Dirty bunny bums-please help!

Hiya,
Many apologies for not being on here for aaaaages, but having given birth to a little boy in July, I have been manically busy since then.
I have a problem with my bunnies. They used to live in the house but since about June have been living in a 3 story hutch with large enclosure around it, so they can run around as they please. Anyway, for some reason they have stopped washing their bottoms and have constantly got poo and today i noticed one rabbit is soaked with urine. When I tried to wash it off she did a really weird wee that was like little specks of dry urine in clear liquid, it was very strong smelling and normal wee colour. I am really worried about both of them. I keep their cage as clean as possible and they have a litter tray with biodegradable cat litter in and they get hay and greens an carrots, although not every day. I feel like I am at a loss. I thought I was a really good bunny owner and now I am stumped and feel really upset about it. Feels like they are upset for being moved out of the house
If anyone can help I would really aprecaite it, they are both going to the vets on mon, I wanted to take them today, but I couldn't take them and my little boy at the same time. I feel awful.
Thanks and I will make a big effort to get on here more often.
Love nicola xxx

Hello

Mucky bums often occur if a Bun has a diet too high in protein/carbohydrates and not enough fibre. What do you feed your Bunnies ? Are they good hay eaters ? 80% of a Rabbits diet should be hay.
If the Buns are poor hay eaters then they may have Dental problems. 'Dental Buns' sometimes get a mucky bum.
The 'odd wee' is concerning. The Bun may have a urinary tract infection, possibly secondary to bladder sludge/stones ( caused by a calcium build up in the bladder) or *maybe* an active case of EC. Is there any way you could get to a Vet tomorrow ?

Janex

Hey Jane,
Thanks for the quick reply. Am beginning to think it may be a urinary infection after reading some other posts on here. Argh! Really worried and upset! Can hopefully get her to emergency vet tomorrow. Feel awful I couldn't get her there today, so hard with a baby and stuff
They eat dwarf pellets from pah and have several types of hay that I am always trying to encourage them to eat more of.
What would be the signs of EC? Worried
Thanks Jane.
nicola x

I would not stress about EC at the moment. Urinary incontinence is one of the symptoms but from what you have described a UTI seems more likely.
As a preventative against EC it is recommended that Pet Rabbits are treated with Panacur Rabbit 2-4 times a year

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/Intervet_UK_Ltd/Panacur_Rabbit___18_75_ACU-_Oral_Paste/-42085.html

http://www.petremedies.co.uk/prodtype.asp?CAT_ID=156

You could ask your Vet about this

Hopefully your Vet will check the Buns teeth to see if Dental problems are the cause of their mucky bums. The Vet may also discuss your Buns diet to see if any changes can be made to benefit their general health

Good luck

Janex

Hi Jane,
Thanks very much for that. I am a bit cross with our vets, I called them quite a few weeks ago and asked if the buns could have debtal problems resulting in not washing themselves and they said no. I knew I should have trusted my instincts! Will be going to a different vet!!!
Thanks again.
nicola xxx

def different vet!!

bandit came to us with amucky bum prob..much worse than bifs ever had as it was all the time...he had a check over at the vets and petra confirmed my suspicions..he was waiting to settle in before i ahd him neutered...and his bits were too big for himt o wash down there but they didnt lawys apear even but she said all in all they were huge even for a bog bunny but crazy on a little lionehead!
once his bits had healed hes been fine with poso ever since.
but lately hes ben peeing ans sitting in it..its the whole bonding thing..i have realsied hes being overtly terrirotial but sneakily and the pos and wees and loss of liter tray are just that.but im going to see rob just in case..

if in doubt.......

bifs always had tummy probs and was at one vet given a sentence of suspected cancer and told to bring her back when she didnt eat again to be pts

second opinion diff vets proved it was sluggish gi tract...caused by stress..she had a type of post traumatic stres syndrome..and her bowel was going crazy. i was told to give her fibreplex she had pain meds and gi stims a lot and bio lapis in her water for 3 weeks rob said..
but it didnt do the trick..she shard her water with bertie and the cats!

now shes in the cage for 3 weeks i can give her the bio lapis..sheshad a week of it and the soft poos have slowed down alot..shes not had a sticky bum like that for a year sonce the new vets took her on and understood buns.

good luck

:wave: Hiya! Love to the girls (and you and yoru lovely little boy of course)
I hope you get them sorted out. Good luck at the vets.

