# Does bunny poop leave a residue behind?



## njbunny (Dec 15, 2013)

So Spot is pretty good about not pooping when he is running around but in the evening shortly after dark he will sit on our family room carpet and I will see him (I think) eating his cecotropes as he reaches down then I see his mouth going like he is chewing. The problem is when he does decide to move he starts pooping all over the place. They are normal single dry poops but he does a bunch at once. Well he will leave like a loose pile of 5 (they are not connected), then hop and leave another 2, then a few more hops and out pops another few, etc. Normally I just walk around and sweep them all up before my husband sees them and within 5minutes he has stopped and is back to his poop free self. The problem is tonight my husband walked into the room just as he was going to hop away and all I heard from the family room was a frantic voice saying "This thing is pooping all over the place!" I run in and first thing out of his mouth is "He is not allowed in here anymore!". Grrrrr, if he only knew how many I pick up without him even noticing!

Anyway, this got me thinking. I know his poops are dry and I don't think anything really about just sweeping them off the carpet and throwing them back in the litter box. I do use my carpet cleaner on the rugs pretty frequently (maybe every 2 weeks) because of the poops but I wonder if I should be spot cleaning the carpet when picking them up? 

I have been looking to find information to see if the poops actually leave anything behind but cannot find any info. I just wanted to know if the poops are actually leaving behind a residue that I should be cleaning? I tried explaining to my hubby that they are dry and basically it's just munched hay but he did not seem too thrilled....


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## JBun (Dec 15, 2013)

Basically healthy fecal poop is just leftover non digestible fiber from it's food. All of the important nutrients and vitamins go to the cecum. I don't know that you could get poop that is much cleaner, from an animal. Their fecal poop can sometimes have an odor if they are scent marking with it, but that usually dissipates pretty quickly, and isn't really detectible to us, though it would be to your bun. There isn't really anything you need to be cleaning as fecal poop is already pretty clean(unless it gets smooshed ). If you do feel you need to use a cleaner, you could use a bit of vinegar.

Is your bun neutered? That often helps reduce poop marking. Your husband doesn't realize how good you have it. Some of us have buns that can't go one hop without leaving a poop behind.


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## pani (Dec 15, 2013)

I let one of my friends sleep under a doona that Felix had been leaving dry poops on earlier that day... :shhhh:

They're so clean, I think nothing of leaving them around to vacuum up in a couple of hours. In fact, he was out last night and left several out, and I'm just going to vacuum them up in a few minutes.


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## njbunny (Dec 15, 2013)

He is neutered. He only really poops in places he is really comfortable. Like his cage and pen he will leave some (nothing crazy) poops scattered around each day (maybe like 5 poops in 12hrs). When he is free roaming he really only poops in my daughters bedroom and the family room. Those are the rooms where he spends most of his time when out. Pass through's (hallways and such) he never poops. Most of the time in his comfy rooms he does one here or there but occasionally he will do those poop explosions where you think they are not going to stop. He moves and there is like a pile of 8 and then he moves again and another 5! unfortunately tonight he did it in front of my hubby! I don't know why he does a ton at once and then nothing else but usually if he does it while he is out I can sweep them up quickly before my hubby sees them. I didn't think much of them being dirty but after my husbands reaction I thought....maybe I should at least grab a baby wipe and wipe the carpet under them when I pick them up?

Is it normal for them to have these poop explosions? The poops are normal and not in a bunch like the cecotropes.

I do count myself lucky. He could be peeing everywhere.


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## missyscove (Dec 15, 2013)

I just pick them up with my hands most of the time and toss them back in the litter box. How recently was he neutered? Is he new to your home? Pooping is a way of marking their territory so they'll do it more in a place that doesn't really smell like them. Have you tried offering him another litter box? If you keep your hay in the box they'll usually figure it out since they like to eat and poop simultaneously.


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## njbunny (Dec 15, 2013)

Not sure exactly when he was neutered. He was in a shelter where he was on the PTS list and a rescue took him from that shelter and moved him to another where another rescue took him from there. The last shelter he was in has a mandatory spay/neuter policy but the rescue did not know if they neutered him or if he was neutered already. He was obviously a pet as he is VERY social and outgoing. He may have been neutered by the previous owner. The rescue had him 3 weeks and I have had him just over 1.5 months so I would say it was at least 3 months ago or longer.

