Rabbit Poo advice, have taken a pic. Could it be a new diet ? Is it a special poo ?

found this not long ago when cleaning out hutch. I am certain it is not Sunshines but my new rescue bunnies one as she is not litter trained.

Both their diets have changed. She was only fed on oats before I got her. She is on tons of hay and a little muesli. (I know, Sunshine is being weaned off).
Some carrot today.

Also litter tray not as wet it used to be but both drinking well and both healthy and alert. Although as my new bunny is not litter trained, how much does the bedding and hay absorb ?

Looks like excess poos to me. The picture isn't very clear though.

hurricanhoney said:

Looks like excess poos to me. The picture isn't very clear though.

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Sorry about that. It was a lump consisting of little tiny lumps all together.

Looks like a ceacotroph(i know thats spelt wrong btw ) aka special poos -they're the poos the buns are supposed to eat directly from their bottoms, normally passed in the evening/night time, you shouldn't really ever see them so if you do and there's not a physical reason the bun can't eat from his bottom, then it's likely to be dietary - a change in diet, too much veg/a new veg or some people experience them with excel nuggets, although i've not personally had a problem with them.

Do any of these things apply?

I'm no expert on special poos but these are the first things i'd look for if i started fidning them

My little Pixie had a few of these recently, I cut down her pellets and the fruit and veg I usually gave her then increased her hay but this made no difference then I cut her down to a quarter of a fengueek crunchie a day (from two a day) and it's done the trick, no more excess cecals (sorry I can't spell it eaither)! The problem was I just couldn't resist her pretty little face just begging me for another treat - she's such a darling but mummy is going to have to try and over come her guilt

paulinejoe said:

Looks like a ceacotroph(i know thats spelt wrong btw ) aka special poos -they're the poos the buns are supposed to eat directly from their bottoms, normally passed in the evening/night time, you shouldn't really ever see them so if you do and there's not a physical reason the bun can't eat from his bottom, then it's likely to be dietary - a change in diet, too much veg/a new veg or some people experience them with excel nuggets, although i've not personally had a problem with them.

Do any of these things apply?

I'm no expert on special poos but these are the first things i'd look for if i started fidning them

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Yes. My new bunny was recently rescued, as far as I am aware she was only fed on oats by breeders and very little else. She was underweight too. So she is probably new to hay, along with everything she is eating. And it hasn't taken her long to know what veggies she wants and to stare and me and make me feel guilty.

I have introduced veggies very slowly in in small amounts as I would assume she has never had them before.

There is no special poo in there today. I have excel but not given it to them in a few days. They don't like it anyway. I am meant to be weaning my other bunny off muesli but he is not happy about it. I intend to order some SS for mature rabbits.

In an ideal world you would change her diet as slowly as poss mixing new food with old but given her previous diet was just oats it kinda makes that difficult. If it continues I'd probably be inclined to cutting her back to mainly hay maybe a few pellets/mix and let her belly get used to that change first before you gradually introduce veg. I know you are already taking things slowly, but the hay and mix itself is a big change for her little tummy already..

The most common cause of excess casecals is I diet which is too high in protein and not enough fibre.

Obviously any changes in diet need to be done slowly and you have the disadvantage of having a rabbit which is not too familiar with hay and also on a museli diet, most of which is low in fibre.

I am assuming that this rabbit has been vet checked and that you have a rough weight for it, if you haven't it is always a good idea to be able to closely monitor its weight if making changes in a rabbits diet.

My suggestion would be to very slightly reduce each day the amount of dried food you give until they are getting around an egg cup a day for each bun whilst encouraging them to increase their hay intake by offering a variety of hays.

Then slowly change over their diet to a lower protein, higher fibre food such as Science Selective.

Adding some probiotics to the water for a short period of time can also help which increases the good bacteria in the gut.

Amy104 said:

In an ideal world you would change her diet as slowly as poss mixing new food with old but given her previous diet was just oats it kinda makes that difficult. If it continues I'd probably be inclined to cutting her back to mainly hay maybe a few pellets/mix and let her belly get used to that change first before you gradually introduce veg. I know you are already taking things slowly, but the hay and mix itself is a big change for her little tummy already..

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Very true. She really seems to want to make up for lost time. Now she knows what decent food is she comes a running to me hoping for some veg. I have laid off the celery though. If I put any veg in she eats it too quickly. So I only put in small cubes now. The hutch is mainly stuffed with just hay now.