Excess cecotropes but really don't know why! Opinions gratefully received!

[Wizzy Lizzy]

Hiya,

Every now and again when I go and see my rabbits in the morning there are excess cecotropes in their hutch. I know that they are Daisy's as it happened with her before she was bonded with Lorenzo and has never happened with Lorenzo.

A few weeks ago Daisy produced excess cetotropes over a few days and she went downhill really quickly. I took her to the vet and they said that her gut had stopped working. She had 4 injections, fluids and I was sent home with metacam and other things to get her system working again.

I was really worried but she responded well to the medication and was back to normal within a couple of days. She has been fine since, however this morning there were more excess cecotropes (although she seems fine in herself).

Sometimes when there are excess cecotropes she just carries on as normal and is back to normal (i.e. no excess cecotropes) after a day. I am just worried that she will go downhill again (if it was the excess cecotropes that caused this). Or maybe she is just not eating them.

I am wondering if it is her diet although the vet says it is fine. I would welcome any thoughts that you have:

Morning (breakfast - split between two bowls as I feed Daisy & Loz together - if anything Lorenzo eats more as he is a rather greedy bun!)
- 3 x chopped up brussel spouts
- 2 x broccoli florets and a bit of stalk, chopped up
- 2 x tbs Burgess Excell pellets (1 tbs in each bowl)
- A small handfull of something green (spinach/kale/parsley/spring greens)

Evening
- Two good handfuls (for both of them) of greens - spinach/kale/spring greens etc.

They have a never ending supply of hay - they have Timothy Hay and they have some of the posh P@H chamomile etc hay, as well as meadow hay in their litter trays. She eats loads of hay. I have noticed that she drinks quite a bit too.

I give them the odd treat - Liz's bunny biscuits go down well (They share one every few days), and I give them the odd other special bunny treats.

I don't know if it makes any difference but Daisy was a rescue rabbit. I don't know much about her background apart from she was bred from until she was 18 months old (when she was given to a rescue and I adopted her), she had never seen grass or given much/any exercise in her first 'home'.

I would really like to get her diet sorted out - I just want a healthy bun! So if there is anything I am doing wrong please let me know! Or if you have any ideas please do share!

Thanks in advance

Liz

 

[bambi2906]

hi:wave:
not to sure if this is the same thing however i rushed my bunny to the vet recently he wasnt eating his cecotropes either he was really tired and belly making a gurgling noise the vet saqid he was okay but gave him a gut injection to keep things going well since then i have only given one or two sprigs of herb and a handful of pellets and then loads of hay and a bit of readigrass and this morning his hutch was clear
the vet said it might be stress or something so i just cut it most of his herbs and pellets out and just gave hay because 90% of there diet is duppose to be hay. then when i know if deffo cleared up ill add more pellets etc into his diet.
so you could just cut everything out until it goes like i did as he is probably overeating on other things which makes him not want to eat his cecotropes

 

[Dustyrabbit]

I think quite a few people find this problem if they feed Burgess Excel. Of course some buns are more sensitive than others (I know one of mine is although they are siblings). But it could be one or more of the veg - the only way to know for sure is to go back to just hay and water until there are no excess cecotropes and then introduce the veg one at a time to identify any problems, if you don't have any problems I would assume the pellets are to blame and either not feed any or switch to another eg Science Selective, introducing them slowly over a 10-14 day period. Each bun only needs and eggcupful of pellets a day.