Pellets or veggies-excess cecotropes

[HoneyBunny]

Hi, new bunny owner here and long post 😅I’ve had my two mini lop for 2 months, they are 5 month old now.

So they’ve had excess cecotropes since I got them maybe because the previous owner fed them too much dry mix. So I’ve been trying to transfer from dry mix to oxbow pellets for young rabbits. I also tried veggies(celery, dandelion, cucumber) for a few times in small amount.  At first the cecotropes became more and then I put them on hay/water only for a few days. But they still had piles of cecotropes left every morning and afternoon. And finally the cecotropes are all gone from last Friday as I bought some new hay from a different shop. I used to buy a small bag of hay, but last Friday I got a mini bale this time from another shop. They are both oaten hay but somehow it just make a difference.

Anyway I want to try pellets and veggies again. But I’m not sure where to start. Some people say they don’t actually need pellets. And some people say I’d better start to give them veggies when they are older like 6 month old. If veggies, which ones are good to start? If pellets, should I do pellets for young or adults? Some people suggest me to try adult one as the young one are richer.
Another question is about feeding hay. Maybe because they used to eat a lot dry mix they are a bit picky when they eat hay. They only eat the part they like and pull out most of them in the litter tray. And then they don’t touch the hay in the tray anymore. As I’ve been dealing with the cecotropes issue so I want to them have more hay. So I have to top up a handful of hay a few times every day and throw away the one in the litter tray. Should I do this? Am I making them more picky? So how should I do with this problem.

Any advice are welcome, thank you!

[Wick & Fable]

To start, based on age I assume your rabbits are not fixed yet (spayed/neutered). If you are keeping them together, please note that if they are male/female, the possibility of a litter is very high. In addition, regardless of sexes, the emergence of hormonal drives can cause young rabbits who used to get along completely fine to become tense and potentially dangerous. Young rabbits will get along very easily with other rabbits due to the absence of hormones, so often it catches owners off guard when two rabbits they have had for a while suddenly get into fights. It is natural, due to hormones, and the safest recommendation is to separate them until they are both spayed/neutered and then go through the bonding process (more info in the RABBIT INFO section of this website).

At this point, the recommended diet would be unlimited timothy hay and a limited amount of “boring”, uniform pellets. Veggie introduction could occur around this time as well. In reading your post, I found myself wondering if you may have instead been witnessing poops resulting from upset stomachs, rather than just cecotropes? Sometimes when rabbits get gassy due to hasty food introductions or getting exposed to food not yet compatible with their gut biome, it can result in less formed poop. That being said, having more cecotropes left behind is somewhat more common for younger rabbits because at the same time, they tend to be on diets really dense in nutrients, like alfalfa-based pellets (in bigger quantities as well) and alfalfa hay. I would recommend not worrying about veggies right now and focus on maximizing hay consumption and limited adult rabbit pellets (timothy-based).

Re: the hay-eating behavior, rabbits are naturally foragers, so it is absolutely normal for them to eat a pile hay with discernment — they eat the “best” strands first, and then will revisit for the 2nd best, 3rd best… etc…. as they get hungry. Ultimately, no rabbit eats all strands of hay. It is inherently a part of rabbit ownership that you throw away “good” hay, unfortunately. Ways to encourage more hay eating is ensuring there is plenty of hay and hay locations to engage the rabbit’s foraging instincts. In addition, limit the access/quantity of non-hay food items, so pellets, veggies, and treats. You can imagine with a human child, you set out a plate of vegetables for them all day– children will eat it if there’s nothing else, but if they are occasionally given slices of cake, some potato chips, etc… throughout the day, they will just continually ignore the vegetable plate. Rabbits can be the same way– if a rabbit learns that hay is only what they have access to for the large majority of the day, they tend to increase their hay appetite.

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.

[HoneyBunny]

Thank you Wick. I’m going to try adult pellets in about two weeks. But if the cecotropes come back, should I stop immediately or give them some time to adjust to it? I’m pretty sure they are normal formed cecotropes. We’ve visited vet twice and also did a stool analysis.  The previous owner gave them a lot of dry mix before and there were even corn in that dry mix which is not supposed to be given to rabbits. And they didn’t eat much hay at first because they’ve been waiting for the dry mix the whole day. They are getting better now, just waste a lot of hay as I mentioned. Well but it seems like this is something I have to accept. They are going to do the desexing this Thursday and  they have been separated when I’m not watching.

[Wick & Fable]

Excess cecotropes aren’t inherently an issue, unless it starts smearing and causing a mess. I suspect once your rabbit is on a more stable diet, it will settle down.

Have you seen your rabbit successfully eat cecotropes? There’s also the chance there is a movement-related difficulty in actually reaching down to eat cecotropes.

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.

[HoneyBunny]

Hi Wick, I’ve seen one of them (Jack) eating cecotropes and he is much bigger than the other one (Josh) even they are from the same litter. Jack will only have like one cluster cecotropes when he first tried pellets and veggies. Once he is on hay only he is fine. Josh is the tricky one. He is really picky and pull out hay everywhere and left heaps of cecotropes when he had pellets and veggies. I’ve never ever seen him eating cecotropes. He is much active than Jack and he is playing all the time when Jack is in deep sleep. Since I changed hay, Josh’s cecotropes is gone. I doubt if he really eat it or he is just not producing anymore? Because normally he will have cecotropes in the afternoon, but for the last 4 days, he didn’t have cecotropes and I didn’t see him eating it in the afternoon. Is it a bad thing if they don’t even produce cecotropes? The reason I want to sort this out is because he will sit on the cecotropes and start smearing them everywhere on the floor, his bed, toys.

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