bunny has mushy poops

[fizzy and ollie]

hi, I have two bunnies (male and female, the male is spayed but a female hasn't been neutered yet- she's about 3 months old).
the female bunny has been having soft and small poops, they stick together like grapes and smell really bad (like cat's poop). she also has regular poop, which is way bigger than those. in the past two days her pee was also darker than usual and it was really dark brown once (kinda looked like blood but I'm not sure and it only happened once). I feed her unlimited hay and give them pellets two times a day but she shares the bowl with the other rabbit so I can't really monitor how much she eats. about two days ago I gave them one of those rabbit treats on a wooden stick- she ate it all by herself. she's had really big appetite since I got he and hasn't lost it. she's also deffientally staying hydrated, what could be the problem?

 

[Imbrium]

Welcome to RO! To put your mind at ease... reddish brown pee is one of the "normal" colors rabbit pee can be. The weird mushy poop you're describing is cecotropes (known in the bunny community as "cecals"). Cecals are mushy and stinky; rabbits normally ingest them directly from their anus - they contain the nutrients that couldn't be extracted fully during the first pass through the digestive tract, so they go through a second time.

Reasons you'd find uneaten cecals in the cage:
~ Rabbit is quite young and short attention span caused them to forget to eat the cecals
~ They are producing more cecals than they need and abandoning the extra (most common cause is too many pellets followed by too many carb-rich treats like fruits, non-leafy green veggies or grains (the latter of which shouldn't be fed to bunns at all)
~ Unable to reach to eat them (obesity or arthritis, typically)

I would gradually reduce their pellets a bit and see if you reach a point where you stop seeing the cecals. My usual recommendation for growing bunnies is to limit pellets to no more than 2x what their adult ration will be based on their expected adult size (adult ration is about 1/4 c per 6 lbs).

 

[fizzy and ollie]

Welcome to RO! To put your mind at ease... reddish brown pee is one of the "normal" colors rabbit pee can be. The weird mushy poop you're describing is cecotropes (known in the bunny community as "cecals"). Cecals are mushy and stinky; rabbits normally ingest them directly from their anus - they contain the nutrients that couldn't be extracted fully during the first pass through the digestive tract, so they go through a second time.

Reasons you'd find uneaten cecals in the cage:
~ Rabbit is quite young and short attention span caused them to forget to eat the cecals
~ They are producing more cecals than they need and abandoning the extra (most common cause is too many pellets followed by too many carb-rich treats like fruits, non-leafy green veggies or grains (the latter of which shouldn't be fed to bunns at all)
~ Unable to reach to eat them (obesity or arthritis, typically)

I would gradually reduce their pellets a bit and see if you reach a point where you stop seeing the cecals. My usual recommendation for growing bunnies is to limit pellets to no more than 2x what their adult ration will be based on their expected adult size (adult ration is about 1/4 c per 6 lbs).

thank you so much, I'll make sure not to feed her the grainy treats anymore and monitor her pellets intake )