What does this mean??

[Bunny Mum]

What does it mean when rabbit is pooping like a tiny bunch of grapes, shiny, soft little round poos all joined together. I havent ever noticed this before.

 

[girlzilla]

rabbits produce two types of poop, fecal pellets and cecal pellets. Fecal pellets are the firm round-ish poops, and cecal pellets are the ones you are describing - like a bunch of tiny sticky dark green grapes with quite a strong odor. these are totally normal. rabbits produces these cecal pellets as a source of "self made" vitamin snacks. it's very important you allow your bunny to eat these (as gross as that sounds). here's the best explanation of cecal pellets:

Cecal pellets are a special food made by bunny, just for bunny. They are partially digested foods that are passed from the bunny and then reingested. You may not see bunny do this, but when she appears to be bathing her belly and she comes up chewing, she's probably just taken up a cecal pellet. It is from these cecal pellets that a rabbit gets the majority of her nutrition, not from the first passage of food through the gut.

there are photos here of both types of poop, it's a good idea for you to know what the difference is between them: [url]http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/diet/cecals.html[/url]

if your bunny is leaving a lot of cecal pellets lying around and does not appear to be eating them then it's sometimes a sign that her diet is too rich and not high enough in fibre. to combat this, you need to cut back on her rabbit pellets slightlywhile still offering her unlimited hay

 

[naturestee]

:yeahthat:
Another thing that can help reduce overproduced cecals are switching to a lower protein, higher fiber pellet. Reduce or eleminate treats- carbs are another major cause. Also, some rabbits get excess cecals from certain veggies that they don't tolerate well.

If this is happening a lot, it's time to re-examine her diet. If this was a one-time thing, see if something changed in her diet. Sometimes my rabbits leave a cecal lying around if they were spooked when they were about to eat it.

 

[Ivory]

If your bunny is young, maybe that could contribute. I find that some younger rabbits have this problem.

If she's younger, stick with some timothy hay. Try possibly adding the compressed cubes- my rabbits love to gnaw and toss them around, and they're excellent for them!

 

[Bunny Mum]

Thanks for your help yeah it sems like the younger ones are the culprits and producing more than they are eating.

Today we reduced their rabbit mix and gave them loads of hay as their rabbit mix looks very rich and you know i reckon the young uns look like they could go on a diet 'LOL'

Will let you all know if this helps.

 

[naturestee]

You're feeding them a mix? Those are actually very unhealthy. Way too many carbs and fats, usually lower in fiber, and if they're fed as much as they want they tend to eat selectively which can lead to nutritional deficiencies. It would be a definate culprit in excess cecals due to the high carb load. Plain pellets are much healthier, so switch to them as soon as you're able.

 

[Bunny Mum]

Naturestee, Have always been unsure about this rabbit mix the nutritional printout on it sounds fabulous and the rabbits love it. When i get home from work i will post the ingredients etc from back and you can tell me what you think.

Thanks