Female rabbit with sore front bum!

Hi everyone, My female rabbit who is two years old and neutered has been swollen and sore in her little lady flaps around her vulva (not sure what they are called) for a couple of weeks now...the vet cleaned her and she was on baytril and metacam for a week and i cleaned it daily with salt water. All seemed better but as soon as I stopped cleaning it (after about 10 days) it became sore again and the skin looks sore and peeling in one of the flaps again. Has anyone any idea what it could be?
I have attached a pic below
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75162863@N05/7088504391/in/photostream

Hi, sorry I don't know, but welcome to the forum - I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along soon. Hope your girl feesls better soon!

Lady Logamorph said:

Hi everyone, My female rabbit who is two years old and neutered has been swollen and sore in her little lady flaps around her vulva (not sure what they are called) for a couple of weeks now...the vet cleaned her and she was on baytril and metacam for a week and i cleaned it daily with salt water. All seemed better but as soon as I stopped cleaning it (after about 10 days) it became sore again and the skin looks sore and peeling in one of the flaps again. Has anyone any idea what it could be?
I have attached a pic below
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75162863@N05/7088504391/in/photostream

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Poor girl. That does look sore. Sure someone will have some ideas soon.

I have no experience of it, and the pics I've found look worse than her lady parts, but could it be vent disease (rabbit syphilis)?

She doesnt live with another rabbit that may have been humping her excessively does she? I guess it could just be swollen if thats the case.

nessar said:

I have no experience of it, and the pics I've found look worse than her lady parts, but could it be vent disease (rabbit syphilis)?.

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I have looked vent disease up but i don't think it is because her husband is fine and she doesn't have any scabs around her mouth or anything.

nessar said:

She doesnt live with another rabbit that may have been humping her excessively does she? I guess it could just be swollen if thats the case

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She does have a husband but they don't hump at all so it can;t be that....i'm really struggling on this one and my vet is even confused...I hope someone can help me.

Could you try and get a urine sample off her and rush it to the vet to be examined whilst very fresh?
To me, that looks like vent disease, and if it is, I think injected combi-penicillin treatment is the way forward rather than baytril. (IF it is syphilis/vent disease, injections of combined penicillin is the only treatment.) Has your vet done cultures to test for this? Is there any sign of soreness round your rabbits eyes or mouth? (Syph can spread)
Personally, I would ask vet to test for this.
Poor little bun

EDIT posted at same time as above, sorry!

EDIT again... Single rabbits have been known to develop syphilis, possibly passed on from mother and lain dormant, but Ive never found an info site that can fully explain how a single rabbit develops it, only that it has been know.

UTI?

If your vet is stuck, could you ask him to speak to another rabbit vet? If you put up a thread in rabbit chat asking for ' Rabbit Savvy vet in <your area here>' someone may be able to help.

I kinda have experience with this sort of thing. My Inca is deformed at her flower area and gets sore down there from time to time. I know that your bunny is not deformed, but might be a similar sort of thing.

As Graham said, I would suspect a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). This is what Inca often gets and she becomes inflammed there. I initially tried Baytril but it never healped, I found that the only thing that cleared it up was penicillan injections (Ceporex).

As for cleaning, I use dilute iodine to clean and apply sudocrem.

Hope this gets sorted x

Thanks Guys

thanks everyone I will get a urine sample later and try and get an app for her later on. Maybe its an early case of vent disease which hasnt spread yet to her face but I'm still really not sure it doesnt look that severe and then why did it initially clear up...it seems to be keeping the area clean that makes it better but I can't wash her down there each day as she doesn't like it and she weighs 5.5kg. I have to do it on my own so its really difficult holding her and I dont want her to break her back!

I have written everything down so will speak to my vet and see if she can test for Syph and UTI. I will let you all know when I get to the bottom of it!

Oh I live in Derbyshire in the U.K so if anyone knows of a good rabbit vet in this area then please let me know.

