Are daily cecotropes normal?

I hope that someone can help me with this. The past week or so, I've been finding cecotropes by Lily and Maple's hay feeder in the morning when I go to feed them and clean them out. None of my other bunnies have ever made cecotropes, so I'm not too familiar with them. Until today they have always been like little bunches of grapes, but today there were two different types - the grapes, and one that looked more like brown toothpaste (still thick and lumpy - it could be that pile was just sat on and squished onto the floor).

I should mention that both bunnies seem healthy/happy and are eating well. They have the same diet as Hamilton and Jellybean - a bowl of greens in the morning (usually cabbage and kale), a handful of pellets each at lunch, and unlimited hay throughout the day (which is 'Ings' from Hay and Straw, they seem to like it a lot better than Hay Box for whatever reason).

The only thing that has changed in the past couple of weeks is that they have access to grass again in the outside run. Could grass be causing the mushy stools? Or leaves that have blown into the run? The thing is, they had grass when they were in their old spot before they moved into the shed, and they never produced cecotropes.

Any advice would be so appreciated, thanks guys.

They should be eating their caecotrophes. If they aren’t it can be due to stress, illness, medication, excess pellets, excess greens or an intolerance to a certain food. I’ve had bunnies before who couldn’t tolerate hardly any fresh green veg, so I gave dried and fresh forage instead. It might be worth cutting out the kale and cabbage and seeing if that helps. Have they recently changed accommodation ?

Rabbits always produce cecotrophs, it is just that they should eat them straight from their bum so they are not seen by care givers. Not eating cecotrophs can occur if there is too much protein or carbohydrate in the diet. As you say the issue started after they were back on grass again this may be the problem.

Other reasons that a Rabbit does not eat their cecotrophs include dental problems, mobility problems, obesity and psychological stress. It does not sound as though any of these apply with your two though.

Perhaps try cutting down on the pellets and on the portion size of veg. If they are eating lots of hay and grass they will only need very small amounts of other food types.

Zoobec said:

They should be eating their caecotrophes. If they aren’t it can be due to stress, illness, medication, excess pellets, excess greens or an intolerance to a certain food. I’ve had bunnies before who couldn’t tolerate hardly any fresh green veg, so I gave dried and fresh forage instead. It might be worth cutting out the kale and cabbage and seeing if that helps. Have they recently changed accommodation ?

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Thank you for the advice Zoobec. They have been in their new shed for over a month now, but the poops have only been appearing this past week when they got given access to an outdoor run/grass again. Up until now they seem to have been fine with the kale, cabbage and pellets. So I wonder if it is the grass. But they had grass in their old run and their poops were always solid. I guess I will have to try a few things and see if I can work it out.

I'm not concerned that they are unwell because they're both very active and happy. So I think it must be to do with the diet. The only other this is that this week they started a new bag of hay, but they are used to that brand/variety and it is their favourite. The caecos are always by the hay on their little shelf looking out of the shed.

InspectorMorse said:

Rabbits always produce cecotrophs, it is just that they should eat them straight from their bum so they are not seen by care givers. Not eating cecotrophs can occur if there is too much protein or carbohydrate in the diet. As you say the issue started after they were back on grass again this may be the problem.

Other reasons that a Rabbit does not eat their cecotrophs include dental problems, mobility problems, obesity and psychological stress. It does not sound as though any of these apply with your two though.

Perhaps try cutting down on the pellets and on the portion size of veg. If they are eating lots of hay and grass they will only need very small amounts of other food types.

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Thank you for the advice Jane. They seem to be really healthy otherwise and happy, so I'm not concerned that they're stressed or unwell. I'll try to give them less pellets and greens and see if that helps at all. Maybe it will encourage them to eat more hay, too. Makes sense that I've never seen those types of poops with my other bunnies, if they eat them straight away.

It could also be a way of marking their territory, but definitely cut down on the Kale as it is high in Calcium.

tonibun said:

It could also be a way of marking their territory, but definitely cut down on the Kale as it is high in Calcium.

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Thanks tonibun, that is good to know They only get a very small amount of kale but it could be a contributing factor. I doubt they are marking their territory as they've been living side by side for over a month now and the poop has only been showing up this past week.