Can someone please explain...........

davemulheran · Mar 19, 2008

Seen this talked about a lot on here so.....

why do rabits eat their runny poo? ( Caecotrophs??? ) and why is it neccesary?

are they not meant to eat their normal poo's ?

could someone explain in laymans terms please

thks

Dave

Pipstrel · Mar 19, 2008

its the way a rabbits digestive system works, in order for hem to get all the nutrients they need the food ahs to go through their stomachs twice. So they usually eat their Caecatrophs(sp) straight from the anus and usually at night time altho mine eat them anytime :roll:.

The food will then go through their digestive system again which results in the nice round hopefully golden poos that you will see in the litter tray etc. If a rabbit is not eating their caecatrophs(soft squidgy wet poos) there could be a problem.

Also if they are eating their second poos it may mean that they are not getting enought nutrients in their diet.

Helen x

ecudc · Mar 19, 2008

the squishy poos are "first time around" and are eaten again to come out as hard poos. reason is that rabbit diet is high in fibre & low in nutrients so they need to squeeze out as much good stuff as possible. cows and horses do it by having multiple stomachs.

if your bun is not eating his/her caecs then it is usually but not always caused by being overfed and/or having a diet too rich in protein & LOW ON FIBRE.

shel20 · Mar 19, 2008

mine never eat their poos?

Pipstrel · Mar 19, 2008

shel20 said:
mine never eat their poos?

You mean you find them or you never see them eating them?

shel20 · Mar 19, 2008

i never see them are there are all over the place...smal round n hard but wet?

Pipstrel · Mar 19, 2008

shel20 said:
i never see them are there are all over the place...smal round n hard but wet?

hmm not sure about that, you can def tell the diff between the two so if they have lots of caecatrophs I would just give them a hay and veg diet for a bit and see if it helps and also only give them small amounts of veg which def do not cause tummy probs.

Helen x

davemulheran · Mar 19, 2008

aah thanks guys.

So if he has a few of these in his cage i shouldnt remove?

sometimes (as he is a bit tubby) he leaves these runny poo's (although still round , just squidgy) in his cage.. and i remove them with a tissue as he ends up walking them in to the hay/floor

i thought he just had a runny bum!

Pipstrel · Mar 19, 2008

davemulheran said:
aah thanks guys.

So if he has a few of these in his cage i shouldnt remove?

sometimes (as he is a bit tubby) he leaves these runny poo's (although still round , just squidgy) in his cage.. and i remove them with a tissue as he ends up walking them in to the hay/floor

i thought he just had a runny bum!

It might be that he can't eat them because he is over weight, he may not be able to reach them.

What is he eating? Have you put him on a diet to get him to lose some weight?

IzzyTwig · Mar 19, 2008

If he's not eating all his caecatrophs then you need to change his diet.
Either he's too fat to reach round and eat them stright from the anus, or his diet has too much protein in it. Either way you need to decrease any pellet or mix feed you are giving him or cut it out completely and stick to lots of hay and veg.
Hope this helps.

Rallybunny · Mar 19, 2008

The eating poos look like little bunches of grapes normally. If the poos are just soft and not like this, then it's not the "eating" poo.

Siona · Mar 19, 2008

Rallybunny said:
The eating poos look like little bunches of grapes normally. If the poos are just soft and not like this, then it's not the "eating" poo.

I was just thinking that. When I first got Nigel he used to leave those lying around or stand on them, but as he got a bit older and adjusted to his new diet of hay and veg instead of just pellets he learned to eat them.

davemulheran · Mar 19, 2008

yeah he always has fresh hay in abundance.. but I also feed him 50g of pellets a day. 25g in the AM 25g in the PM

will have to cut them down

he also has the odd treat!

shel20 · Mar 19, 2008

im getting worried now my rabbits never eat their poops? iv never seen them , especitally not from their bums?

Hugo's There · Mar 19, 2008

shel20 said:
im getting worried now my rabbits never eat their poops? iv never seen them , especitally not from their bums?

Don't worry as if they weren't eating them you would know as they would be stuck to their fur and in the cage. You would definately know there was a problem. If your buns are clean underneth and you only find round hard poos in their cage they are probably just shy and eat them when your not around.

If i had to eat my own poo I wouldn't want anyone looking :lol:

elve · Mar 19, 2008

davemulheran said:
yeah he always has fresh hay in abundance.. but I also feed him 50g of pellets a day. 25g in the AM 25g in the PM

will have to cut them down

he also has the odd treat!

My boy Benny is a bit tubby too so I just give him fresh hay twice a day, and just a couple teaspoons pellets twice a day - level teaspoons - barely any, plus a small amount of veg - just a slice of carrot as it's sweet - and definitely no treats or fruit - plus I try to make him run about more by walking verrrrrrry slowly with his food - drives him mad and he runs up and down trying to make me go faster :lol:

Lauralou · Mar 19, 2008

shel20 said:
im getting worried now my rabbits never eat their poops? iv never seen them , especitally not from their bums?

they generally do it at night, so it may be happening and you just never see it.

Thea & Bobbin · Mar 20, 2008

Bunnies are complicated little things aren't they?!

From what I understand it is not simply a case of poo number 1s and poo number 2s...

There is a process in the cecum (an organ like our appendix but much larger) that actually knows which materials is protein, and what is fiber. It separates the protein and creates cecotropes, the rest of the food (the fiber and material containing no usable nutrients) passes this process by and is expelled as normal waste (round droppings). Then when the cecotropes are re-eaten the protein remaining in them is fully digested and this material is finally passed out as normal waste.

So cecotropes do turn into normal droppings after they are eaten a second time, but not all normal droppings were once cecotropes.

I think that's right! :lol:

EDIT: In this diagram the green area is the cecum - where the protein and vitamins are processed into cecotrophes

CRBevis · Mar 20, 2008

Thea & Bobbin said:
Bunnies are complicated little things aren't they?!

From what I understand it is not simply a case of poo number 1s and poo number 2s...

There is a process in the cecum (an organ like our appendix but much larger) that actually knows which materials is protein, and what is fiber. It separates the protein and creates cecotropes, the rest of the food (the fiber and material containing no usable nutrients) passes this process by and is expelled as normal waste (round droppings). Then when the cecotropes are re-eaten the protein remaining in them is fully digested and this material is finally passed out as normal waste.

So cecotropes do turn into normal droppings after they are eaten a second time, but not all normal droppings were once cecotropes.

I think that's right! :lol:

EDIT: In this diagram the green area is the cecum - where the protein and vitamins are processed into cecotrophes

Yeah I read this, can't remember where, it was either net or Rabbits for Dummies

xx-lou-xx · Mar 20, 2008

yea rabbits just need to process their food twice to absorb all the nutrients they need! that's why it's so important for them to eat them!

Can someone please explain...........

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