Let me clarify something... there are two types of bunny poo...
[align=center]The Mystery of Rabbit Poop[/align]
[align=center]by Dana Krempels, Ph.D.[/align]
Unlike most other mammals, rabbits produce two types of droppings,fecal pellets (the round, dry ones you usually see in the litterbox)and cecotropes. The latter are produced in a portion of the rabbit'sdigestive tract called the cecum. The cecum contains a wild brew ofbacteria and fungi that are normal and beneficial for the rabbit. Infact, the rabbit cannot live without them, since the cecal floraproduces essential nutrients (e.g., fatty acids and vitamins) that therabbit cannot produce on her own.
How does the rabbit get those vitamins? She eats the cecotropesas they exit the anus. Sound disgusting? Not for a rabbit. When she'senjoying her favorite, home-made snack, she'll tell you how delightfulit is with that blissful, soft-eyed face and butt-twitch that signalsall is well with the world. Cecotropes are not feces. They arenutrient-packed dietary items essential to your rabbit's good health.
A rabbit usually produces cecotropes at a characteristic time of theday, which may vary from rabbit to rabbit. Some produce cecotropes inthe late morning, some in the late afternoon, and some at night. In anycase, they usually do this when you're not watching, which might be whysome people refer to cecotropes as "night droppings."
Normal Intestinal Products
Anyone who lives with a bunny has seen a FECAL PELLET. These are thesmall, brown "cocoa puffs" that we all hope end up mostly in thelitterbox. They are round, relatively dry and friable, and composedmostly of undigested fiber. Rabbits do not ordinarily re-ingest fecalpellets, though a few bunnies seem to enjoy an occasional fecal pellethors d'ouevre.
A normal CECOTROPE resembles a dark brown mulberry, or tightly bunchedgrapes. It is composed of small, soft, shiny pellets, each coated witha layer of rubbery mucus, and pressed into an elongate mass. Thececotrope has a rather pungent odor, as it contains a large mass ofbeneficial cecal bacteria. When the bunny ingests the cecotrope, themucus coat protects the bacteria as they pass through the stomach, thenre-establish in the cecum.