Veggies and excess cecotropes

[Tracibt]

Hi all,

I had a question about excess cecotropes with my 7 month old, 4 lb rabbit. Her diet consists of unlimited hay, 1/4 cup Adult Oxbow pellets in the morning and 1 generous cup of veggies at night (started veggies approx 3 weeks ago). Over the past few days she had been leaving cecotropes on the floor. Her veggies over this time include kale, Romaine, mint and Bok Choy ( which is the only new veggie). This diet doesn’t affect my other 2 similarly aged rabbits who weigh 3.2 and 3.6 lbs. She definitely eats tons of hay and is otherwise unaffected. Most of the answers I’ve read about this topic suggest pellets or treats are the cause, but I cut her pellet amount when I started veggies at night. She’d never had issues before.

I guess my question is, could veggies be causing this? Could it be the Bok Choy? Yesterday she got neither pellets nor veggies, yet this morning she still had cecotropes. I’m keeping her on hay only for now, but if it gets better should i just return to the 1 cup of veggies? Or cut that amount down? She always eats veggies super fast and sometimes I feel like she’s not getting enough.

Thanks very much for your help.
Traci

[Asriel and Bombur]

To be honest that’s too many pellets. Bunnies under 5 pounds should really only be getting about 2tbsp of pellets a day and no more than 2-3 cups of veggies.

80-85% hay, 10% greens, 5% pellets, 5% treats.

[Tracibt]

Thank you for your reply. Up until the Buns were 6 months they had unlimited pellets (I know it’s wrong but that’s the advice I got at the time). So I feel like it’s not the pellets causing the issue. Would it be the veggies?

[Asriel and Bombur]

Usually excess cecals are caused by a diet too rich. Some bunnies can’t handle that amount of pellets on top of greens.Which is why you probably noticed she started having them after introducing the greens. Pellets are not a necessary component of a bunny diet like greens are. So if you were to cut something out of her diet, I would honestly tell you pellets. Greens and hay really do have all a bunny needs, and pellets are meant to supplement the diet.

[Tracibt]

Oh okay, thank you very much!

One more question, this morning is the first morning there has been no cecotropes on the floor. How long do you think I should wait before giving her veggies again? I am cutting out pellets for her.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I would definitely reintroduce slowly. Start with romaine as that is the friendliest on their stomach. Start with a leaf and of course like all us crazy bunny moms… watch the poop ?

[Asriel and Bombur]

I would definitely reintroduce slowly. Start with romaine as that is the friendliest on their stomach. Start with a leaf and of course like all us crazy bunny moms… watch the poop ?

[Tracibt]

Great, will do!

Thanks again for your help. It consistently amazes me how many people are willing to give their time to help complete strangers….all for the love of Buns.

[Asriel and Bombur]

Let us know how he’s doing! It’s nice to hear how they’re doing

[Author]

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