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Excess Caecotrophs

N

Nicola1

Wise Old Thumper
I can't remember if I've already had a post on this, but ever since I got my rabbit Zero the Hero about 2 months ago he has had excess caecotrophs. I heard this is sometimes a result of Burgess Excel food so over the last couple of weeks I have been slowly changing him and the others onto Science Selective.

I'm also introducing veg to him very slowly, I know he never had any before I got him. He doesnt seem to eat very much hay, his pen is literally full of it and he still isnt eating it.

What should I do? Do I need to take him to the vets or should I just wait for the pellet change to take effect on his system?
 
A couple of questions:

What sort of hay are you feeding?
How many pellets in total are you feeding on a daily basis?
How many rabbits will this amount be eaten by?
 
Zero is by himself at the minute as he was only neutered 3 weeks ago so is still hormonal! he used to get 60g of Burgess pellets, now he gets a 40g mix of SS and Burgess and hopefully by next week will have him down to 20g (I was going off the measurements on the bag!)
He has meadow hay, Burgess Dried Grass and Burgess Forage (Timothy Hay with dandelion and marigold in)
 
Personally I would avoid introducing too many things at one go, if you are changing pellets avoid introducing any new veg until the pellets have been changed for a few weeks.

I am assuming that your bun had a dentalcheck while under anaesthetic and was given the all clear.

I would cut back slowly on the pellets and sprinkle those you do feed into the hay so that he has to hunt for them and hopefully also eat some hay.

It might be worth trying a sample pack from the hay experts to see if he prefers other types of hays, some have a preference to more stalky hay whilst others prefer the softer types.
 
:) I tried a sample pack and he just prefers the timothy. Simple boy :roll:

Good idea about hiding the pellets, he wolves them down so will try that! And I won't give him any new veg over the next few weeks.

I hope they did that when he was neutered, they are a very bunny savvy vet, and he wolves down his pellets and veg.

Ive told them I was concerned about the amount of caecotrophs he does, but she said its just normal and didnt seem worried. I have changed vets since then though as I wasn't a fan of the way they treat you in there...

Thanks for your help x

janice-arc said:
Personally I would avoid introducing too many things at one go, if you are changing pellets avoid introducing any new veg until the pellets have been changed for a few weeks.

I am assuming that your bun had a dentalcheck while under anaesthetic and was given the all clear.

I would cut back slowly on the pellets and sprinkle those you do feed into the hay so that he has to hunt for them and hopefully also eat some hay.

It might be worth trying a sample pack from the hay experts to see if he prefers other types of hays, some have a preference to more stalky hay whilst others prefer the softer types.
Click to expand...
 
I get a number of buns come to me either for their holidays or for bonding with this problem, normally it can be resolved quite quickly with increasing the hay and reducing dried foods.
 
I had this problem with Selina a while ago however I increased Hay and decreased pellets for a bit and it sorted the problem. I would agree that try not introducing too many things at once :)
 
:) thank you, he is now on 2 different types of veg instead of three like the others, and no new ones. He has less pellets so he's eating more hay, and I haven't seen any caecotrophs since! *touches wood*
 
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