Poo-Matted Fur

Hi all,

My bunny has a large clump of poo matted fur right by her bottom. It doesn't seem to be affecting her going to the toilet but it obviously unsightly and probbably uncomfortable for her.

I've just tried to get rid of it myself but I'm finding it very difficult to hold her still enough with one hand while delicately try and cut away some of the fur with the other. She's very timid and squirms as soon as I get her still.

I have an appointment at the vet next week for her jabs, will the vet be able to get rid of this fur easily with the right tools and if so will she be ok for another week?

Many thanks in advance

Dan

HI I would think so , just groomed all my long hair buns and trimmed them all. I put my legs out straight and lay them on their backs with their feet nearest to my tummy. Although mine are used to this position, I find I do 3-5 minute depending on how relaxed they are and then give them a break.

The obvious worry is of fly strike and attracting flies with the poo. Have you got anyone that could help you who would be comfortable holding her? If I need to do anything like this I wrap my bunny in a towel and my friend holds them. We lift the towel just where the poo is and work on it there, posting treats into the other end as we go.

Just be very careful. I was horrified I managed to cut my rabbit with scissors the other day while trying to remove some soiled fur. I have to do this a lot with one rabbit and in my 15 years of owning rabbits I have never, ever cut them, but I did on Thursday.

The best way is with baby wipes and lots of patience. If you're in doubt I think I would leave it for the vet to do.

ok thanks. Fly strike shouldn't be a problem as she lives indoors, but I do have the windows open today so it is a possibility. My other half will be home later today so I'll have to enlist her help and see if we can make progress. I am very conscious of having an accident though (I am pretty accident prone myself with sharp objects).

Thanks for the advice. This has never happened before, could it be diet related ie too many veg etc?

thanks

It could be. Have you introduced any new foods at all? Also what rabbit food do you feed? Some people have experienced that with the excel brand of pellets rabbits get excess cecals which sometimes get stuck to them. Rabbits do two types of poo. The normal round poos we all know and then cecotropes which are like semi digested food which they eat. If they make too many they often don't eat them but they're quite sticky so they sometimes get stuck to the rabbit. My rabbit who gets poo stuck to him has a lot of health issues so he eats a lot more pellets than a normal rabbit should. This high protein diet causes a lot of excess cecotropes (or cecals for short).

It might be wise to ask the vet when you go, but if its just a one off it might be that she's just eaten something that didn't agree with her. 80% of a rabbit's diet should be hay, so just make sure she's eating lots of hay and hopefully you won't have any more problems. :wave:

Once you have got your bunny with a clean bottom, it is important to look at why they are getting a dirty bottom and try and resolve the issues of why this is happening.

There are a number of reasons why bunnies can get poo stuck to them including the following:

Osteoarthritis in older buns means that they cannot keep themselves clean and caecotrophes may get stuck on this fur and build up. A vet review will be required and it is possible to administer pain killers to allow the rabbit to move about more.

Size, in an overwight bun they cannot reach their bottom to keep it clean. Treatement will be required to slowly decrease their weight, this can be done my slowly making small changes to their diet by reducing the amount of pellets which hopefully will allow the slimmed down bun mroe flexibility to readh down below and keep themselves clean.

A low fibre diet, high in protein will increase the amount of caecophes which are produces, some of these may get stuck to the fur of the rabbit. This can be treated by slowly decreasing the amount of dried food and increaseing the amount of hay that they eat. From my own experience with rescue buns many get handed in for the same problem, these are usually buns who are fed on a rabbit museli type mix or excelwhich are one of the lower fibre and higher protein feeds. By slowly changing this to a higher fibre food such as SS, A&P or Bunny Basics and decreasing the quantity fed the problem usually is resolved. Incidentally rabbits only need about 1 egg cup of dried food a day.

Rabbits with dental problems can end up with a dirty bottom, therefore a vet check is required.

This is not an exaustive list but just some of the more common problems, do discuss this with your vet when you go next week.

If someone on here lives near to you, maybe someone may be able to assist you cleaning up your rabbit, it might pay to give a rough location where you are.

chance said:

HI I would think so , just groomed all my long hair buns and trimmed them all. I put my legs out straight and lay them on their backs with their feet nearest to my tummy. Although mine are used to this position, I find I do 3-5 minute depending on how relaxed they are and then give them a break.

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Although they seem relaxed in this position (often called trancing) it actually really stresses them. They're calm because they are playing dead. I find the best way is to get someone to hold them to the chest, bunny back to human chest and someone else do the cleaning.

Dan K,

I agree with Janice, the causes need to be looked at. I had similar issues with Mini and it was where she wasn't eating enough hay. I gradually reduced her pellets and eliminated sweet vegetables such as carrots and it improved greatly. She still occasionally gets it when she moults heavily but nowhere near as badly as she used to.

ETA. I see you are in Kent as well. If you need a vet recommendation then Mark Rowland at Trinity Vet Centre in Maidstone is excellent. I won't go anywhere else with my rabbits now.

OK great thanks for all the advice. I managed to get my appointment changed to this afternoon so a nice clean bottom now

She does eat Excel and I have noticed a reduction in the amount of hay that she's eaten recently, so that could well be it. I'll reduce the number of pellets and make sure she's always got loads of fresh hay to munch on, which she always does anyway.

Let us know how it goes. :wave:

Schuette said:

Although they seem relaxed in this position (often called trancing) it actually really stresses them. They're calm because they are playing dead. I find the best way is to get someone to hold them to the chest, bunny back to human chest and someone else do the cleaning. Dan K,

I agree with Janice, the causes need to be looked at. I had similar issues with Mini and it was where she wasn't eating enough hay. I gradually reduced her pellets and eliminated sweet vegetables such as carrots and it improved greatly. She still occasionally gets it when she moults heavily but nowhere near as badly as she used to.

ETA. I see you are in Kent as well. If you need a vet recommendation then Mark Rowland at Trinity Vet Centre in Maidstone is excellent. I won't go anywhere else with my rabbits now.

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That's fine when there are two of you, but when you don't have anyone to help you just have to do the best you can and perform all sort of acrobatics to get at the bits you need.

Personally as i'm dealing with a bun with a runny bum at the moment, i'd say no. It's amazing how dirty a buns bum can get in a day, a week of runny poos would possibly cause infection.

I would take your bun to the vets to be cleaned up and shaved and then apply sudocream if the vets advise.