Just a note that a UTI does not always show up in a urine sample, so sometimes worth just treating anyways.

thanks everyone

So my vet doesn't think it's rabbit syph she said its not aggressive enough and doesn't look like it and also it would have got much worse rather than getting better then flaring up again. She doesn't think its a UTI either as she isn't wet down there and her toileting is fine plus her wee is normal coloured. Anyway she thinks that because her lady flaps are quite big its got a bit damp down there and she ended up with a bacterial skin infection....
I have bought some vet hibiscrub so she recommended cleaning her with that (well diluted) once a week so it kills of any bacteria. I think it may be similar to what Kermit said and some female rabbits get this problem so fingers crossed this will clear up on its own.
Thanks everyone for your advice though

Is she overweight? My giant bun (rip) had something similar to this when I got her, caused by her being overweight so it got all hot and sticky down there. Bleurgh! Once she lost the weight she was fine!

Well when the vet weighed her she was 5.5kg but I think that's a normal weight for her...she's a blue beveren. The vet said she looked in good health and not overweight...she isn't confined she lives in the house so she really has no excuse to get fat! She is bigger than her husband though I reckon he is about 4.5 kg. She is quite a big girl though.

here is a pic of her

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75162863@N05/7091749069/in/photostream

(Benjamin)
Oh my very goodness! She is a very stunning lady, curvacious and very very pretty indeed.
Oh my! Oh MYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!

(Little Marge)
Oh thut up Benjamin you ith being a tart! Anyway, clothe your earsth coth i needth to talk girly talk, so on, go over there, I am thure thereth a cawwot thtick behind the chair...

*Whispers* Little bunny, I hope you can tell wot I ith thaying, I hav had all my teefth out you thee, tho ith hard to talk....
Anyway, I get a vewy thor tuppenth too, and yethterday when mummeh picked me up fwom the hothpital, my doctorvet gived mummeh thum cweam for my thor tuppenth. Ith called fufi... no, futhi... ohhhhhhh I cant thay it, I will thpell it for you.. F U C I D E R M. he thed it will weally help my thor tuppenth, but i can only uthe..uf... U S E it for two or thwee dayth becoth it hath got thteroid in it. But he thed it thud make a biiiig differenth vewy qwickly. Mummeh thort of you and athked if canethtan cweam cudth be uthed if it wath only a low perthent one and he thed yeth, but vewy thin and only for two or thwee dayth, like my cweam.
I hpe thith helpth your thor tuppenth. it ith glowing bwight wed ithnt it! Tho duth mine Mummeh ith going to put thum of my futhiderm gel om my tuppenth in a wittle while. Thee thed I had had enuff to cope wiv yethterday and did want to upthet me by tipping me on my back end rooting wiv my lady bithf.
I will come back and tell you if it helpth if yoo want?
I will blow it a healing kith... *kissed paw and blows towards sore bits*
I didnt fink yood weally want me to actually kith it, so i blowed one xx

(BENJAMIN) *pops head round from back of chair* I'll kiss it better for her!

(Little Marge) BENJAMIN! Dont be tho WUDE!!! :shock:

I have used fusciderm cream on Inca before. I did use it when she was slightly more inflammed than your bun was tho. You could also try the sudocrem after you have cleaned her, it is really good imo.

Just watch when cleaning with the hibiscrub cos I found that Inca got more inflammed when I used it, so I changed to the iodine wash.

Good luck x

Kermit said:

I have used fusciderm cream on Inca before. I did use it when she was slightly more inflammed than your bun was tho. You could also try the sudocrem after you have cleaned her, it is really good imo.

Just watch when cleaning with the hibiscrub cos I found that Inca got more inflammed when I used it, so I changed to the iodine wash.

