Feces that looks like blackberries?

[Ainsleysmom]

Our rabbit, Albus, is about 6 months old. I've noticed the last couple of times that I've cleaned his cage, about half of his stool is dark black, comprised of little fecal balls that look almost exactly like how a blackberry (or raspberry) is segmented. The other half is normal size and shape, but lighter than the stool of the other two rabbits. It's the color of the pellets they eat. I had him on the alfalfa based oxbow food, but I gradually switched him to the timothy based now that he's of age. He gets unlimited timothy hay. He is a fuzzy lop, so I didn't know if it's because he's ingesting hair and it's causing the stool to breakdown and excrete in a different way than the hay does. I brush him at least once a week, though I shoot for two or three times a week. I can get a pic of the stool if I didn't describe it well enough.

I'm taking Johnnie to the vet, so I was wondering if this was a normal thing for fuzzy lops, or should I take him too?

 

[Pipp]

That's just a cecal that he didn't eat. They put out two kinds of 'poop', one they re-ingest to get the nutrients.

He may be getting too much protein/carbs in his diet and putting out excess.

ETA: Missed your diet notes (I'm tired!), sorry. It sounds like he's getting the right regular food.

Is he getting any treats?



sas :bunnydance:

 

[Ainsleysmom]

Fruits and Veggies.

Why is it black?

 

[Pipp]

Regular poop is mostly light, compact indigestible fiber, but cecals are smaller bits of digestible fiber the rabbit is able to process. The digestible stuff is further fermented (in the cecum) and expelled for re-ingestion. It has a different composition.

And for the record (and irrelevant in this case), if a rabbit eats a ton of hay, they'll have big fat light poops. If they mostly eat veggies, with (I assume) more digestible roughage, their poops will be smaller and darker. Both are healthy.

ETA: If a rabbit is getting too much food, they may produce more cecals than they want or need to re-ingest. I'd cut back a bit on the fruit and push the hay. And just keep an eye on her, sometimes its a sign of a tummy upset. But for the most part its pretty normal.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Ainsleysmom]

HOORAY!:bunnydance::highfive:arty:

 

[Maureen Las]

Never thught of cecals looking like blackberries but they sure do

 

[jcottonl02]

Lol haha yeah- that's a perfect way to describe them. Apart from the smell I'm sure :/

 

[Maureen Las]

jcottonl02 wrote:

Lol haha yeah- that's a perfect way to describe them. Apart from the smell I'm sure :/

They look like blackberries and the odor will knock you over ;
to say the odor is 'pungent" is an understatement. :biggrin2:

 

[jcottonl02]

angieluv wrote:

jcottonl02 wrote:

Lol haha yeah- that's a perfect way to describe them. Apart from the smell I'm sure :/

They look like blackberries and the odor will knock you over ;
to say the odor is 'pungent" is an understatement. :biggrin2:

Hahaha aint that the truth!!?

 

[Ainsleysmom]

Do they smell? I haven't noticed...

 

[jcottonl02]

If they are fresh, and you break the sort of, membrane case around the gooiness, the smell will be quite surpising....

 

[Katmais_mommy]

I'm glad this was posted. I just noticed the same thing with my Katmai. He has the same diet as your bun too.

AND it does smell horrible! before I knew what it was, i accident smeared it on my hand and it smelled HORRIBLE!

Well, good luck I'm sure nothing's wrong. My bun has those too at the moment.

 

[jcottonl02]

Katmais_mommy wrote:

I'm glad this was posted. I just noticed the same thing with my Katmai. He has the same diet as your bun too.

AND it does smell horrible! before I knew what it was, i accident smeared it on my hand and it smelled HORRIBLE!

Well, good luck I'm sure nothing's wrong. My bun has those too at the moment.

Lol been there!!! Hahaha. And I had to smell my hand again just to check it really was that that stunk!

What a pleasant convo......

 

[Kyva]

Not meaning to necro an old post, but I'm so glad to read this. While cleaning Cucumber's cage this morning (moving all his poos into his litter box etc) I found two of these cecal poos.

I'm glad to hear it's okay.