Matted bottom :(

Hi guys

Sorry if this question has been asked a hundred times before :?

I'm a newby bunny owner....I got my Pebbles Monday this week. she was perfectly clean for the first 2 days but yesterday and today I have noticed that she has got hard brown lumps matted to her fur around her bottom - I assume this is poop.

Any ideas why this is happening? She is being fed general rabbit pellets, which she has eaten since birth...I'm wondering if I'm feeding her too much...any ideas how much should be fed to her on a daily basis? She is a mini lop doe and is 9-10 weeks old.

Will try to clean the matted stuff off tomorrow with warm water and cotton wool.

Many thanks

x

I presume she is getting unlimited hay too? X

Hiya...yes she has always got plenty of hay in her hutch x

Could it be those cecal poos? The ones they ingest stuck to her bum? Maybe she sat on one in her pen. My Nummy sometimes get them stuck to his bum too. If you see alot of wet runny poop in the pen I would bring Pebbles into the vet. But it might be that she sat on a wet poo :lol:

Not sure if this helps you, but my dwarf lops are eleven weeks on Sunday. When I first got them they were on a muesli type food that they'd been on since we got them. They were producing excessive caecatrophs. Our REW was getting it stuck all over her bottom which I was having to pick off :roll:. I gradually cut out the muesli food and got them on to excel junior and I've tried to increase their hay intake. This has made a huge difference. They are still producing the odd excessive caecatroph but nothing like what they were when we got them.

I had been told by my vet to feed them unlimited pellets but I don't think that was helping so I've limited it to a couple of small handfuls a day. And this has meant that they are nibbling much more on hay now. So hopefully all going in the right direction.

CDW said:

Not sure if this helps you, but my dwarf lops are eleven weeks on Sunday. When I first got them they were on a muesli type food that they'd been on since we got them. They were producing excessive caecatrophs. Our REW was getting it stuck all over her bottom which I was having to pick off :roll:. I gradually cut out the muesli food and got them on to excel junior and I've tried to increase their hay intake. This has made a huge difference. They are still producing the odd excessive caecatroph but nothing like what they were when we got them.

I had been told by my vet to feed them unlimited pellets but I don't think that was helping so I've limited it to a couple of small handfuls a day. And this has meant that they are nibbling much more on hay now. So hopefully all going in the right direction.

Click to expand...

:thumb: Yes you are
Ideally they say very young buns should have access to unlimited pellets up until about 16-20 wks but I don't necessarily agree with this....and certainly not all bunnies can tolerate pellets in these amounts due to the high concentrations of starch/carbohydrate which can put the caecal flora into dysbiosis - hence excess caecotroph production.
Personally given the choice between a young bun with caecal dysbiosis, mucky bum and a higher risk of further complications (stasis, mucoid enteritis, fly strike) or a young bun on less pellets but ingesting all caecotrophs thereby not leaving any, and hopefully therefore not losing weight/nutrients (as leaving them can produce) and staying clean to reduce scald and flystrike risks - then I would choose the latter. Our rescue girl was about 16 wks when we adopted her, maybe a little older, and we cut them out completely after the first two weeks as we weaned her off them - she had a terribly upset caecum and produced tons of malformed and excess caecotrophs. She gained weight much faster on her new hay and veg diet as was pretty bony and malnourished when she arrived.
Buns will choose pellets over hay normally so the only way to up your rabbits fibre intake is to cut down the pellets - this way when they get hungry they will have no choice but to eat hay.

Ideally an eggcup full a day of a high fibre pellet with an unlimited amount of quality grass hay and a variety of fresh greens (once introduced slowly) is what you are aiming for. If your bun can not tolerate unlimited pellets at an early age then I would always reduce pellets and up the hay intake - regardless of bunny's young age....in my opinion caecal health is far more important.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=670

cloughie said:

Hi guys

Sorry if this question has been asked a hundred times before :?

I'm a newby bunny owner....I got my Pebbles Monday this week. she was perfectly clean for the first 2 days but yesterday and today I have noticed that she has got hard brown lumps matted to her fur around her bottom - I assume this is poop.

Any ideas why this is happening? She is being fed general rabbit pellets, which she has eaten since birth...I'm wondering if I'm feeding her too much...any ideas how much should be fed to her on a daily basis? She is a mini lop doe and is 9-10 weeks old.

Will try to clean the matted stuff off tomorrow with warm water and cotton wool.

Many thanks

x

Click to expand...

Hi, she's still very young so I would personally have a vet check her over in the next few days just to make sure all is well otherwise. I would try begining to restrict her pellets a little...not a lot to start with as she is very young...but I would drop the amount she has down to one small bowl and split this to morning and evening. Does she eat the hay? Have you seen her? You need to be certain she eats and knows how to eat hay before restricting pellets. Yes, it will be the pellets most likely upsetting her caecum and thereby she will produce excess caectrophs. These are not like normal waste droppings, but are sacs of nutrients in a mucous cover that are supposed to be eaten directly from the bottom by bunny through a reflex motion....often looks like bunny is about to sneeze....they then bow their heads and ingest them directly. If your bun is producing too many this could be a sign of upset tummy or imbalance in the bacteria in the caecum. If your bunny is simply dropping them then she may have dental issues, or they may taste/smell wrong (often due to bacterial imbalance). There are other factors for leaving them but in a bunny of 9/10wks these are unlikely.

I would make sure you purchase a good quality feed hay, as well as her bedding hay and put this in a hay rack so it is not soiled by her. You may, at a later stage, wish to change the brand of pellet you feed her to a higher fibre pellet - but any dietary changes must be made gradually over many weeks, this includes reducing her pellets. What else do you feed her?? Or is that it?
Is she doing normal round waste droppings too? Is she drinking properly? Does she seem otherwise lively and alert?
You need to bottom wash her daily if she is getting these stuck to her fur and check her all over several times a day for fly strike - with a soiled bottom she is at high risk. Alternatively to bottom washing is as you say, cotton wall and warm water or a damp flannel/baby wipes. Keep as much of her as dry as possible and dry her thorougly, rabbits catch chill very easily. Washing bunnies is stressful for them so you really need to adjust her diet to solve this issue. Good luck

Thanks for you replies guys I am starting to cut down on her intake of pellets and I have seen that she is eating quite a bit of hay and drinking properly.

She scoffs up her pellets in one go (well within an hour - and about an egg cup full), she always goes over to her empty bowl and if I place a few more in she is straight over there and gulps them all down...is this normal?

Also she has started licking her bowl, the wooden play tunnel she has and my clothing whenever I handle her...is this normal?

She had a matted bum again today, I cleaned most of it off but carefully snipped off the bigger bits.

will see how she gets on now.

x