Dirty bums and bald spots

Hello everyone,

As pretty much always i'm worried i'm not taking proper care of my house bunny, i've said before he doesn't take good care of himself cleanliness wise and it doesn't seem to be getting any better with age. His bum tends to be wet, matted and dirty and he is not the least concerned with it, he will pee anywhere then happily lay in it, play in it, i've now filled his whole cage area with an absorbent litter to keep him from getting damp and i clean the dirty areas out once a day (since doing this he seems to have designated one tray as a bed area where he doesn't seem to pee, which is a result). Apart from the odd accident he does all his peeing at night so this has been acceptable (i put him 'to bed' at night).

Also when he eats his cecotropes, he doesn't seem to eat them directly rather he 'poos' them then turns around to find them and eat them. Could this be age and/or size making it difficult for him? He's a British Giant, probably about 6ish and may be overweight. Would it be a good idea to change his diet, if so, how? I'm nervous about changing it in case i do it wrong and it does more harm than good. Is there anything i can do to make him more active? He's always been a lazy bun, not interested in much but food and sleep (he gets it from his mum ) and i've tried to interest him in playing and things but so far no joy.

I have been washing his bum and trimming his fur with scissors but to be honest it doesn't seem to be doing much good (there is so much fur no matter how much i remove its still a mess, he also hates being handled so as well as upsetting him i usually end up with two black eyes from his back legs). Now lately i've noticed him tugging at matted fur and dirty bits (like i say he's never been one to spend much time grooming himself before) but i'm also finding some bald spots on his legs and bum. I'm not sure if this is down to him tugging at the matted fur, me grooming him too much or something altogether different.

I'm going to take him to the vets to look at the bald patches and maybe trim some of the hair away but if anyone has any general care advice that would be great, especially if they have any experience with dirty/old/giant bunnies.

Thanks

Jade

Hiya :wave:
Sorry I don't have any experience dealing with this kind of thing, so probably not a lot of help but saw you hadn't had any replies so here's my thoughts;

What are you feeding him? If you want him to lose some weight and he's on nuggets, i'd severely restrict them, they honestly only need a small amount and cutting them down will encourage him to eat more hay, which is also beneficial for his teeth, so make sure there's an unlimited supply available for him to chomp on.

It definitely sounds like his weight may be causing him difficulties in grooming and eating his caecotrophs.

He needs to be more active too, what sort of set up have you got? If he has a big space you could maybe dot bits of veg around the room for him to find and encourage him to move about more?

Does he ever get outside? I know when mine were housebuns they just lazed about all day on their mat but when they went out in the garden they'd run around like lunatics - they're permanently outside now and are always running about in their run

I think the trip to the vets is a good idea, maybe they could clipper his fur right back and give him a thorough clean-up which would make it easier for you to keep on top of.

Hope you manage to get him sorted x

paulinejoe said:

Hiya :wave:
Sorry I don't have any experience dealing with this kind of thing, so probably not a lot of help but saw you hadn't had any replies so here's my thoughts;

What are you feeding him? If you want him to lose some weight and he's on nuggets, i'd severely restrict them, they honestly only need a small amount and cutting them down will encourage him to eat more hay, which is also beneficial for his teeth, so make sure there's an unlimited supply available for him to chomp on.

It definitely sounds like his weight may be causing him difficulties in grooming and eating his caecotrophs.

He needs to be more active too, what sort of set up have you got? If he has a big space you could maybe dot bits of veg around the room for him to find and encourage him to move about more?

Does he ever get outside? I know when mine were housebuns they just lazed about all day on their mat but when they went out in the garden they'd run around like lunatics - they're permanently outside now and are always running about in their run

I think the trip to the vets is a good idea, maybe they could clipper his fur right back and give him a thorough clean-up which would make it easier for you to keep on top of.

Hope you manage to get him sorted x

Click to expand...

I always forget to say thank you and update these threads when i check them (probably because i've got a head full of bunny worries at the time!) which is very rude so 'better late than never'.

I took Arthur to the vets and they checked him over and decided to shave his bum to get rid of the matted hair. So now we are both finding it easier to keep up with the grooming (he is licking his paws as we speak) and he is getting his bum checked every night and a quick wash in a washing up bowl of water now and then to get rid of anything he misses.

Apparently he is a little overweight but nothing problematic, i've cut out fruit from his diet completely now (he is too loved, no one could resist giving him treats but i've stopped that now) and replaced it with lots of good veg.

He's an indoor bunny but now my mums garden is finally finished and bunny proof again he's had a good run around (and by run around i mean lay around eating grass :lol so hopefully he'll get a bit more exercise now.

Thank you for your help