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Asked by 435hthj1724 to Caroline, Derrick, Mark, Marta, Sammy on 6 Jul 2017.
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Marta Maia answered on 6 Jul 2017:
Rabbits are herbivores, but rabbits also eat their own feces. It is perfectly normal and necessary. Rabbits extract extra nutrition from grass by giving their food a second pass through the gut. They eat during the day and then produce soft feces at night, the soft feces are shaped like a blackberry and can be green with mucus, they contain less fiber and have a high protein content. The rabbits eat the soft feces to increase their intake of nutrients. Without this process many of the nutrients in the food that the rabbits consume would be lost. During the day rabbits produce hard feces which are round and compact pellets that they do not consume.
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Sammy Wambua answered on 7 Jul 2017:
Animal bodies have a way of asking for what they lack… this may present as a craving for certain foods even when sometimes these foods don’t seem decent. For instance, craving for soil is thought to be due to deficiency of (or the need for) iron and zinc which the soil contains. Therefore, the need for nourishment contained in the faeces, as described by Marta, the main reason rabbits eat their excreta.
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Caroline Ogwang answered on 11 Jul 2017:
Hi 435hthj1724,
It is good that you asked this question. I did not know the answer but I have learnt something new from Marta’s and Sammy’s responses as well as the internet. The information below has been extracted from the internet:
“It may seem gross, but rabbits normally eat some of their feces once a day, either early in the morning or late at night.
These special feces are called cecotropes, or “night feces.” They are produced through fermentation of food in the part of the rabbit’s digestive tract called the cecum. Cecotropes are soft feces that are nutrient-rich and are passed out of the body like normal stool but then are re-ingested later by the rabbit so that important nutrients can be reabsorbed. These feces have more protein, less fiber and higher levels of certain vitamins, such as B vitamins, than the typical hard bunny fecal pellets you might see in the litterbox or around your rabbit’s cage.
While owners are often disturbed when they see their pets eating their own feces, realize that cecotrope ingestion is a normal and important part of rabbit behavior that will help keep your pet healthy. Owners should not try to prevent their rabbits from eating these feces and, since cecotropes are only passed once a day, there is little chance that an excessive amount could be consumed.”
Link: http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-does-my-rabbit-eat-his-poop
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