them and chew. So she might just be sneaky.

[jerseygirl]

This sounds like Jersey. Not that that helps! I mentioned to a vet once that I thought she didn’t produce cecals but she said she must, otherwise she wouldn’t be still going. Idk

You normally see them in a posture for cecals and see muscles twitch on hind end area. Do you see that with her?

Re probiotics, it sounds as if that is worth continuing. They can’t hurt.
Just be aware of the other ingredients ie. oils, sugars

[bunnluff]

So their diet is the same since they live together. Unlimited hay, morning pellets and I’ve just recently cut back their greens because Pippin has been dealing with swamp bottom lately so I’ve eliminated most greens for the time being. However Bella has always had this problem, not just recently. I always see Pippin eat her cecals. Her rear end will twitch and she’ll reach down and come up chewing something soft. And sometimes she will make too much and leave one in the cage somewhere, so she has dropped them after retrieving them. Bella just eats what looks like normal coco puff poos and I know because she will pull them out and drop them on the ground first and then eat them. Hers have never ever been the standard cecal type and they don’t smell like them either. And that just doesn’t seem right to me. Pippins smell so bad they clear out a room!

[Author]

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