Your rabbit eats part of its own dinner twice — on purpose

If you've ever caught your rabbit tucked into a ball, nose to bottom, quietly eating something, you didn't see a bad habit. You saw digestion finishing its job.

Rabbits produce two kinds of droppings. The dry round pellets you sweep up are waste. The other kind, caecotrophs, come from the caecum — a huge fermentation chamber where gut microbes break down fibre that the rabbit's own body cannot. They emerge soft, shiny, grape-like clusters, rich in B vitamins and protein. The rabbit takes them straight from the source and swallows them whole, usually at night or early morning, which is why most owners never notice.

It isn't a quirk. A rabbit denied this gets less nutrition from the same food.

Why it matters at home: if you start finding squashed, smelly caecotrophs stuck to the fur or the floor, something is off. The usual culprits are too much muesli or sugary treats and not enough hay, or a rabbit too overweight or too sore to reach round. Obesity, arthritis and dental pain all get in the way.

Uneaten caecotrophs are a symptom, not a mess to scold. Book a vet who is experienced with rabbits.