My baby bunny will not eat his cecotropes

[EWRaven]

Hello everyone, so I have a baby bunny that is around 2 months old that for around 1 week leave lots of cecotropes around my home. I feed him alfalfa hay and pellets because he is very small. I do not give him treats or veggies, again, because he is a baby. I did however gave him a bit of vegetables when I first got him because I didn't knew they can't eat it until 4 months old. All I know is that this is a diet problem, I had seen him before eating his cecotropes so I don't think he has back pain or other body issuies but I could be wrong. If anyone have baby bunnies I would be happy to hear your advice on what should I do. And yes, I know, but in the area where I live I cannot find a rabbit vet,I mean I did find an exotic animal vet but I would have to take the plane or drive a bus for 12 hours and I am not ready to travel with my bunny yet, all I can do is try to care him the best I can until I am able to get him to a vet.

 

[Shimmer]

It may be that the diet is just too 'rich' and he's producing more cecotropes than he can deal with. I would look at giving him some standard hay instead of just alfalfa hay. He may also be eating too many pellets, which is a common cause of this problem. A higher fibre (ie hay / grass), lower protein diet (done slowly) should help. The fibre in hay is essential for gut health and to keep the teeth worn down properly.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Hello everyone, so I have a baby bunny that is around 2 months old that for around 1 week leave lots of cecotropes around my home. I feed him alfalfa hay and pellets because he is very small. I do not give him treats or veggies, again, because he is a baby. I did however gave him a bit of vegetables when I first got him because I didn't knew they can't eat it until 4 months old. All I know is that this is a diet problem, I had seen him before eating his cecotropes so I don't think he has back pain or other body issuies but I could be wrong. If anyone have baby bunnies I would be happy to hear your advice on what should I do. And yes, I know, but in the area where I live I cannot find a rabbit vet,I mean I did find an exotic animal vet but I would have to take the plane or drive a bus for 12 hours and I am not ready to travel with my bunny yet, all I can do is try to care him the best I can until I am able to get him to a vet.

How long have you had him ? At 8 weeks he should only have just been weaned. Kits need to remain with their Mother until at least 8 weeks of age.

Not eating all of their cecotrophs is quite a common problem in baby Rabbits, especially if they are taken away from their Mother whilst they are too young. The balance of bacteria in the hind gut is not fully established at 8 weeks, too early weaning can result in this process being disrupted and GI tract problems can result.

Is the baby eating A LOT of hay ?

What other feed does he have ? Pellets, a muesli mix ?

 

[EWRaven]

So I ordered this morning 2 other types of hay that is meant for adult rabbits and it will come next week, hoping that he will be ok. I did noticed that he cannot stop eating pellets, he loves them so much so I stopped giving him pellets to see if it will help with this problem. I will wait for the Orchard Hay and Meadow Hay to arrive until then I will just leave him to eat Alfalfa. Do I need to still give him a bit of pellets ? is it ok if I just stop giving him them at once ? thank you so much for your help

 

[EWRaven]

I had him for around 2 weeks, and the bunny probably was took away from his mother too early .He used to eat hay, I cannot say if it is a lot or not because I don't know how much a lot is for a baby bunny, but he is eating constantly pellets. Sometimes he cannot stop. I do not feed him anything else other than hay and pellets, I am afraid of upsetting his stomach with anything else. I would never give him back as well because I know for sure that this people just wanna make money and didn't care about their well being, here people feed rabbits with bread and vegetables. I am trying as best as I can to care him. Do you have any idea of how this can be fixed in this situation ? I cannot go to the vet.

 

[Liz47]

So I ordered this morning 2 other types of hay that is meant for adult rabbits and it will come next week, hoping that he will be ok. I did noticed that he cannot stop eating pellets, he loves them so much so I stopped giving him pellets to see if it will help with this problem. I will wait for the Orchard Hay and Meadow Hay to arrive until then I will just leave him to eat Alfalfa. Do I need to still give him a bit of pellets ? is it ok if I just stop giving him them at once ? thank you so much for your help

I think changing to the hay you have ordered once arrived will be good, and cutting down on pellets. If he's used to eating a lot I would gradually reduce the amount, adult rabbits only need an egg cup of pellets a day so not many at all. When I hand reared babies I did give junior pellets and lib but they wouldn't eat them all the time and they still ate plenty of hay, I can't remember when I cut back so they just got an egg cup a day though maybe some one else can advise on that

 

[InspectorMorse]

I agree with Liz, cut back on the pellets and let him fill up on lots of hay. The more hay the better. It might take a couple of weeks for the cecotroph situation to improve.

 

[EWRaven]

Thank you so much I will do that