Are excess caecals always a bad sign?

There have been a lot of discussions about the fact that Excel can produce excess caecals. Does this pose a health problem for the rabbit assuming they have eaten 'their full' and these are truly leftovers? Or is it the case that they are hard to clean and so we don't like them?

Thanks for your help, I love this forum for asking questions that you can't get answers for anywhere else.:wave:

aliduncan1 said:

There have been a lot of discussions about the fact that Excel can produce excess caecals. Does this pose a health problem for the rabbit assuming they have eaten 'their full' and these are truly leftovers?

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Yep, this! Even if it is simply that they're not easy to clean, that in itself is a good enough reason because sticky, smelly poop in the accommodation or on the rabbit will attract flies and therefore heighten the risk of flystrike.

Caecatrophs contain vital nutrition and bacteria to keep the gut healthy that the rabbit will be missing out on if it does not eat them, which cannot be got from vast quantities of pellets first time round. Imagine how a child might get deficient in vitamins, minerals and fibre if they ate so many sweets that they didn't eat any of their vegetables - it's pretty much like that except these nutritious parts of the diet come from within!

Also, excess caecals can be a symptom of other issues, not just dietary. For instance is the bun overweight, has an excess dewlap, or has arthritis and cannot reach round to eat them? Does the bun have dental issues which mean that it cannot grab them from its bum.

However you look at it, not eating caecals results in a bunny not getting all the nutrient it needs from its diet (and these cannot be got from normal foods no matter how much they eat; they are designed to process the food twice and get the nutrition on the 'second pass' with all the healthy bacteria) and vitally, a sticky bummed bun is at much higher risk of flystrike - extremely painful and can kill - and I wouldn't wish that on anybun.

Hope that helps

if they are on any type of medication, according to my vet, they can produce 'unformed' caecs which don't smell or taste right so they leave them. this should only be a few though and are nothing to worry about, unless of course they keep on leaving them.