Urgent! Bunny has very dirty bottom...

Hi folks :wave:

My female bunny has a really dirty back end, it is clogged up with poo.

Now I havent been able to look after my bunnies myself for over a week now due to my neck problems as I have been undergoing treatment which means I need rest & cant bend down.

So my OH has been feeding, watering & cleaning out for me whilst I have been unable to.

I went out today & her bottom is filthy so I was going to rinse it with hot water & cut out some of the dirty hair to make her more comfortable....

I am however worried as I know years ago a friend had to get her bunnt PTS as it was clogged at the back end.

Any advice is much appreciated.

I feel so guilty as my health has been getting worse & I havent been able to look after my darling buns myself...

Give her a good clean and maybe even ask the vet to help clean if your not sure how to!
It could be caused by her diet. What is she fed on a daily basis?
:wave:

FudgeMallow said:

Give her a good clean and maybe even ask the vet to help clean if your not sure how to!
It could be caused by her diet. What is she fed on a daily basis?
:wave:

Click to expand...

Hi there,:wave::wave:

I feed her excel pellets mixed with a rabbit mix which has dandelions & herbs in it. I cant think of the name off hand, will go back out to buns & get back to you on that.

They get excel forage hay/grass too.

I will give her a good clean just now then what is the best thing to do?

If you are going to struggle with the initial clean then I'd take her to the vets to have all the fur trimmed and cleaned. It shouldn't cost much but be much easier for you.

Your OH may have been feeding too many pellets. I'd cut back on these and give plenty of plain meadow or timothy hay. I'd leave out the stuff with dandilions too for now as they are diuretic.

It needs to be clean as th weather is getting warmer and I've seen a few flies about so as an extra precaution use rearguard and bring her inside if she isn't already.

Make sure she is getting plenty of water.

To be on the safe side make sure her belly doesn't feel bloated and make sure she is pooping normally too.

It might also be worth getting some probiotics and fibreplex(?) to get the healthy gut flora and fibre levels back up.

Lots of hay and a good clean is a must though

vicki267 said:

If you are going to struggle with the initial clean then I'd take her to the vets to have all the fur trimmed and cleaned. It shouldn't cost much but be much easier for you.

Your OH may have been feeding too many pellets. I'd cut back on these and give plenty of plain meadow or timothy hay. I'd leave out the stuff with dandilions too for now as they are diuretic.

It needs to be clean as th weather is getting warmer and I've seen a few flies about so as an extra precaution use rearguard and bring her inside if she isn't already.

Make sure she is getting plenty of water.

To be on the safe side make sure her belly doesn't feel bloated and make sure she is pooping normally too.

It might also be worth getting some probiotics and fibreplex(?) to get the healthy gut flora and fibre levels back up.

Lots of hay and a good clean is a must though

Click to expand...

Hi there,

I checked the food & it is dodson & horrel chudleys rabit royale that she is on.

I gave her a right good clean so looks better & I will get my OH to help me trim the other tugs when he gets home as I cant do myself.

She is in my garage which has been converted for my bunnies.
I will get rear guard too just incase.

I will take her pellets off her for now & just give her hay & hope it settles.

I feel so bad as I just havent been able to look after them myself just now with my health & then this happens I had been thinking that I would maybe have to rehome some of my buns if my health stays like this as it aint fair to them but then I love them so much & would do anything for them.

Thank you for your advice.... Much appreciated

I normally give then 3 days without pellets and hay and water only! Gradually re-introduce the pellets and if the problem keeps happening you know its the food
You could then change her onto a higher fibre pellet like Allen and Page (worked great for my buns) or Sience Selective or Oxbow Bunny Basics (dont know exact brand)

Give Unlimited hay at all times and give new foods gradually
I hope you get it sorted

FudgeMallow said:

I normally give then 3 days without pellets and hay and water only! Gradually re-introduce the pellets and if the problem keeps happening you know its the food
You could then change her onto a higher fibre pellet like Allen and Page (worked great for my buns) or Sience Selective or Oxbow Bunny Basics (dont know exact brand)

Give Unlimited hay at all times and give new foods gradually
I hope you get it sorted

Click to expand...

Thank you.

I will let you know how I get on

I agree you should try Science Selective. I know of one rabbit who was on Excel and had runny poo problems and switching to Science Selective has made it better.

Rabbit Royale is dreadful for causing mucky bums.
It is a poor feed for a Rabbit, being full of molasses. Excel pellets are also known to lead to mucky bums in some Rabbits.

I'd get Bun onto a 90% hay diet with just a half teacupful of a higher fibre Pellet feed a day-Science Selective, A+P Natural Rabbit Pellets or Oxbow Pellets.

I'd certainly advise that Bun has his teeth checked by your Vet ASAP as mucky bums are a symptom of Dental problems and RR feed is very likely to cause Dental problems.

I agree with Jane. Also my bunnies get mucky bums if fed too much veg.

I have used Rabbit Royale for the majority of my rabbits for the past 11 years and never had mucky bum problems. It was recommended to me by a good rescue as they had mucky bum problems and had not had any since swapping their feed to Royale

Jack's-Jane said:

Rabbit Royale is dreadful for causing mucky bums.
It is a poor feed for a Rabbit, being full of molasses. Excel pellets are also known to lead to mucky bums in some Rabbits.

