Rabbit soft cecotropes: diet fix for Himalayans

Recurring soft cecotropes are one of those issues that looks minor on the surface but usually signals a real dietary imbalance — most often too many pellets, too many treats, or not enough long-stem hay. It's very common in three-year-olds who've settled into a slightly too comfortable routine. Rabbits are genuinely complex animals: their digestive systems are precision instruments, and the setup you give them — especially what they eat — shapes their health and behaviour in ways most people underestimate. So, to point you in the right direction: is your Himalayan indoors or out, and are you looking mainly to adjust the diet, or are there other bits of the setup you want to look at too?

Right, the muesli is almost certainly the core problem — selective feeding means he's been skipping the fibrous bits and loading up on the sugary, starchy pieces, which throws the cecum completely out of balance and produces exactly what you're describing. The vet's advice is spot on: hay needs to be 80% or more of his diet, and the muesli needs to go entirely. Before I suggest anything else — how much hay is he currently eating in a day, and is he actually interested in it, or does he mostly ignore it?

That's really common after muesli — they basically get addicted to the pellet and grain pieces and lose interest in hay. The litter tray method is the right instinct, it just takes a week or two of firm boundaries to work. The key is cutting the muesli cold turkey and making hay the only option, which feels cruel but genuinely isn't — he won't starve himself. For the hay itself, I'd recommend Oxbow Western Timothy Hay. It's consistently high quality, long-stemmed rather than dusty or chopped short, and has the right fibre content to get the cecum working properly again. A lot of fussy rabbits also prefer it to cheaper hays because the smell is fresher. You can get a large bag on Amazon UK and it's good value for regular reordering. Alongside that, if you want to give him something alongside hay as a very small daily ration while you transition, a plain pellet like Burgess Excel Adult would be far better than any muesli — but honestly, fix the hay first and let that do the work.

Most people see a noticeable change within two to three weeks once hay intake goes up properly — the gut flora starts to rebalance fairly quickly when it's getting the right fermentation material. The cecotropes will firm up and you'll likely find he starts eating them again naturally, which is exactly what you want. If things haven't improved at all after four weeks of good hay intake and no muesli, it's worth another vet check just to rule out anything else going on, but in most cases diet alone fixes it completely. The main thing is consistency — no sneaking muesli back in as a treat.

Honestly, muesli is very effectively marketed and a lot of owners are in the same position — it looks wholesome and colourful and the bags are everywhere. You're doing the right thing switching now at three years old, which is still well within the window to make a real difference to his long-term gut health. Good luck with the transition — most rabbits come around to good hay faster than their owners expect once the alternative is gone.