Hi Helen,
Great to hear from you. A really worried. been reading up and am positive she has this urine sludge stuff. I thought I had been doing the right thing by giving her spring greens and alfalfa cubes, but now I think I have made the problem worse as they are all high in calcium. Really upset that i may have caused the problem My friend's husband is a vet, he is coming round in the morning. Praying she will be ok overnight. Really concerned. Am normally in bed before 9pm these days. My poor bunny
Will keep you posted tomorrow.
Love nicola x

Nicola C said:

Hi Helen,
Great to hear from you. A really worried. been reading up and am positive she has this urine sludge stuff. I thought I had been doing the right thing by giving her spring greens and alfalfa cubes, but now I think I have made the problem worse as they are all high in calcium. Really upset that i may have caused the problem My friend's husband is a vet, he is coming round in the morning. Praying she will be ok overnight. Really concerned. Am normally in bed before 9pm these days. My poor bunny
Will keep you posted tomorrow.
Love nicola x

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Our Bun had sludgy pee, vet told us to stop feeding Selective Science as it has Alfalfa in and it possibly that she can't tolerate it! We weaned her onto Excel and cut down on broccoli because it high in calcuim, and the problem stopped! But it may not be same as your bun! Thats good having a friend married to a vet! Very handy!

Can't slep, so just been to see the buns. She seems ok in herself but i have a lump of calcium, it was like a bigger poo dropping. Really worried! She ate a bit of carrot while I was there and was hopping around, so praying she will be ok. Does anyone know if she will need an operation to flush her out? Scared
Nicola x

Nicola C said:

Can't slep, so just been to see the buns. She seems ok in herself but i have a lump of calcium, it was like a bigger poo dropping. Really worried! She ate a bit of carrot while I was there and was hopping around, so praying she will be ok. Does anyone know if she will need an operation to flush her out? Scared
Nicola x

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She will need an abdominal Xray to see if there is actually stones in her bladder and also to make sure there are none in her Kidneys. If it is still just sludge your Vet may be able to manually express the bladder (generally best done under GA as that way all the muscles will be relaxed). She may need catheterising to flush the sediment out. Only if actual stones have formed is a cystotomy necessary.
Bun will probably require antibiotics and anti-inflammatories

She will then need her diet modifying to reduce the amount of calcium she has and also try to get her to up her water intake ( give water in a bowl, add a bit of pure cranberry juice, serve low calcium veg wet etc)

Good Luck

Janex

Thanks Jane, I am so worried. Was up at 3.30am with her. She was nibbling on some hay earlier and I have put two more bowls of water down for her. As well as the big ball, there was also a little more sludge. Gave her a carrot as it said they are low in calcium. Blimey, this is awful, I am terrified.
Taking her to vets, it opens at 9.30am. Will keep you posted.
Thanks again
Nicola x

:wave: congrats on your baby - don't panic about the bunnies I think they just need a few adjustments to their diet and they'll be fine Carrots - regard them as sweeties, as that's what they essentially are. A nethie shouldn't have more than a small, one inch chunk a day. Carrots being sugary will feed the 'bad' bacteria in their tums, so it's probably a good idea to give them a probiotic now as there seems to be a bit of imbalance there.

Veggies - don't worry about feeding veg until you have their health stabilised - they don't need a lot of veg but they do need it daily - feeding it sporadically will cause poo problems as their tums never get sufficiently high levels of digestive bacteria to deal with it properly. My nethie Tia used to have half a leaf of greens, a tiny piece of brocolli and a little chunk of carrot daily - she loved the carrot most but that's because it's sweet! Don't feed veg at night either as they might get an upset tum from eating it wilted at 5am, or eat it in preference to their caecal poops.

Pellets - nethies only need a tiny amount of pellets - any more and they will get too fat to reach around to their caecal poops, and these will get squished onto their fur. They don't want more than a couple of level teaspoons of pellets each, with just a few at bedtime if that's the best way to get them locked in for the night.

Water - mine get it in a dish, with a splash of boiling from the kettle in now it's cold - they won't drink cold water at all, so I give them warm morning and evening - but don't use the hot tap as it's full of bacteria.

Hope that helps - if you need to clean their fur use cooking cornflour and rub it into the dirt with your fingertips - it will slide off

Hi lovely to see you back (just wish it wasn't for this reason) Congrats on baby.Fraid I can't offer any advice (think you been given some excellent help already) just wanted to say I'm thinking of you and hope all goes ok.

Thaks guys, I have really missed you all. These babies take up so much time. Taking the bun to the vet this morning and my friends husband should be popping over as well. Praying she will be ok and hoping an x ray will show no more stones. So terribly worrying. I feel guilty for spending so much time with the baby, but what can you do
Thanks again.
Nicola xxxxxxxx

I hope she is OK.

One of mine had to have his bladder flushed on Christmas Day 2006 (he had no stones though). He is fine now. It was exactly how Jane has mentioned earlier in this post. Some anti biotics and painkiller after.

We have changed his diet and have not had this problem since thank goodness.

Good luck at the vet.

Good luck at the vet.

Thanks guys, appointment is at 10.20am, very scared now!!!
Nicola x

hope everything goes well at the vets!

Hi Nicola, How did it go at the vets ? I'm expecting our first baby any day now and we have a house rabbit so i'm hoping it all goes well and we can still keep her in the house !!