Advice please on messy bums

Hi

My Female rabbit has always got a messy bum, she doesnt have diarrhoea, its just urine, getting realy worried now bcause its like it every day and it is cold outside. she is bout 8 months, she eats fine and very active. has anyone got any ideas?

What are you feeding her? Is she litter trained? How often do you change her bedding?

she is fed on a all in one complete food, with a good quality hay and veg. no she isnt litter trained although she only goes in one corner of the hutch which i take out the dirty bedding each day. she is not spayed either.

Hi Jemma. Welcome to the forum Is it a pelleted food, or a mix? Oh, I've just re-read your post and you say you think it's just urine..so by a "messy bum" do you mean staining? If she is already using just one corner for her toilet, put a litter tray on that spot and put her soiled bedding in there..It's so much easier to lift out the litter tray for cleaning. Is hse a white/pale coloured bunster? staining always looks so much more obvious on them, though she should be cleaning herself anyway.

Hello

Its a pelleted food. I know its just urine, i have tried a litter tray but she just moves it around the hutch and then sits in it. she is brown and white, all white around the bottom area. she smells quite bad at the moment. Is there anything i can use to clean her myself? its not that her hutch is too small either coz she has got a 5ft by 2ft by 2ft and she is a very small mini lop. its just a bit frustrating.

Hi. You can get top and tail wipes for small animals at most pet stores, though I've found the most effective cleaner is wet grass! Of course that's only good if she has a run on the grass. The urine of unspayed does does ( that looks really odd..isn't English spelling wierd???:lol: ) smell rank. My female rex is spayed and the difference between her and Nia my unspayed nethie is really very obvious!

o rite is it ok if she goes on wet grass.

i was told not to put her on it coz it would cause bloating and diarrhoea.

Is she very young? You could put her on for 10-15mins for the first time.

she is 8 months old. she has been on the grass but not when its wet, i have been bringing her inside for exercise

What do you use for litter? You could try using something like megazorb, which is very absorbant, to soak up more of her wee. Getting her spayed will make it much easier to litter train her and much less smelly too. It will also prevent uterine cancer and infections, female bunnies have a high likelihood of getting uterine cancer if they are not spayed. Bailey was very whiffy until I got him neutered!

Is she actually leaking wee?
Is she drinking a lot?

A Bun who is constantly wet with urine is not normal and merits a check-up at the Vets.

Good Luck

Janex

Where is she exercising? If you bring her into a warm house and them put her out into a cold hutch it will play havoc with her temperature control. It's not good for them at this time of the year. Rabbits can cope with cold, but not extreme temperature changes.

I would definitely get this checked out properly,as shouldnt get any urine staining in a young healthy bunny

Ok, here is my advice.

I have the same problem with Blackeye.

When I took him to the vets the first time, he had an awful lot of calcium in his wee. I was told to cut out the pellets completely and feed him on just hay/veg. The only veg he can have is cabbage and carrot (I had been feeding him broccoli which apparently is very high in calcium!). I was given metacam and some cream for his urine scald.

Also, you can bath her if she will let you. I bath blackeye even now when necessary.

Buy a washing up bowl and some johnson's baby shampoo. Put a small amount of shampoo in the bowl, add some warm water, about 2" at the most (must be just lukewarm, don't go too cold or too hot). Now holding bunny underneath behind his front legs, but supporting his rear end, gently lower him in so he can stand his back legs in the water. Now you can gently splash the area with the water. Take him out, and replace the water with fresh, just clean plain water and do the same again to rinse any shampoo out.

Now towel dry as much as possible and get your hairdryer - MUST BE USED ON THE COOL SETTING AND ON THE GENTLE BLOW SETTING. Now you can gently blow dry bunny, but keep the hairdryer moving or ruffle the area you are drying with your fingers so as not to get the skin too warm.

When this is all done and bunny is totally dry, put some sudocrem on any sore looking skin.

This all works for Blackeye. I don't take him to the vets with it anymore, because I check him daily, I know the signs and bath him at the first sign.

Even now, he does not have any pellets or any kind of rabbit food - just hay and carrots/cabbage (plus whatever he eats when he's in the garden).

This is a problem that I just have to accept with blackeye now, and as I have already said, I've learnt to read the signs and tackle it straight away. I think he probably has about 4 bouts of this a year (each bout requires maybe 3 baths at the most), then he is back to normal.

I hope all this advice helps you in the interim, but please take her to the vets just to get their advice, as soon as possible. She may have dental problems which stop her from cleaning herself which will need to be addressed as soon as possible.

Kerina
xxx

Litter training can takes months so it is always worth perservering with - how about putting rabbit litter where she goes to the toilet so she can get used to the actual litter and it will be more absorbant of urine and then progress to putting the litter in a tray

~bailey~ said:

What do you use for litter? You could try using something like megazorb, which is very absorbant, to soak up more of her wee. Getting her spayed will make it much easier to litter train her and much less smelly too. It will also prevent uterine cancer and infections, female bunnies have a high likelihood of getting uterine cancer if they are not spayed. Bailey was very whiffy until I got him neutered!

Click to expand...

Where can you buy megazorb?:shock:

I would be very careful about washing a buns bottom even if it is dried properly and then putting the bun outside.

Cheesy321 said:

Where can you buy megazorb?:shock:

Click to expand...

Its a horse bedding, so you might be able to get it from local stables or horse suppliers. You can also get it from some online bunny shops
http://www.bunnybasics.net/advanced_search_result.html?keyword=megazorb&search_in_description=1
https://www.thehayexperts.com/advan...01d5c0d3bd635fb6c6f&keywords=megazorb&x=0&y=0
I get mine from a small pet shop near me.

I second Kerinas advice. I have a rabbit that wets himself sometimes but has been given the all clear. He sits with his bum tucked right under and gets even over his tail wet yet when he wees he lifts his tail and all happens normally. I bathe him with bunny shampoo and dry him off as Kerina said and I have cut the fur shorter where he tends to wet himself which has helped.

I have also found that if I give him some extra pellets outside of the group he's in he is less wet - odd I know but then bunnies eh? :?

Thank you for seconding me Chloaster - I always get a bit slated when i post advice on washing bunny bums, but I am only offering my advice based on my own experience - I wouldn't post it if it hadn't worked for me!

I thought that was the whole point of this forum!

Also, blackeye now actually quite enjoys it - especially the hairdryer - he nudges it when I turn it off as if he's trying to tell me he wants more!!

Thanks


Kerina