Rabbit displaying unusual jolting movements before eating cecotrophs

[GlennTheLionhead]

So this is a bit of an odd one, hard to explain and I havent really found anything about it on google. Lately I have noticed Glenn doing some strange movements before eating his cecal pellets, he will sit up in and upright position almost stretched upwards and sort of jolt his bum up/forwards a couple times before eating a cecal, and recently it’s become a bit more odd as he’s being doing this but opening his mouth at the same time as jolting a bit then eating a cecal. After the brief episodes that seem to last 10seconds or under he is absolutely fine, eats well, drinks well, plays, chews, binkys and poops loads, all his usual self :/ it’s quite odd I’m not sure if this is maybe him straining to pass his cecals :/ but it seems to happen on a daily basis. Recently we had a Stasis scare as he was shedding loads and was showing the normal signs of stasis which seemed to be caused by the hair intake, he is passed this now thankfully and we took him to the vets several times to keep his fluid and eating up, I mentioned to the vets at the time about the jolts and she didn’t really say anything about it or what it could be. Glenn has since seemed to make a full recovery from the stasis thankfully!! But still this odd jolting?
Has anyone experienced anything similar or know what it could be?
Any help Would he appreciated! Thanks

[Wick & Fable]

Video is always helpful, but understandably difficult to obtain.

… So I wrote my response below the horizontal line, but once I finished, I reread your entry more and realize I was imagining it wrong, and I’m pretty sure that’s what Wick does sometimes when he eats his cecotropes. It’s normal. Wick doesn’t open his mouth, but he 100% openly chews the air before going down to the hole, making it very obvious when he’s going to eat one. The butt thrust up is just a readjustment to get the right angle. For Wick, I think he outgrew his usual angle of approach down under, so he has to adjust nowadays.

Now below is the scary kind of reply, which may still have some interesting information for you to know, but I think what you’ve described is parallel of Wick, who’s does this regularly and is definitely healthy.

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My only thought is an obstruction or something odd happening in his cecum. This is where the GI sends nutrients it wants to ferment and moisturize before it exits through the bottom-hole, to be eaten. Perhaps there’s something in the way which is requiring him to make some movements to shimmy it through.

This is just an educated guess based on cursory research. Some terms you can look up include:

1. Cecum – branch in the GI where nutrients go to be formed into cecotropes.
2. Cecotrophy – act of eating it
3. Cecal motility disorders – ailments dealing with malfunctions in cecum production

… On one hand, if this isn’t a problem with the cecum, diving into this research could cause unnecessary panic, but, I think it may be worth reading up and seeing if you can find anything which may align with what you’ve described. I think most times, cecotrope-related problems revolve around diet, but I haven’t come across experiences of issues in the anatomy itself.

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.

[GlennTheLionhead]

Yes if I can get a video of it later today I will definitely add it to the thread to give a better idea
Thanks for all the feedback! A lot of useful information there, it definitely is like a thrusting, I have just never seen him do it before thy last couple weeks so it was a bit of a surprise! And I’m definitely a worrier so I could just be over reacting but it’s good to know someone else’s bun does a similar thing! I will definitely research those topics and see if they match at all to be on the safe side.

[Author]

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