Uneaten Cecals

I've been finding quite a lot of uneaten cecals in Bramble and Bungee's house each morning......not sure who is not eating them, but I suspect both as there are so many. They both have nice clean bums.....so have no way of telling!

Both are happy and eating well....should I be concerned? :?

What is their EXACT diet daily?

Have any been on anti-biotics of late?
Eaten anything new/unusual that they havent had before?

They have one eggcup of pellets each in the morning.
Hay all day - at the moment it's Excel Timothy Hay with Herbage, as I've been unable to find any really nice meadow hay, which they have both had before without problems.
Small bowl of veg each in the evening - Broccoli, parsnip, carrot, kale or rocket.....sometimes corriander.
A Fenugreek crunchie at bedtime.

They have been having some carroty treats since Christmas, but have been fine on these. I started to find the uneaten cecals about two weeks ago.

No anti-biotics.

clarebear said:

They have one eggcup of pellets each in the morning.
Hay all day - at the moment it's Excel Timothy Hay with Herbage, as I've been unable to find any really nice meadow hay, which they have both had before without problems.
Small bowl of veg each in the evening - Broccoli, parsnip, carrot, kale or rocket.....sometimes corriander.
A Fenugreek crunchie at bedtime.

They have been having some carroty treats since Christmas, but have been fine on these. I started to find the uneaten cecals about two weeks ago.

No anti-biotics.

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Personally (and remember, im no vet) i would cut out everything other than the pellets and hay for 1 week (7 days) and monitor each day. If it goes away, you know the issue is an intollerance to a food type.

I'd also consider a vet trip, just to be on the safe side.

Others may have other ideas too.

Thank you.....I will try that. Will speak to the vets today too. :wave:

Took Bramble and Bungee to the vets this afternoon. She thought they were both very healthy bunnies and the only thing she found was a small spike on one of Bramble's teeth. She said to keep an eye on them both and if things don't improve to go back in a week. They may have to have a closer look at Bramble tooth.

She also said they had put on more weight. So we have to cut down on the pellets. Is it worth cutting down veg too?

I was going to say dental issues but I just saw your update. I would suspect that is causing the problems. Has he been given Metacam to help him and see if that helps anything improve?

If weight is an issue I would just cut out the more sugary veg, such as carrot and parsnip...or just give it once a week as a treat.

Sky-O said:

I was going to say dental issues but I just saw your update. I would suspect that is causing the problems. Has he been given Metacam to help him and see if that helps anything improve?

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She wants to see them in a week if nothing improves, but she didn't give him Metacam. He is eating everything else okay.

Squizz said:

If weight is an issue I would just cut out the more sugary veg, such as carrot and parsnip...or just give it once a week as a treat.

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I think you might be right. I only give very small slices of carrot and parsnip....they love it, but it's probably not helping them. They got so many treats for Christmas from people too.....we have a whole basket full. Lovely of people, but naughty for the bunnies too!

Hope you get them sorted. Maybe just a build up of extra treats has unbalanced their insides a bit. I've cut down Spenser's veg a lot, and he is surviving. He didn't have excess caecs, but very dark poops, which can apparanetly be caused by too much veg.

Just found more cecals in the run. Have cut down pellets, treats and veg. Hope things improve soon.

My brain wasn't with it so much yesterday.

I second Sky-O's comment also re uneaten caecals when dental issues are present. A good dose of metacam for several days would help if he's in any dental pain

He's eating everything else fine, so would he be in pain?

Have decided to cut out everything but hay for a couple of days and see how things are on Monday.....still cecals uneaten this morning

No uneaten cecals yesterday, but some this morning. Don't know what to think?

What have you done with regards to the spurs?

Nothing yet. Took them to the vets last Monday and she said to give it a week and see how it went.....but there hasn't been much improvement.

The vet said Bramble has a small spike on one tooth, but this doesn't seem to be stopping him eating hay and pellets, so I take it he isn't in any pain?

We've had to change their hay quite a bit recently, as we've not been able to find any decent meadow hay. They currently have Excel Herbage, which they love. We also got a bag of AlfaKing Timothy Hay, but they don't seem anywhere near as keen on this. Could the uneaten cecals have anything to do with changing their hay?

I've not given them any veg since Thursday evening, but it does't seem to make any difference.....except prehaps to their weight! Have cut down to half an egg cup of pellets each day for both of them, as the vet said they were slightly over weight.

I think we need to encourage more exercise. The minute I put new hay into their house they just want to go back and eat instead of having a run about!

We thought about giving them a run on the grass today, but I wonder if it's a good idea to let them eat grass at the moment?

If you get the teeth sorted then you can start to work out if it's related to the hay. Physical causes when identified are important to sort before the other stuff. If you don't know what's causing something it's important to look at as much as possible so that you don't miss something by ruling it out when it shouldn't have been ruled out. It's horrible when hindsight tells you your bunny suffered just because you ruled out something that shouldn't have been ruled out.

Pain is not the only reason that a bunny might need a dental, but yes, they can still be in pain and still eat. They might eat slower, they might eat less, they might learn to eat differently in their mouth. Depending on where the spur is and what it's doing it might also prevent him for, for example, closing or moving his mouth properly, which won't necessarily hut but will make life challenging, especially potentially getting down and eating the caecals.

If there is an identifable spur, and there is an identifiable problem then I think it's important to ensure that they are not related which, in this situation, is getting the dental and a few days of Metacam and seeing if it helps (but remember it might not instantly help).

Yes, hay can play a huge part on caecals too because of what might be in the hay, if a bunny is intolerant to it, if they are eating some but not enough.

Last year I had a few of mine start to produce excess caecals and tried so much to stop them. When we started buying last years hay (as oppsoed to 2012 hay) they all just cleared up just like that.

I think I will make a vets appointment again this week, and see how Bramble's tooth is.

The hay thing is proving us with real problems. I think I will just stick to the Excel Hay for the time being, is it okay to feed that all the time? It's timothy hay, which is good isn't it?