Rabbits
Rabbits make intelligent, friendly and quiet house pets. The average life span for a bunny is 7 to 10 years with records of up to 15 years of age reported. The following information is provided to help you enjoy a happy, healthy relationship with your little friend. In addition to this handout there are a number of excellent books on the topic of rabbit health care that you may wish to consult.
Diet
Normal Rabbit Weight

Unfortunately, what we thought was a normal rabbit weight in the past has often been an overweight rabbit. Obesity is a problem with rabbits that eat a diet too high in calories and that don’t get enough exercise. A healthy rabbit should be slim and sleek. You should be able to feel the ribs just under the skin without a thick layer of fat. The hindquarters should not have any folds of skin covering or interfering with the digestive tract or urinary openings. The dewlaps in females should not be so large as to interfere with grooming or eating. If you are in doubt about your rabbit’s proper weight, please consult your veterinarian.

Cecotropes

Rabbits are herbivores with a marvelous gastrointestinal (GI) tract that allows them to extract nutrients from a variety of sources. Rabbits were designed to live on a diet composed of large quantities of grasses and leaves. They might also browse on flowers and fruits as they could find them at different times of the year. Rabbits are very successful at making the most out of the food they eat, food that many other animals could not even digest. One of the keys to their success is the production of cecotropes, which are a special type of dropping that is eaten by the rabbit directly from the anus and then digested. These droppings are not made up of waste materials but rather are rich in organisms that have come from the area of the intestinal tract called the cecum. These organisms are packed with nutrients such as amino acids (the “building blocks” of proteins), fatty acids and a variety of vitamins.

In order for the rabbit to get these nutrients, the cecotropes and thus the organisms must be eaten and digested thereby extracting the nutrients. In this way, rabbits can extract the maximum nutrients from low energy food materials. They literally produce some of their own food! Rabbits will eat their cecotropes directly from the anus and you will not these special droppings in the cage.

If a rabbit has a medical problem that prevents him/her from reaching the anus, then you may see cecotropes on the cage floor. Cecotropes are elongated, greenish in color, coated in mucous and have a strong odor. Please consult your veterinarian if you see a large number of cecotropes in the cage because your rabbit may be missing vital nutrition. If a rabbit is eating a diet that is too rich in nutrients, such as one that contains mostly commercial pellets, there may normally be a few cecotropes dropped in the cage.
© 2004 Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital