Rabbit not eating

Question
I have a 17 month old female Holland lop rabbit. I bred her with my male Holland lop on August 31st. She has been doing good, but she's a little fiesty ;) Anyways, I have always fed her hay based pellets but I have been transitioning her over to alfalfa based pellets the past few weeks because I heard they are higher in protein and better for a pregnant/nursing/growing rabbit. I also started feeding her alfalfa hay.

Before I bred her, I only fed her 1/4 cup of pellets each day. Now since she is pregnant I have been giving her 1/2 cup. The first week or so of her pregnancy she would only eat half of the pellets I give her. Now she is totally on alfalfa pellets but she hasn't ate pellets in three days! I thought pregnant rabbits ate more?

She is still eating her hay, alfalfa, and veggies like normal. It's just her pellets she isn't eating.

I have also noticed a lot of cecal droppings in the cage which I don't think is a good sign. My other rabbit doesn't ever have cecal droppings left in the cage. I give her 1 cup of veggies each day so yesterday I didn't give her veggies but she still didn't eat her pellets! Today I gave her veggies and she ate them right away but she still didn't touch her pellets.

Is this normal? Should I feed her hay based pellets like I used to?

Answer
Kylie,

If she wasn't gradually switched over to the new pellets by mixing the old with the new at first, she may be rejecting them because it's too much of a shock to her delicate system.  It could also be a case of "bloat" from the veggies you're feeding her, rabbits cannot pass gas like other animals and veggies can cause painful gas build-up that would make her not want to eat.  Your best option is to switch her back to the original pellets.  It doesn't matter what kind of hay/alfalfa the pellets are made of, what's most important is the protein level.  A rabbit that is pregnant or nursing a litter or under 4 months of age should have 18% protein in their pellets, all other rabbits should have 15-16%.  Give her a teaspoon of old fashioned rolled oats to entice her back into eating for a few days, and as much hay as she wants for now to help push any bubbles through her system that she might have gotten from the veggies.  A small treat of veggies once or twice a week is fine, as long as you avoid the ones the really cause a lot of gas (iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli).  You should not feed a rabbit veggies every day though, it's too hard for them to digest and can cause them to quit eating the most important part of their diet which is the pellets.  Make sure you get her a nest box by September 28th and lots of hay for her to build her nest with, and watch for her litter to arrive sometime around the 30th.  Some rabbits will build their nest several days ahead of time, others not until they are actively in labor so don't panic if you don't see her making a home for her babies right away.  Best wishes!