Cecotropes (also caecotropes, cecotrophs, cecal pellets, soft feces, or night feces) are a nutrient-filled package created in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that is expelled and eaten by many animals (such as rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, and chinchillas) to obtain more nutrients out of their food.
[6][9] Cecotropes differ from regular feces which are larger, exit the anus one at a time, smell only slightly, have very little moisture, and are a waste product.
[10][11] The majority of food absorption occurs in the small intestine, which makes up roughly 12% of the GI tract in rabbits.
Meanwhile particles less than 0.3 to 0.5 mm, which predominantly consist of fermentable fibers and proteins, are moved back into the colon and cecum through retrograde peristalsis.
[16] The microbes in a rabbit's gut include bacteria (such as the genera Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Streptococcus, and Enterobacter, among others) protozoa, yeasts, and amoeba.
[6] Four to nine hours after a meal, the cecum empties and the contents, which containing the results of fermentation along with microbes, continue down the colon.
[7] Goblet cells in the fusus coli secrete mucus which covers the cecotropes, protecting them from the acidity of the stomach.
One strategy to get the needed nutrition is used by ruminants in which they chew cud in order to process their food a second time.
Creating cecotropes is a way to get more nutrients out of their food without adding a lot of bulk to their GI tract (which is 10% - 20% of their body weight).
Since the gastrointestinal tract of newborn rabbits is sterile and contains no microbes, the infants consume their mothers' cecotropes and feces to obtain mictrobes needed to build their cecum's microbial community.
If the balance is not maintained, there can be multiple health issues, including GI stasis, which can lead to pain, stress and death.
Possible causes are poor diet, dental issues, arthritis, very large dewlap, obesity, or too-long fur in the anal region.
Treatment is to feed unlimited grass hay, greens and limited pellets and to stop giving inappropriate antibiotics.