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Feeding an ill bunny another bunnys poop?

Netutopia

Netutopia

Alpha Buck
Hi
My son's girlfriend has a sick rabbit that has been at the vets for 3 nights on a drip - I don't know the diagnosis but will find out later today.
She has text him and said that the vet said to collect some of our rabbits poop - the dry ones and grind them up, soak in warm water and give to the ill bunny.
I have never heard of this and just wondered if this was a common suggestion?
Thank you so much for your advise :)
Jo
 
Ive heard of giving an ill bunny another rabbits cecals before to get good gut bacteria to thrive and help with consistant gut problems(obviously with vet advice)
I hope the bunny gets better very soon
 
Last edited:
Hi
Thank you for your reply, that was what I had heard too, but I haven't heard of the dry poop being used?
I really hope she gets better soon too. I will find out more later.
Jo
 
I have read of cecals being used, but I've also read of it possibly being risky to do that as well. But I've never heard of feeding fecal poop to any rabbit, and a vet suggesting that to me would make me wonder how much they really know about rabbits. Not to mention the instruction to grind it up. If you were to feed another rabbits cecotropes, it's better that the protective coating stay intact if at all possible, so grinding it up could defeat the purpose of even using them. In this link it's discussed whether or not using another rabbits cecals is a good thing or not. It's about halfway down the page.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
 
The most recent thinking is that it is pointless because in order for the 'good' to survive the extreme acidity of a Rabbit's stomach the cecal pellet needs to remain intact. It is coated with a protective mucus that the stomach acidity cannot destroy. The 'good' bacteria need to get to the cecum to be of benefit and there is now doubt that this is possible as the cecal pellet would not be ingested intact.

If you watch a Rabbit eating his/her own cecals you will see that they dont really chew them, more suck them in and swallow them.
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much for your replies, just to give an update, I gave the owners some critical care which they managed to get their bunny to eat off dandelion leaves, she is steadily making progress and hopefully is on her way to making a good recovery :)
 
Netutopia said:
Thank you so much for your replies, just to give an update, I gave the owners some critical care which they managed to get their bunny to eat off dandelion leaves, she is steadily making progress and hopefully is on her way to making a good recovery :)
Click to expand...

That's great news :)
 
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