Do you know anything about rabbit cecotropes?

Question

Rabbits are supposed to eat cecotropes. But my rabbit is not. He is a 3 month old, male, lop eared rabbit I was told at the pet store. Anyways he is not eating his cecotropes. I feed him about 1/2 cup of pellets and 1/2 cup of timothy hay and about 1/2 cup of alfalfa hay once a day and he eats most of it. the cecotropes are like little mushy, stuck together poo poos and he leaves them all over the cage. Does anyone know why he is not eating them? Should I be calling the vet?

Answer 1

First I would cut out the alfalfa hay from his diet. If he is eating the pellets and timothy he does not need the alfalfa and it could harm him in the long run. Alfalfa in high quantities can do damage to the liver over time, too much protein. Some rabbit take longer to begin eating the cecotropes than others. Some may never eat them if they are getting all the minerals and vitamins they need from their food.

I would not worry about it. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't develop diarrhea or mucoid enteritis, which can occur in young rabbits.

Please next time do not buy a rabbit from a petstore. They often have health and behavior issues as they are raised in mill type settings.

Since he was from a petstore you may want to consider worming him also. he was most likely around other rabbits and could have picked up parasites while at the store.

Answer 2

You should definitely call the vet asap, you should never see cecotropes in the cage and if you do, there is a problem.