Why are rabbits considered pseudo-ruminants?

Here's why:

• Rabbits feed on fibrous plant material like grasses, similar to ruminants.
• They practice coprophagy, meaning they re-ingest their own soft fecal pellets (cecotropes) to extract more nutrients. This process is functionally similar to rumination, where food is re-chewed and re-digested.
• They have a large cecum where microbial fermentation of cellulose occurs, much like the rumen in true ruminants. However, this fermentation happens after the small intestine, unlike the foregut fermentation in true ruminants.