Cecotropes (also caecotropes, cecotrophs, caecotrophs, cecal pellets, soft feces, or night feces) are a nutrient-filled package created in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that is expelled and eaten by many animals (such as rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, and chinchillas) to obtain more nutrients out of their food. When food passes through the GI tract the first time, the stomach and the small intestine digest the food material, which then moves into the colon, where the food particles are sorted by size. The smaller particles of fiber are moved into the cecum where they are fermented by microbes. This creates useable nutrients which are stored and expelled in cecotropes. The nutrients from the cecotropes are absorbed in the small intestine.^{[citation needed]} The nutrients gained from cecotrophy include short-chain fatty acids, vitamin B, sodium, potassium, amino acids, and protein.

Lagomorphs (a grouping including rabbits, hares, and pikas) are perhaps the most well-known for producing and eating cecotropes, but other monogastric fermenters, such as rodents, also produce cecotropes. Rodents including beavers, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, and chinchillas are known cecotrophs. Other animals also eat cecotropes, such as the common ringtail possum and the coppery ringtail possum.

The act of eating cecotropes is referred to as cecotrophy, which is distinct from coprophagy which is the eating of feces proper. Similarly, cecotropes are not fecal material, so terms such as "soft feces" and "night feces" are technically incorrect. Though cecotropes are sometimes called "night feces," they are produced throughout the day and night.

Cecotropes are a group of small balls clumped together that look like a thin blackberry, which exit the anus all at once. They are dark, odorous, sticky and full of nutrition. Cecotropes differ from regular feces which are larger, exit the anus one at a time, smell only slightly, have very little moisture, and are a waste product.

Many cecotrophs, such as rabbits, are monogastric digesters and herbivores. The majority of food absorption occurs in the small intestine, which makes up roughly 12% of the GI tract in rabbits. Any material not yet digested enters the proximal colon. In lagomorphs, a unique structure called the fusus coli separates the proximal and distal colon and regulates the separation of food material. Food particles greater than 0.3 to 0.5 millimeters (mm) are pushed down the colon through peristalsis. These larger particles consist of mostly non-fermentable materials. Meanwhile particles less than 0.3 to 0.5 mm, which predominantly consist of fermentable fibers and proteins, are moved back into the colon and cecum through retrograde peristalsis. The ileocecal valve located at the end of the small intestine ensures the material goes to the cecum and not the small intestine.

Mammalian enzymes cannot break down fiber. However, microbes in the cecum have enzymes that are capable of breaking down fiber. The microbes in a rabbit's gut include bacteria (such as the genera Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Streptococcus, and Enterobacter, among others) protozoa, yeasts, and amoeba.

The anaerobic fermentation in the cecum breaks down the fiber into useable food for the animal. It is also used as food for the proliferating microbes. The results of the fermentation are volatile fatty acids (VFAs), all of the B vitamins, vitamin K, microbial proteins, essential amino acids and minerals.

Some of the other nutrients are also absorbed by the cecum and the colon. Four to nine hours after a meal, the cecum empties and the contents, which containing the results of fermentation along with microbes, continue down the colon.