Most of his poops go into his boxes. He has a box with hay in the family room that he will go over to and pee in. The poop explosions however sometimes end up on the floor and always occur after he is eating his cecotropes (at least that is what he appears to be doing). He really only seems to poop in the places he spends most of his time. I don't even have a problem with his pooping habits, as 95% of his poops are in his litter box/cage area. Most of his free roam time is poop free. I was just wondering if them doing a ton at once is normal? It is almost like he losses control of his bowels every so often and they all just come spilling out!  He also drops them when he is excited about his pellets. He runs around and they just pop out until he gets his food. 

Anyway, the main reason for the question was just to know if they are leaving behind anything on my carpet when I pick them up. Was not sure if anyone had studied it (would be kind of odd, but who knows)?


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## pani (Dec 16, 2013)

Sometimes when Felix is scared or excited, he'll drop a few poops all at once like you mentioned. 

I've read (anecdotally) that if a baby were to swallow a normal bunny poop, the biggest risk to their wellbeing would be potentially choking. I'm not sure I'd go to the extent of eating them myself, but reading that gave me a great idea of the cleanliness of bunny poops.


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## njbunny (Dec 16, 2013)

LOL! I was thinking that my husband shoes (which he keeps forgetting to take off before entering the house) are probably dirtier then Spots poops! I think just the shear amount that he was dropping was a bit shocking to my husband who seriously does not see the stray poops that I pick up when he is not looking! He literally took a hop forward and there was a pile of them sitting there on the carpet. Then he took another hop and another pile. He was not excited or scared about anything but I have noticed him leaving piles like that after eating cecotropes but I don't understand how it is related. Maybe I should put down a sheet, let him poop and then look at the area vs. a non-poop area under a microscope! They seem pretty dry so I would think nothing gets left behind on the carpet but who knows for sure....


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## Blue eyes (Dec 16, 2013)

Given that their poos are so dry and clean, I seriously doubt anything is left behind on the carpet by way of residue. I think you are accurate in saying that one's shoes probably are far more dirty on carpet than any poos. 

I think it's just a stigma that poo is gross. But with rabbits, it just isn't so. Thankfully they are clean, dry and odor free. It's probably just a matter of getting hubby to realize how dry and odor-free and clean bunny poos really are.


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## pani (Dec 16, 2013)

Blue eyes said:


> I think it's just a stigma that poo is gross. But with rabbits, it just isn't so. Thankfully they are clean, dry and odor free. It's probably just a matter of getting hubby to realize how dry and odor-free and clean bunny poos really are.


As a rule of thumb, I think poop is pretty disgusting!  

In fact, the only animal I don't find that to be true for, is rabbits. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out how easy they were to clean up after. The only poops Felix leaves out are his dry 'hay balls'; he always leaves any excess cecotropes either in his litter box, or the bottom of his cage (and tends to go back and try to eat them later, silly little guy!).


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## Imbrium (Dec 16, 2013)

njbunny said:


> LOL! I was thinking that my husband shoes (which he keeps forgetting to take off before entering the house) are probably dirtier then Spots poops!



I would lick a bunny poop before I licked the bottom of a shoe (though of course I'd rather lick neither!). I took a nap last week with the loaf (Gaz) in the bed with me and woke up to find I was laying on copious amounts of hay and bunny poop. I was more offended by the hay because it's itchy, lol. I just scooped the poops up with my hand and threw them in the trash.


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## Nancy McClelland (Dec 16, 2013)

We have only had one out of more than 40 rescues that would only poop and pee in her pan. The rest are any where from active to overactive. Stockton would sit in one place for ten minutes and leave about 30 while Hoss would leave 1 or 2. I bought a shop vac for that reason alone. They are considered to be potty trained if they pee in a litterbox, so, a few scattered dry poops are nothing. Tell your husband to read up on it here for a reality check and remind him of how truly filthy his shoe soles are in comparison--I never use a bathroom outside of our house and we have a friend in Dallas that drives home from work to use the bathroom so it's not just me and yet the bunny voiding doesn't bother me at all.


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## Sophie's Humble Servant (Dec 16, 2013)

I'm a germaphobe and Sophie's poop doesn't bother me at all for some reason. Maybe it's because she's such a clean little veggie mite, I dunno but they don't bother me at all when they fall on the carpet.


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