Rabbits have a very large and well-developed cecum. This large out pouching at the junction of the small and large intestines is the site of fermentation and digestion of foodstuffs ingested by the bunny. It is also the site where rabbits make feces and cecotropes. The feces are the high fiber round firm pellets you are used to cleaning up in your rabbit's cage . The cecotropes are soft mucous-covered poops that the rabbit ingests directly from its anus in the early morning hours, thus the name "night feces".

Hay and high fiber diets help regulate this unusual mechanism of separating hay and solid wastes from nutrient and vitamin rich cecotropes. With normal hay ingestion the intestinal tract functions well and things keep moving: normal solid stools are made and passed during the day and then cecotropes are made in the cecum and ingested in the early morning hours. It seems a weird way to get nutrients but the rabbit has evolved to require this twice ingestion of nutrients- once as food and a second time as cecotropes. That's just the way it is!!

Again, this balance of producing solid feces and nutrient-rich cecotropes depends on ingestion of lots of hay and being consistent with the vegetables you offer. That way you keep the intestines happy and moving and the bacteria in the intestines stay in balance. Most of the time it's that simple to keep your bunny feeling well enough to perform a "binky" or two on a daily basis.