Why Do Rabbits Eat Their Own Poop?

You may have noticed your rabbit eating its poop and probably wondered why do rabbits eat their own poop?

In this article, we dive deep into why your rabbit could be eating its poop even when you have provided clean food for it.

Continue reading to:

• Know why do rabbits eat their own poop
• Understand if it is normal for a rabbit to eat its own poop
• And a lot more…

Why Do Rabbits Eat Their Own Poop

The answer is Yes. Rabbits are herbivores, which means that they mostly feed on vegetables, grass, or weed. This kind of diet is quite fibrous and because rabbits eat too fast, the food may not be well chewed making digestion a bit hard.

Rabbits will eat their own poop because the soft droppings after it has eaten contain a lot of proteins and vitamins hence it adds a lot of nutrients to the rabbits’ bodies.

So when a rabbit poops, the tiny round black droppings, it is going to eat their poop and digest it a second time. The tiny droppings are called cecotropes. The droppings are softer than the normal hard dropping that you see on the rabbit’s hutch, cage or, litterbox

This kind of digestion for rabbits is called Hindgut Fermentation. It functions the same as a cow chewing curd. Only that cows are chewing food that is still in their mouth while rabbits will digest the food first and eat the poop.

This process of rabbits eating cecotropes is called coprophagy. Corprophagy is also common in other pets such as dogs who are known to eat feaces from other domesticated animals such as cats.

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Is It Normal For A Rabbit To Eat Its Own Poop

Just like hares, it is normal for rabbits to eat their own poop. The nutrients from the poop are important to the rabbits’ body as it provides more proteins and vitamins.

If you notice your rabbit eating its own poop no need to panic or worry. It is absolutely normal and most rabbits will do it.

Reasons Why Rabbits Eat Their Own Poop

Some animals and insects will eat their own poop as a means of sustenance but this is not the case for rabbits.

Rabbits are herbivores whose diets can be really fibrous making it hard for the digestive system to finely do its work the first time and absorb all the nutrients.

For this reason, the rabbit will produce tiny soft droppings called cecotropes which it will feed on as soon as they exit from its body.

You will probably never see these droppings in your rabbits’ hutch or cage because the rabbit will feed on them as soon as they are out. If you happen to see them then your rabbit is likely not feeling well.

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How Many Times Do Rabbits Eat Their Poop

The tiny soft droppings are mostly made at night. But, rabbits can also make them in the morning.

Your rabbit will feed on its poop once a day. This can be either late into the night or early in the morning.

Signs Your Rabbit Is Eating Its Own Poop

If you would like to know whether your rabbit is eating its own poop below are three things that could help you know:

• Check your rabbits hutch, cage, or litter box- normal rabbit poop is round and a bit hard while cecotropes are soft and sticky. If you spot any in the rabbits’ surrounding then it means that your rabbit is not eating them as soon as they exit its body.
• Check the rabbits behinds- normally a rabbit will eat the cecotropes as they exit the body hence cleaning their hind area. If you spot soft and stick poop on the fur around it’s hind area then the rabbit is not feeding on the poop.
• Keep a close eye on your rabbits behavior early in the morning or late into the night- if at these given times your rabbit spends a lot of its time licking and cleaning its hind area and its tail, then it means that the rabbit is feeding on the soft and sticky poop as soon as it exits its body.

Finding any of the soft and sticky poop on the rabbits surrounding or body will signal that the rabbit is not feeding on it and this could be an indicator of underlying health issues.

You could give it a few days to see if it starts eating the poop if not call or visit your vet.

What If Your Rabbit Isn’t Eating It’s Own Poop

If your rabbit is not eating its own poop then its body is missing out on the extra nutrients like proteins and vitamins that are found in the poop.

It not eating its own poop could also indicate a few underlying health issues like:

• Arthritis – This will bring about joint pains which will make it difficult for your rabbit to bend or even reach its hind area.
• Obesity – An overweight rabbit won’t be able to bend or move around as much as it should because of all the extra weight.
• Too much protein in the diet – If the diet consists of more proteins than veggies then your rabbit won’t feel the need to eat the soft and sticky poop.
• Injury – If your rabbit has been injured it won’t be able to reach its tail or hind area as usual because of the pain from the injury.
• Stress – If the environment around the rabbits hutch or cage is stressful it may ignore the cecotropes.
• Dental Issues – If your rabbit is going through any dental pain it won’t be open to eating some types of things.

Check and be sure that your rabbit always eats the cecotropes on a daily basis to ensure that there are no underlying issues with its health.

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Conclusion

Rabbits eating their own poop is normal and you should get worried if your rabbit is not eating its own poop. Besides the extra nutrients, proteins, and vitamins, eating its own poop eases the digestion process and also ensures that your rabbit is not suffering from any of the issues discussed above.

The poop that your rabbit should be reingesting is soft and sticky, unlike the round hard normal poop. Eating this poop is an important part of your rabbits’ health as a whole.