Maintenance of rear end fur advice needed

*sigh*

As some of you will know, my eight year old has spondylosis. As a result of this, she doesn't wash her rear properly. Whose responsibility is that now? Mine. I've had to clip it fairly short but it seems to grow long overnight and tangle before I know it. She goes to the toilet and then lies down in it (so it's not even a matter of cleaning her out often, I'd have to slip a dustpan under her bottom to catch her out!)

We were doing famously (not completely good, but well enough) until last weekend when my younger rabbit Oren decided to make a play for dominance, which lead to some mounting, fighting, and in the case of Bandit, a horrendous mess on her bottom. Nearly made me cry, it was all matted in a big circle, bigger than I'd clipped, and tangled with urine and bedding. I clipped some and since it was so dirty I washed her in a few inches of water trying to clean it and soak the knots out. Despite using a towel, it didn't completely dry for the next 5 days (I don't have a hair dryer... I think I need to invest...)

The vets looked at it, told me to clean it every day, gave me some antibiotics to stop her underneath getting infected (and boy does she hate me now for giving her that) and some dermisol for urine scalding.

I've taken the scissors to it again but the fur seems to clump rock hard and I need to clip it close and can't see any other way of sorting the lumps than cutting them. I washed her tail today (it dried in the sun so no worries) because it dried solid last time, but I think I need to cut that still. The fur has fallen out where she had scalding and she has two big bald patches- but they no longer look sore so I'm confident they will grow back.

I'm just a little lost really... The dominance struggle lasted a few days and I think Oren lost since he's now trying to buy her affections again it seems. Hopefully he won't try again, but it does worry me that she might be weakening, that's why he tried his luck.

Anyone got any advice?

Sorry to hear about your poor bun with her spondylosis, that must be uncomfortable for her. Is she on pain relief for it?

I'm not sure what else you can do other than keep her clean daily. If she can not bend her spine properly she can not consume all her caecotrophs so will undoubtedly sit in her poop and I expect lifting her hips to pee away from her body is too painful also. If she is on daily pain relief this might help a little? Have you tried using sensitive non-perfumed baby wipes to clean her up rather than washing? Wet fur does tend to clump unless it is combed through when drying/dry, and getting her wet may make the scald worse also, esp if she is not drying out properly afterwards. Scald can occur with urine and with just wet fur - even just water, if the fur never dries. Have you tried drying her off with loo paper? It is very absorbent and does seem to wick away more moisture than just a towel, after towel-drying initially obviously. A hair dryer on a very low setting might be ok but bunny skin is very sensitive, esp below, and on areas of bare skin you will need to be v careful re. burning/too hot a hairdryer.

Our female takes advantage of our male when he is poorly at times... by trying to mount him when he is unwell... doesn't happen very often, and she seems not to do it anymore. I used to call her name sternly and she would stop and now she seems not to bother, it is the only time she would get away with mounting him you see, if he was well he would never allow her to.
Hugo's There on this forum has vast experience with elderly and disabled buns and caring for buns with scald and messy bottoms. Perhaps you could PM her and ask her to take a look at your thread if she gets time, I know she is busy but is very willing to help with advice when she can.

My Inca does not have spondolytis, but she does have a deformity at her back end and the vets think she has a slipped disc.

When i got her she was messy below and had trouble with urine scalding. She also used to pee on one of her feet, to the point that she got it infected

I got my vets to shave her underneath and i cleaned her twice a day (initially with hibitane dilute, but then changed to iodine dilute). I have found the best thing for the scalding infection to be fusciderm cream. I have also used cavilon spray, which is a barrier spray that dries in like a film on the skin, so prevents the urine absorbing into the skin.

I know how you feel, it's like an uphill struggle, but then it also feels great the days you look at them and they are not as bad as they have been!

She's on metacam (currently trying three times a week- we are trying to dose her as little as she needs to while keeping her comfortable).

I do have some animal wipes but the vet wasn't keen on me using them. They didn't help much anyway, they didn't do anything about the knots (obviously...) and didn't so much clean her off as spread it around. Once I've sorted out the knots and stuff I might use them again.

Her tail seems better today and the skin doesn't seem raw. I've put her out in the sun again (lovely weekend we've had) and she looks absolutely happy apart from being a bit hot, from the front you wouldn't know about the bottom.

Never heard of any of that stuff Kermit lol but will look it up.

Thanks guys