Stained fur

(Not sure if this is the right place to put this but I guess it COULD eventually lead to a health-problem...)

One of the rabbits at work has a really funny fur at some places (Mainly the belly and back feet).
Its yellow (the rabbit is mainly white) and looks wet all the time, yet its really dry and stiff.
At first I thought it was because his cage was dirty (he was on straw because they had nothing else to put in his cage:? Been telling my boss to get something that actually absorbs for a while...its a pain to clean) so I cleaned the hutch and hoped he would clean himself, but he hasn't been able to it seems.
Yesterday I tried to wash him of myself with a wet paper, I got it a bit better I think but it still doesn't look very isolating.
Any tips on how to get his coat back to normal? He's an outdoor rabbit (up in the cold north Norway) so its pretty important his fur isolates, and I can't very well shave him of or he'd be naked at at least one leg


Here's what the fur looks like. First picture is his feet, the other is his leg.
The fur on his back is normal.

It looks to me like it's some sort of oil or grease that has dried. Not sure what could cause that though :?

marleyandme said:

It looks to me like it's some sort of oil or grease that has dried. Not sure what could cause that though :?

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It does kind of look like that... Either that or urine, but if it was that he should be able to clean it of. :?
He was locked up in the barn when I first saw it too. Who would go in there to smear oil on a rabbit? :?

Is there any farm machinery around where he could have come into contact with engine oil, petrol etc?

I'm not sure if it will be harmful if he ingests it..hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon!

marleyandme said:

Is there any farm machinery around where he could have come into contact with engine oil, petrol etc?

I'm not sure if it will be harmful if he ingests it..hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon!

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Nope. No machinery in the room he was in. Just some other rabbits, two ponies and a pig.
The rabbit was in a cage on his own.
And he's got the stains a little while and he's in good shape otherwise so I don't think its that dangerous...

I assume it'll come off with his next moult then, as it is greasy you would have to use a shampoo of some sort to remove it. If it's not bothering him just leave and watch him incase it may be harmful.

That's a mystery though! Wonder what it could be?

I would think that it is urine?

I just thought it looked greasy and not like normal urine stain esp as it feels dry.

marleyandme said:

I just thought it looked greasy and not like normal urine stain esp as it feels dry.

I just looked on google for a pic...and now I feel ill! People are so inhumane ...I don't think I will ever be able to get that picture of of my head!

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Well what about scent glands?
It sounds silly but they are oily?

I thought it was urine at first too, its just strange that it won't come of.
I assume it'll come of by his next moult either but I assume that will be around autumn so... Summers here can be quite nasty. I hope his hutch is warm enough since the fur on his foot doesn't look isolating, you can see his skin :shock:

(BTW: I'd rather keep comments of animal abuse of this tread, whether its related to this or something else entirely, especially if its not related to this rabbit... It doesn't really help Sprett:roll

My bunny has white fur around her downstairs area and back feet, and it always seems to be offcolour, I tried to wash it off then asked the vet how to clean it off and she said it was just natural staining and would be more distressing to keep trying to wash off only for it to happen again and was better not to worry about it. She said as long as it wasn't infected or faeces then I should not worry, apparently it's very hard to keep rabbits with white undersides white lol could it just be natural discolouration? xxx

Jeffalina said:

My bunny has white fur around her downstairs area and back feet, and it always seems to be offcolour, I tried to wash it off then asked the vet how to clean it off and she said it was just natural staining and would be more distressing to keep trying to wash off only for it to happen again and was better not to worry about it. She said as long as it wasn't infected or faeces then I should not worry, apparently it's very hard to keep rabbits with white undersides white lol could it just be natural discolouration? xxx

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If it was just miscolouring I wouldn't be so worried but the fur on his leg is pretty much useless! It doesn't isolate any heat and its skin is clearly visible.

ZakuraRabbit said:

If it was just miscolouring I wouldn't be so worried but the fur on his leg is pretty much useless! It doesn't isolate any heat and its skin is clearly visible.

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Poor thing, I'm sorry to hear that, good luck finding an answer, hope bun is ok xxx

*Spider* said:

I would think that it is urine?

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I thought that too. When Joey had his bout of incontinence it looked like this.

Have buns been panacured?

Whether the staining is from urine, diarrhoea, mucus from the bum, grease from the scent gland, or some kind of skin infection this bunny needs to see a vet
edit: sorry, there I go again, sounding harsh. It's just that there could be some very serious health problems causing this, and a great danger of flystrike from most of these causes

Angie65 said:

I thought that too. When Joey had his bout of incontinence it looked like this.

Have buns been panacured?

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Has been what? Is that some kind of medicine? If so I doubt it.
But I'll talk to my boss and see if she can get a vet to look at it.