Keeping bottoms clean - is regular trimming ok?

I struggle with poor Poppy's bottom to keep it clean. She is a lionhead, so quite fluffy down there, and she has some sticky bum problems. We're really trying to get to the bottom (excuse the pun!) of her problems, but in the meantime I'm having a hard time trying to keep her clean when she has a bad day as the long fur gets poo and hay all matted into it underneath

I was wondering whether it might be easier, if I could take her to the vet nurse for a regular trim down there with their clippers. I think this would stop it becoming so matted as the fur would be so much shorter, so washes would also hopefully be shorter as the stuff would come out easier - washing is quite stressful for her

I have no idea though whether this is a sensible suggestion or not. Would it harm her to be constantly shorter down there? Is this the wrong thing to do? I want to make it easier for myself but also less stressful for her, and more comfortable

We had Kenco's fur trimmed last summer as he kept getting a wet bottom (urinary probs) and we wanted to reduce the risk of flystrike and make it easier to keep it clean. Because his fur is so thick it was very difficult for them to trim him even with the clippers. He had to be sedated and spent the whole day at the vets as they had to do it in small stages. I dont know if we will do it this year, we will see how it goes. I think that if you think it is going to help her then definitely look in to it with the vets as you dont want her to be at risk of flystrike in the summer and when the weather is warmer they can manage with a bit less fur on their bums than they might in the cold weather.

I hope you can get to the bottom of her mucky bottom issues though so that it doesnt cause ongoing problems for her.

Thanks for replying. It is good to know that this is something that you have had done. She has had to be clipped there before once, when she got very mucky on the underside of her tail and around her bum and I couldn't remove it through washing alone - that's what made me think of it as a possibility, but I wasn't sure if regular trimming was a kind/sensible thing to do. I will definitely ask about it though. Thanks.

My friend's bun had what they called "a brazilian" last summer at the vets with the clippers. It was quite straight forward for them and the bun didn't need sedating.

I ask my vet to give Smoo a clip around her bum every now and then when it gets too long. She has trouble cleaning it, possibly due to a bit of arthritis but mostly because she has such thick fur and horrendous moults. It just gets mattet and poos stuck to it. Bunnies don't care what they look like so I would say give it a go. I usually just hold Smoo and the vet can clip her without any sedation.

Hi there. If you go onto "Harvey - diary of a house bunny" you will find he has regular trims because he has the same problem. He will be 10 years old this year so it cant be that bad. Just type in Harvey etc. He is lovely.

I think with Kenco it was just that he was getting stressed out as the fur is so thick they said they had trouble getting the clippers through. Glad other buns have been fine with a little clip.

Thanks everyone . V useful, and I think I will ask the vet if we can try this to see if it helps her (and me!).