Good luck x

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I agree, hibiscrub can be quite harsh, but if very dilute it should be fine. I think Id just add one teaspoon to a teacup full of cooled pre-boiled water.
Sudocrem is marvelous stuff. What I do with it before I apply it is rub a blob between my fingertips to ever so slightly warm it and I find it slides on easier then too, especially on something as tender as poor bunnies petals, bless her.
Please forgive me for this, i dont mean to hijack thread, but do you mind telling me kermit, did you find the fuciderm gel good? Poor Marge gets red raw like this bunny, and it makes MY eyes water (tears of sadness i guess...well, know!) Im going to pop some on her shortly.
Again, forgive me for hijacking please!
Annie x

Anniebirdy said:

I agree, hibiscrub can be quite harsh, but if very dilute it should be fine. I think Id just add one teaspoon to a teacup full of cooled pre-boiled water.
Sudocrem is marvelous stuff. What I do with it before I apply it is rub a blob between my fingertips to ever so slightly warm it and I find it slides on easier then too, especially on something as tender as poor bunnies petals, bless her.
Please forgive me for this, i dont mean to hijack thread, but do you mind telling me kermit, did you find the fuciderm gel good? Poor Marge gets red raw like this bunny, and it makes MY eyes water (tears of sadness i guess...well, know!) Im going to pop some on her shortly.
Again, forgive me for hijacking please!
Annie x

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Inca's lady bits have been about 100 times worse than this bunnies NO JOKE, they have been all infected and have had pus, and even at times necrotic skin She really was a poor wee soul, when she was like that I used the fusciderm and I found it worked well. When she has just been red and inflammed I have found the sudocrem to be the best for her. I also used Flammazine cream in the past for her, but I didn't rate that as highly as the fusciderm.

Now, thankfully, Inca only needs cleaned with the dilute iodine and sudocrem applied maybe every 2 - 3 days, she manages to keep herself pretty clean down below.....mind you she is pretty bald down there now, which makes things more manageable.

Thankyou kermit :thumb:

Lady Logamorph said:

Oh I live in Derbyshire in the U.K so if anyone knows of a good rabbit vet in this area then please let me know.

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Just picking up on this (I think you've had some good advice re. the main issue :thumb: ) Might be worth starting a new thread and putting 'rabbit savvy vet in Derbyshire?' in the title. People are usually very happy to recommend :wave:

Benjamin&Little-Marge said:

(Benjamin)
Oh my very goodness! She is a very stunning lady, curvacious and very very pretty indeed.
Oh my! Oh MYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!

Click to expand...

This is Bluebells husband Rocky! Do you mind that is my wife you are talking about

(Little Marge)
Oh thut up Benjamin you ith being a tart! Anyway, clothe your earsth coth i needth to talk girly talk, so on, go over there, I am thure thereth a cawwot thtick behind the chair...

*Whispers* Little bunny, I hope you can tell wot I ith thaying, I hav had all my teefth out you thee, tho ith hard to talk....
Anyway, I get a vewy thor tuppenth too, and yethterday when mummeh picked me up fwom the hothpital, my doctorvet gived mummeh thum cweam for my thor tuppenth. Ith called fufi... no, futhi... ohhhhhhh I cant thay it, I will thpell it for you.. F U C I D E R M. he thed it will weally help my thor tuppenth, but i can only uthe..uf... U S E it for two or thwee dayth becoth it hath got thteroid in it. But he thed it thud make a biiiig differenth vewy qwickly. Mummeh thort of you and athked if canethtan cweam cudth be uthed if it wath only a low perthent one and he thed yeth, but vewy thin and only for two or thwee dayth, like my cweam.
I hpe thith helpth your thor tuppenth. it ith glowing bwight wed ithnt it! Tho duth mine Mummeh ith going to put thum of my futhiderm gel om my tuppenth in a wittle while. Thee thed I had had enuff to cope wiv yethterday and did want to upthet me by tipping me on my back end rooting wiv my lady bithf.
I will come back and tell you if it helpth if yoo want?
I will blow it a healing kith... *kissed paw and blows towards sore bits*
I didnt fink yood weally want me to actually kith it, so i blowed one xx

(BENJAMIN) *pops head round from back of chair* I'll kiss it better for her!

Click to expand...

ROCKY : its fine I have had a sniff but bluebell smacked me on my head so I doubt you would get anywhere near her...she is very prude!

(Little Marge) BENJAMIN! Dont be tho WUDE!!! :shock:

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