Mushy Stools / Cecotropes

I just got a 2 month old female holland lop (as some of you already know from my obsessive question asking).

She produces her normal fecal pellets just fine. Also, I have seen her eating cecotropes before. However, I have seen a few cecotropes on the floor of her cage, and when I offer them to her, she has no interest. Also, her cecotropes are sticking to her fur underneath her. She is rather fluffy, so I don't know if that's simply the case where she is too little and her furry belly is so low to the ground that it causes issues.

She has also been having mushy stools. I have had her 3 days now, and each day, I have found one pile of yellowish - light brown mushy stool. (I don't want to say diarrhea, because I've heard there's a big difference.

As far as her diet goes, I give her a mix of unlimited alfalfa and timothy hay. Her pellets are half of what her breeder fed her (which she told me was a mix of two different pellets) and half of my timothy pellets. I do not give any treat foods. Her breeder used to give her oats and sunflower seeds, but I don't feel comfortable giving her those.

Please let me know if you think this is dietary or something more serious. She is acting normal, as far as I can tell after only having her 3 days. She is active and curious, eats lots of pellets and hay, and drinks lots of water.

My poor baby girl. =(

Excess caecotrpohs means she has too much protein in her diet. Alfalfa should be stopped, and the pellets should be reduced to an eggcupful. Keep changing over on timothy hay pellets.

Just an egg cup full a day? I'm just asking because I've heard that rabbits younger than 6 months should get unlimited pellets, as well as the normal unlimited hay.

Thanks!

I would cut out the alfalfa and see how she is.Pellet food should not be cut down due to her being so young.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=88586&highlight=unlimited the above post was written by Cheryl who has a long history in rabbit rescue and is very knowledgable about rabbits. If you understand her reasoning about why it is best not to give unlimited pellets and you comply with this you will be setting your rabbit up for a healthy future.

Hay should be at least 90% of a rabbits diet and they should eat at least their own body size in hay, ideally greater if they are to have a good gut and maintain good dental health.

I've heard so much debate on what to feed rabbits before 6 months. Some places say to feed alfalfa and timothy hay, some same alfalfa and timothy pellets. Some say to limit, some say not to. I really don't know what's right. I raised my two rabbits so far with unlimited pellets, and they don't even eat the 1/4 cup I give them now. They're just piggies with veggies and hay, just like I want. So I'm not overly concerned, but it really is an interesting debate.

The only logical reason I can think of for giving unlimited pellets is that depending on the season, hays can yield different amounts of crude fiber. I've heard that timothy hay can be yielded as high as 25-30%, but during off-season, it can yield as low as 6%. Since pellets have guaranteed minimums of crude fiber and other nutrients, maybe they feel it's safer to have something that's guaranteed for a growing bun where these nutrients are essential to a good start.

That's my only guess. But I assume a variety of hay could easily make up for deficiencies that any one hay may have.

But I'm still a noob and I'm the one asking all the crazy questions, so take that with a grain of salt!

I just wanted to update this thread with her most recent news!

Mimi is doing fine and the vet definitely agrees that it was too much protein in the diet. She said alfalfa is far too rich and that it's better to just switch over her diet to my pellets instead of the breeder's alfalfa kind, because the bad effects of switching her diet are outweighed by the negative effects of the alfalfa in her diet. (Plus, she's already been transitioning for a couple days now)

This just proves that you guys are awesome! Thank you so much.