Question about cecotropes

[Redmanll34]

I have a 10 week old bunny who loves to play,jump around, and stays very active. My question has to dowith cecotropes poops, today i have seen him drop five cecotropeslooking poops in maybe five hours. Is thisuncommon? This is my first rabbit and am trying to do my bestfor him. Just want to make sure he is well. As fora diet he eats a ton of hay, pellets, and drinks water. Noveggies have been introduced to his system. Could it be thathe is so active an plays close to 6 hours a day with myself orgirlfriend that his system is running fast, kind of like a humans woulddo?

Let me know
Tom

 

[Spring]

Hmm. I'm not sure. It could be toomuch protien in the pellets. Do you know the protien percent? I'mguessing he's not overweight? I'm not sure, does he normally get thismuch cecotrope droppings? Or is this something new? Maybe just keep aneye on him.

 

[Redmanll34]

Tonight is the most I have seen with cecotropesdroppings. He doesn't really have a set schedule with them,he just lets them go throughout the day. But I've never seenmore than 3 droppings. His pellets lists it has 17% crudeprotein. The food I am giving him is LM Animal farms"Vita-Vittles". I will keep an eye on him. And nohe is not overweight.

Thanks
Tom

 

[Redmanll34]

From what I have been reading 17% may be a bitmuch protien. I will look for a pellet with less protientomorrow ad see if that helps.

 

[pamnock]

Redmanll34 wrote:

From what I have been reading 17% may be a bit muchprotien. I will look for a pellet with less protien tomorrowad see if that helps.

Keep in mind that the bunny is also getting a lot of hay. Ifit is timothy hay (and not alfalfa), the additional hay lowers theprotein of the overall diet, so I don't think the 17% pellet is anissue.

Since he's only 10 weeks old, and the diet appears to be acceptable, Iwouldn't be overly concerned about the cecals at this time.

When he's done growing, I would switch to a lower protein.

What breed and color is he?



Pam

 

[Redmanll34]

Thank you for your response! Veryhelpful. I am not sure what breed he is? I know heis a lop and his color is brown and white blotted together. Igive himalfalfa hay b/c of the advice of a rabbit owner andpet store owner. If you see anything wrong with this pleaselet me know
Tom

 

[naturestee]

17% protein pellets plus alfalfa hay might betoo much protein for him. The pellets have enough protein,calcium, etc. for a growing bunny, so switching him to timothy hayshouldn'timpact his growth at all. It wouldprobably reduce his excess cecotropes if this becomes an ongoingproblem. He also may just have been too busy to eatthem. I know one of my buns won't eat cecals that happen whenshe's playing outside her pen.

 

[pamnock]

naturestee wrote:

17% protein pellets plus alfalfa hay might be too muchprotein for him.

I agree -- I advise switching to a timothy based hay.

The fact that he's a broken lop may also be a factor. Somelops tend to have softer droppings or may produce more cecals,especially those with the broken color pattern. (The genesthat control the migration of color pigment during fetal developmentalso control the migration of nerve cells to the intestinal system.)

Pam

 

[naturestee]

Pam, is that also why dwarf hotots tend to haveintestinal problems? I know there's supposed to becolor-linked intestinal problems in both sizes of hotots and Englishspots, and my dwarf hotots definately have sensitive, if not somewhatabnormal,GI tracts.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

pamnock wrote:

(The genes that control the migration of color pigment during fetal development also control the migration of nerve cells to the intestinal system.)

Doc Nock, you rock!

You are such an incredible source for us all.

I wish I knew one tenth of what you have learned.

We're not worthy!