Rabbit eating poop.

[Buncake]

So I know that it's very normal for rabbits to eat their droppings, because they need to re-digest some of them and the stuff they eat are some soft stuff called cecortopes and all that but ..
I've been noticing that my bunny has been doing that a little too often recently .. And sometimes she'd accidentally get a perfectly normal digested dropping in her mouth while trying to eat the cecotopes and she'd chew it then discard it from her mouth ..

What slightly bothers me is that she licks me so much and she tends to come to lick me after eating that. Does that happen to you? Does it bother you?
In my mind I imaging her little mouth being still covered in dirt so I'd give her a small treat to wash it off but I feel like I'm encouraging her behavior this way so I started just pushing her away when she comes to lick me after eating her droppings but she's too stubborn and I really don't like rejecting her it stresses me out ..

What do you lovely rabbit owners do ? Do you even face such situation? If not, what would you do if you were in my shoes? It's just a hygienic problem of mine I guess..

 

[Popsicles]

Hi, I think I saw in a previous post your bunny is still pretty young? So it’s normal for them to explore the world through their mouths, including their poops, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much, especially if she’s just breaking it up and not eating it.
I wouldn’t say it’s particularly a hygiene issue - their poops are so dry that they are mostly just old hay, it is the caecotropes with all the bacteria etc in them. And most of the dirt will be gone from her mouth by the time she comes to you. It personally wouldn’t bother me.
She won’t understand why you are pushing her away, so negative reinforcement like that won’t work. You can try wearing long sleeves etc so she isn’t licking bare skin? Or give her a break from cuddles for a little while after caecotropy?
Sorry I don’t have much else to offer!

 

[Buncake]

Hi, I think I saw in a previous post your bunny is still pretty young? So it’s normal for them to explore the world through their mouths, including their poops, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much, especially if she’s just breaking it up and not eating it.
I wouldn’t say it’s particularly a hygiene issue - their poops are so dry that they are mostly just old hay, it is the caecotropes with all the bacteria etc in them. And most of the dirt will be gone from her mouth by the time she comes to you. It personally wouldn’t bother me.
She won’t understand why you are pushing her away, so negative reinforcement like that won’t work. You can try wearing long sleeves etc so she isn’t licking bare skin? Or give her a break from cuddles for a little while after caecotropy?
Sorry I don’t have much else to offer!

Well .. I kinda just need convincing that there's no dirt on her tongue by the time she's done chewing and swallowing her cecortropes hehe
Yea, she's still young. I got her two months ago and I think she was only a few weeks old then.
It's summer and it's pretty hot so I only wear light clothes like tanktops and shorts and she licks .. EVERY inch of me. From my hand to my feet. It tickles and she loves being close to me so I hate pushing her away for something like that.
Thank you for the comment though!

 

[Popsicles]

I would think so, even if there is a tiny amount of bacteria it won’t do you any damage. Enjoy your bunny loving!
Yeah it sounds like you have a great bond, definitely don’t push her away for loving you

 

[Buncake]

I would think so, even if there is a tiny amount of bacteria it won’t do you any damage. Enjoy your bunny loving!
Yeah it sounds like you have a great bond, definitely don’t push her away for loving you

Awww.. Now I'm convinced, I'mma let her coat me in love while I smother her in mine! She's my baby after all, wouldn't do without her. <3

 

[BHips]

With your rabbit licking you all over, what she's really saying is that she loves you and that you're her partner. She's invited you into her circle of trust and that's huge! It took quite a while before my girls trusted me enough to lick & groom me regularly.

Seems to me that you are very fortunate to have such a darling bun who adores you so much... Enjoy and just go with the flow! [emoji6]

Sent from my HTC 10 using Rabbit Forum mobile app

 

[Buncake]

With your rabbit licking you all over, what she's really saying is that she loves you and that you're her partner. She's invited you into her circle of trust and that's huge! It took quite a while before my girls trusted me enough to lick & groom me regularly.

Seems to me that you are very fortunate to have such a darling bun who adores you so much... Enjoy and just go with the flow! [emoji6]

Sent from my HTC 10 using Rabbit Forum mobile app

That's so cute of you to say, thank you very much. She's a rescue little bun, she was stuffed with bunch of other small mammals.. Rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs.. In wire bottomed cage and full of dirt.. The store owner was only feeding them bird seeds and hamster food for some reason.. She was very small.. I wished I had gotten all the other animals but I could barely convince my parents to let me have a pet and I'm already 21.

So ever since I got her two months ago until today, I'm with her almost all the time. I had dad made me a high cage that opens to my bed and so she roams to and fro between my bed and her cage so we spend so much time together..

She literally licks me all the time and I love her way too much. I'm glad that she likes me too. <3

It's truly a wonderful feeling, God bless all your pets and animals. <3

 

[Buncake]

So just to add up ...


I read that on the internet and it says "ONCE" a day ... Claudia does that way too often a day .. At all times too. What could be wrong with her? It wasn't like this before ..

 

[JBun]

Is she getting enough food? Does she have easy access to her litter box/cage to go potty?

 

[Buncake]

Is she getting enough food? Does she have easy access to her litter box/cage to go potty?

Yes, there's always food in her cage and the door is always open for her to come in and out from the cage but it's like she doesn't want to bother go there and just eat it up or something. She does it literally every few minutes.

 

[JBun]

Maybe she's just trying to keep things clean for you. If you see her doing it, can you pick her up and place her in her litter box/cage? Other option would be to have a litter box right there for her if she's doing it when she's on your bed with you. That way it's easy for her to hop right in or for you to place her in there.

 

[Buncake]

Maybe she's just trying to keep things clean for you. If you see her doing it, can you pick her up and place her in her litter box/cage? Other option would be to have a litter box right there for her if she's doing it when she's on your bed with you. That way it's easy for her to hop right in or for you to place her in there.

I mean .. As long as it's not a health issues, I can deal with the bits of dry poop she accidentally chews on here and there that mess up my bed ...
But it's just that I've had her for almost 3 months and only recently she's started doing this so often that it worried me, maybe she's just lazy or being naughty.

 

[Popsicles]

I agree with jbun that it might be an idea to put a litter tray closer to you. she is obviously loving being near you too much to bother going back, so if she can poop much closer to you, she might be more likely to do it in the litter tray than on your bed. Then if there aren’t poops actually on the bed maybe she won’t chew them (and potentially just be playing around with them)

 

[Buncake]

I agree with jbun that it might be an idea to put a litter tray closer to you. she is obviously loving being near you too much to bother going back, so if she can poop much closer to you, she might be more likely to do it in the litter tray than on your bed. Then if there aren’t poops actually on the bed maybe she won’t chew them (and potentially just be playing around with them)

Yeah, I noticed that when I put her in her cage, she almost never does that, but when she's out, she doesn't bother going back xD, the silly girl. My bed is probably too comfortable for her to leave it, I'm glad it's not a health issue though, I gave her more grass in her cage -and a long lecture- and she stuck to her litter right away, but maybe I'm spoiling her a little too much?

 

[Popsicles]

Yeah I don’t blame her, I don’t think she sounds spoilt just very loved but got to be pretty strict with litter training if you don’t want accidents all over your bed, and babies are even worse at remembering to go back to their cage to go (or can’t be bothered!)