I'd get Bun onto a 90% hay diet with just a half teacupful of a higher fibre Pellet feed a day-Science Selective, A+P Natural Rabbit Pellets or Oxbow Pellets.

I'd certainly advise that Bun has his teeth checked by your Vet ASAP as mucky bums are a symptom of Dental problems and RR feed is very likely to cause Dental problems.

Click to expand...

Hi Jane:wave::wave:

Will do, thanks for the advice.
RR isnt a cheap food & I thought it would be good as it had herbs, carrot, dandelions etc.

Again I thought Excel was suppose to be good as it is vet recommended:shock:

I will get her teeth checked.

Thanks again.

Hugo's There said:

I have used Rabbit Royale for the majority of my rabbits for the past 11 years and never had mucky bum problems. It was recommended to me by a good rescue as they had mucky bum problems and had not had any since swapping their feed to Royale

Click to expand...

:wave:

Mine love it & have been on it for ages...

So I am suprised this is happening.

ribbons said:

Hi Jane:wave::wave:

Will do, thanks for the advice.
RR isnt a cheap food & I thought it would be good as it had herbs, carrot, dandelions etc.

Again I thought Excel was suppose to be good as it is vet recommended:shock:

I will get her teeth checked.

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

I think breeders tend to favour RR as it certainly keeps a Rabbit's coat glossy.
But it is not nutritionally sound for an adult Pet Rabbit and as I have said the high level of molasses is, IMO, unsuitable

Good luck with the bum cleaning and I hope that you'll feel better soon too

xx

Jack's-Jane said:

I think breeders tend to favour RR as it certainly keeps a Rabbit's coat glossy.
But it is not nutritionally sound for an adult Pet Rabbit and as I have said the high level of molasses is, IMO, unsuitable

Good luck with the bum cleaning and I hope that you'll feel better soon too

xx

Click to expand...

Hi again,

Thanks for all your advice

How much pellets do you feed your buns?

How much hay do you give?

I do give them plenty hay & excel forage but if I am to cut down on pellets should I increase.

ribbons said:

Hi again,

Thanks for all your advice

How much pellets do you feed your buns?

How much hay do you give?

I do give them plenty hay & excel forage but if I am to cut down on pellets should I increase.

Click to expand...

My Buns have hay 24/7. I buy my hay in bales from a farm and I get through about 4 x 20kg bales a week for 46 Rabbits.
I feed about an eggcupful of pellets (was A+P but now Science Selective) in the morning and again in the evening. Elderly or debilitated Rabbits get more if necessary to keep their weight up.

As long as your Bun eats lots of hay you can cut out almost all pellet/cereal feeds for 48 hours. This may well be all that is needed to sort out his mucky bum but it is always worth making sure Bun does not have any other problem making it difficult for him to clean himself-ie Dental problems or arthritic pain.

Yes Jane- an eggcup measure is a good idea.

Some time ago I had to go away to look after my mum for a week after her op and my husband fed & cleaned out the buns. No sticky bums-(amazingly!) -as I found he had been giving them a small handful of pellets 4 times a day!! breakfast...lunch...tea...and supper ! EEEK!
He said they always seemed hungry...!!!

and then I said "show me how much you gave them"
"-just a small handful... like you said......". he said

Trust me! a man sized small handful is MUCH more than a lady sized small handful!

So since then, we have used a measure!!

_ I do hope you will feel better soon -Sue:wave:

ps- i feed twice a day about an eggcupful too

Did you check that he didn't over feed the veg. Like I said, mine get a really upset bum on veg. He also have given them too much of the dried food and they may then not have eaten as much hay.

i can only back up the suggestions made.

bif used to suffer terribly with this..it turned out she had very very small molar spurs but its enough to upset her. Also she came to me on excel but i had to chnage her over to ss as thats what our old bun her hubby was on. they both got worse on the stuff!

when her husbun passed we got bertie and ended up adopting him..he was on allen and page and we moved him onto bifs ss and he puton so much wieight and got sticky bum himself:shock:

we moved them across to allen and page natural pellets and things improved vastly. also with bif we have to give her so many different types of hay for her teeth its just as well i get all sorts of hay in these days:lol:

i had to give her BIO LAPIS in her water and food for at least threew eeks every single day and cut her pellets right down and feed as much hay as poss..and we took to trimming her knickers and aournd her bits to help us all out. she was having daily butt baths

touch wood she hasnt had to have that done for over a year or so now.
but we have to stop feeding her fruit or veg as well..and when she does a whole load of excess cecals we have to check was it from stress which also does it to certian buns or do her spurs need filing again.

we give ehr a tube of fibreplex when it gets too sticky in her living area! i have plastic scrapers form wilkinsons cost me 79p for three and theyre great for scraping up dried poops or even wet ones..eww but it is on lino so im lucky!

ribbons said:

Hi again,

Thanks for all your advice

How much pellets do you feed your buns?

How much hay do you give?

I do give them plenty hay & excel forage but if I am to cut down on pellets should I increase.

Click to expand...

did you give your bun 90% hay as his diet? As my bridge bun, Little Happy, had the very same problem. Solely because he doesn't eat any hay, or not enough hay.

The remaining 10% is pellet, fruit, veggies, treats. So there is need for just a very small amt. of pellets. And for the time being, I would cut all veggies and fruit