It may seem strange or even alarming to see your bunny lick its anal area and actually eat its own manure. But these "special droppings" are an essential part of your pet's nutrition. Healthy rabbits produce two different types of waste. One is the normal hard, dry round droppings, and the other is soft, green, and resemble clumps of grapes. This second type of dropping is referred to as night droppings. They are very important for proper health.

These special droppings are softer, greener, and have a stronger odor than the normal hard, dry, round waste droppings. They come directly from the cecum, which is the part of the digestive system where fermentation of food takes place.

Your rabbit knows when these droppings are being produced and will take care of eating them himself. After eating these "vitamin pellets your pet will re-digest the material and extract all the necessary nutrients. This habit may appear distasteful to us, but it is normal and important for your rabbit. In fact, in this way the rabbit can survive in the wild on food that other animals might not be able to survive on because they could not digest it. The rabbit actually does an excellent job producing its own nutritional supplements within its body.

Occasionally a rabbit will drop these cecal pellets along with the waste pellets instead of eating them. Some rabbits that are so overweight that they can't reach their anal area to eat the night droppings, may leave a lot of these special droppings in the cage. A diet that is low in fiber or high in starches may also lead to a chronic and persistent production of night droppings that are too soft and liquidy to be eaten and thus are left in little puddles around the environment mixed with normal waste stools. This is not diarrhea, and if it only occurs occasionally, it is not considered a problem.

Copyright © 1995-2003 All rights reserved
Island Gems Rabbitry