Uneaten cecotropes and poopy bum.

[Emmaboo122]

Hi everyone,

Harold is my five month old (fixed) male Holland Lop. Since the day I brought him home from the breeder (about two months ago), he hasn’t really eaten many of his cecotropes. The breeder feeds all her rabbits (pet, show, and breeding) the same show-formula pellets and no hay— she says that the pellets have enough nutrients so that hay isn’t needed. I feed him these same pellets. However, when I brought Harold home, I began to reduce the amount of pellets he gets per day, and give him a few handfuls of hay and usually one carrot top and a few sprigs of mint (his favorite).
He lives in a two-story cage with a puppy pen attached, so he has plenty of room to run around. He is mostly little trained, meaning he pees and poos in his litter box (on the second floor), with the exception of his cecotropes, which are almost exclusively on the ground floor (where his pellets and greens are).
I put towels everywhere on the ground floor so that I can clean up these uneaten cecotropes, but there really are quite a few, and my concern is that he sits in them, which causes quite frequent cases of poopy bum.
How can I encourage him to eat his cecotropes, if at all?
Is there any way that I can prevent this poopy bum, or at least reduce it?
Should I alter his diet, giving him even fewer pellets? Or perhaps change pellet brands to a less nutrient-packed pellet?
After he was neutered, I only let him stay on one floor, and I noticed that there were very few cecotropes during this time.
Is reducing his space an answer?
Any help is appreciated, as well as any tips to cleaning his poopy bum at least

Many thanks, from me and Harold!

[DanaNM]

Hi there, welcome

I’m guessing his pellets are still too rich, or he’s still getting too many.

He should have unlimited hay. Unfortunately your breeder gave you poor info, because hay is the most important part of a bun’s diet! This is pretty common unfortunately… they have different goals for their rabbits…. I’m also guessing the breeder used a alfalfa based feed meant for lactating does and babies.

At his age, he should be slowly transitioned to a timothy based pellet, and should only be getting a small amount per day. My 9 lb girl only gets about 1/4 cup per day total, so it would prob be about a 2 tablespoons for a holland lop.

For now, I would start giving him more hay, and start reducing his current pellets. You could honestly prob cut them out entirely if he is a good hay eater and see if that helps things (I bet it would). You could also cut out the carrot (unless you mean just the green parts? those are great for buns ).

When you introduce the new pellet, start with just a teaspoon of the new and see how he does. Then gradually replace the old with the new over the space of a couple weeks.

Once you get his cecotropes under control, you can think about slowly introducing some more leafy greens into his diet, there’s lots of good info under the Bunny Info tab at the top of the page in the diet section.

. . . 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.  

[sarahthegemini]

Wow, it’s scary to think that a person that BREEDS rabbits doesn’t treat her own properly and is spreading such false information. I’d report her for a start :-/

It’s good that you started giving him hay in spite of what she told you! Not much else to add to what Dana has said but I will say you might have difficulty getting him to eat enough hay as he is so used to having a lot of pellets and buns dont usually like change! But persevere. Does he eat the full amount of hay you give him? This would be a good time to try out different hays to see what he finds irresistible. Orchard is usually a winner along with oat

[kurottabun]

I think most show rabbit pellets are too rich for adult bunnies as many of them are alfalfa based. I’d recommend getting Oxbow timothy pellets for adult rabbits and gradually mix it in with the current pellets as to not upset Harold’s tummy.

I have a Netherland Dwarf and he only gets 2 tablespoons of timothy pellets daily. By cutting Harold’s pellet amount he may be more enticed to eat the hay when he gets hungry  Like Dana said, make sure he gets unlimited amounts of grass hay!

[Whiskers]

My Flemish bunny has a different way of eating. He gets his greens( spring mix- to avoid loose stools) and his pellets in the morning. Then he has unlimited hay. If I divide his pellets and greens up between morning and night he will not even touch his hay. If I give the pellets and greens at night he won’t eat the hay.So, he gets the good stuff in the morning and chows down the hay during the day and night hours. You may have to play around and monitor when he eats what at the best time for bunny.

I also fluff up any uneaten hay every time I fill his hay feeder. For a while my bunny wouldn’t eat hay from a hay rack but straight off the floor. Previous owner did it that way. Bit now he eats it from the rack. Just try different things. Hay is Very Important. It helps keeps their teeth healthy and their digestive track going.

I can’t believe some people selling pets that they clearly don’t understand. The breeder you got yours from needs to be educated on the diet of rabbits. We all start somewhere and I get that, but this is a breeder who should know more.

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