Digestive System in Rabbit

The rabbit, as an herbivore, is uniquely designed to consume large amounts of plant material.  The plants that rabbits eat are high in fiber, which is indigestible to mammalian digestive enzymes.  This means that humans and many other animals cannot utilize the nutrients found in these plants.  However, the rabbit’s digestive system makes it able to consume these plants and make the most of their nutrients. 

Because rabbits consume fibrous plant materials, they must eat a lot to meet their nutrient needs. However, their gastrointestinal tract is small compared to other herbivores, such as horses and cattle. So to accommodate large amounts of plants, food moves through the tract relatively quick.  Their digestive system is designed to make the most efficient use of the nutrients found in their diet.

Here are the processes of rabbit digestion as summarized in the diagram below. The food goes into the stomach, but the real action is not there.  The stomach stores the food and the contents are sterilized and moved to the small intestine. While in the small intestine up to 90% of the protein, starches and sugar are absorbed from the food. Then the undigested fiberous material moves on and is sorted. The fiber goes to the colon forming hard waste. The remaining food is then ready for digestion goes into the cecum which is larger than the stomach. Then the hard waste that bypasses the cecum is moved through the colon in a circular motion and forms perfectly round hard balls. There are two scent glands and either side of the anus. The cecum is a complicated organ that redigests the food.  It is filled with enzymes and bacteria that breakdown food. Every 3 to 8 hours the cecum contracts and forces the material back into the colon where it is coated with mucus, then passed through the anus (looks like a clump of small brown grapes) and the rabbit eats these "cecotrophes" directly. This is a very important part of the digestive process and keeps rabbit healthy.

For proper digestive health, a rabbit’s diet should be designed with its unique gastrointestinal system in mind. The diet should be high in fibrous materials to provide for proper dental health, as well as to ensure movement through the digestive system and for fermentation in the cecum to occur to produce cecotropes.  This fiber should come from high-quality plant materials to allow for sufficient nutrient utilization as the passage rate in the rabbit is relatively rapid.