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Sticky poos stuck to fur

bridget

Alpha Buck
This is becoming a real problem now with Daisy and I don't know what to do for the best. Pretty much every week now we have to get the welding gloves on and then I have to soak a cloth and gently bathe her and get rid of these poos that have clung to her fur. She never used to be like this and Kirk has no problems at all - he's really clean in comparison.

I don't like stressing her out - she's actually really good once we've got hold of her and she lets me do what is needed but I just want her to be clean and am worried about flystrike :?
 
Do you know what is causing her to have a dirty bottom? Could she have dental problems or has she had a change in diet? I think you probably need to get to the root of the problem & go from there.
 
Have you been to the vets? There could be dental or other health issues which mean she can't clean herself. Or it could be her diet.
 
If you go to the vets they will check her teeth etc. They will also shave her down there if you ask. You can then apply sudocream to her to act as a barrier- this needs to be done daily not a weekly clean- if i left ava for a week she would be caked up in poo also as she is highly incontinent and can't clean herself at all.

You may also need baytril to clear up any infection which you won't be able to see right now with her fur there. I wouldn't try bathe yourself- i'd go straight to the vets and get her sorted out. It's very serious at this time of year if you have outdoor buns. This kind of problem means that this bun should be kept in all year round, it is better to cut grass too than risk letting her out near flys.

Good luck. Hope you get it sorted- first time i noticed ava had a poorly bum it had me in tears because i wasn't able to clean it up. It was winter too and frozen onto her back end and not coming off even in a warm bath as it was stuck to her fur.

The vets are used to these things- don't attempt to clip or cut or wash her yourself if she is in a mess as her fragile skin may tear.

Hope this helps x
 
Thanks I get what you're saying. If I took her to the vets to be sorted out every time she was like this I would be homeless! I am very gentle with her though and the vet checked her teeth a couple of weeks ago when she went for her injections and said she was fine. I am going to see him again soon and see what he says. I am trying them on different food as well. Is the dwarf lop more prone to this problem? My poor girl, I do feel sorry for her :(

Shall I just feed her hay? She eats plenty of hay and has pellets and a museli mix.
 
If teeth and other medical problems have been ruled out then you need to look to the diet. It may help to describe exactly what foods (brand) she has and in what quantity also her body contition - is she overweight. How much and what hay does she eat, does she have access to grass. You say you have been trying different foods - what foods and how have you introduced them.
 
She eats grass all day - they're outside from about 7am until about 8- 9pm at night. They have Burgess Supa Herbage Hay and Russel rabbit complete museli and P@H nuggets.

She is a little overweight - here she is:

SANY0363.jpg
 
This is likely because she is overweight and can't clean herself.

How many pellets and how much muesli do you feed?

I think the key thing is to help her lose weight.
 
She's gorgeous!

Has she always had all day access to grass? Has the spring grass caused the issue do you think?

How much pellets and museli does she have?

Personally, I would cut out the museli and pellets and see how she goes after a week or so - so long as she has plenty of hay and water she'll be fine, and she has grass too. You may see the problem stop so you'll know it was the museli and pellets or if it continues perhaps its the grass, in which case you would have to reduce grazing time.
 
Sorry, also, if she has freerange to the garden, could there be something else she's eating other than grass?
 
Actually that isn't a great photo of her - she has a massive chunky chin! :) Oh the whole her body is pretty good, I need to upload a more recent pic.

Yeah I suppose she has access to anything in the garden - she's eaten a lot of my lavender :roll: but mostly she eats grass oh and BIRD SEED that's fallen on the floor.

Thank you for praising her - I will tell her later when I go and give her a snuggle :D

As for pellets and muesli I just fill up their bowl every evening but they don't eat it all..
 
I think its important you cut down on the pellets, and also that you stop her eating the birdseed.

A healthy rabbit needs roughly only an eggcup of pellet food a day. Given she needs to lose weight, she could easily get away with less as long as she is eating grass or hay. I would suggest gradually reducing her pellet food down until she is on a healthier amount.
 
As for pellets and muesli I just fill up their bowl every evening but they don't eat it all..

that is far too much. My trio have a small handful between them daily, nothing more and they are very healthy with no sticky bums :wave: Which brand of pellet are you using? Excel is known for causing sticky poo.
 
Yep, definalty cut down the pellets (no harm in cutting them out 'till the problem is under control) and make sure she can't get any discarded bird seed. An eggcupful is plenty.
 
Thanks I get what you're saying. If I took her to the vets to be sorted out every time she was like this I would be homeless! I am very gentle with her though and the vet checked her teeth a couple of weeks ago when she went for her injections and said she was fine. I am going to see him again soon and see what he says. I am trying them on different food as well. Is the dwarf lop more prone to this problem? My poor girl, I do feel sorry for her :(

Shall I just feed her hay? She eats plenty of hay and has pellets and a museli mix.

First I would cut out the museli mix and make sure she has plenty of hay.

What pellets do you feed? I have found Excel can cause a messy bottom in some bunnies.

ETA- just notice you said she was on P@H nuggets. I would swap her onto something like Science Selective. I use this and mine get around 8 pellets each per day.



Which vets in Newark do you use?
 
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Sorry, meant to say, I'd cut out the museli completely too - too much sugar and protein and not nearly enough fibre to be of any use especially in quantity.
 
If they don't eat all their dried food within about 5 minutes then they are definitely having too much. It should just supplement their grazing to ensure they have enough vitamins and minerals.
 
If they don't eat all their dried food within about 5 minutes then they are definitely having too much. It should just supplement their grazing to ensure they have enough vitamins and minerals.

This isn't always true. My bunnies only get between 8-10 SS pellets a day. Strawberry and Bungle will eat the whole lot straight away but Snowdrop likes to eat little and often and will keep coming back to them throughout the day.
 
It's not always good to cut down pellets for ill buns- in fact I'd definately speak to a vet about what you should be feeding her.
 
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