Feel like I've failed as a bunny owner PLEASE HELP :(

Hi all!

My first post in here so hope someone can help me. I will apologise in advance for this long post but I'm at my wits end and feel like I've failed as a rabbit owner

We have a mini lop called Fudge gorgeous little man. Love him so much. He's such a softy! We got him from a breeder in Burnley who has experience and takes get rabbits to shows etc when we got him we asked for a doe after having 'her' for a few months she got a messy bum and had no option to bathe her. I noticed this doe had testicles! The breeder apologised for mis diagnosing the sex if the rabbit but its easily done at 8 weeks old. She did offer to swap for a for but I was too attached to him.

Fudge lives indoors, very happy and cheeky and never had any problems with him spraying so never thought of neutering him. He is nearly 2 years old and a couple of months a go we had a few issues. Noticed his back legs were very wet and matted so I bathed him but still they looked matted. Noticed he has been peeing outside his litter tray and drinking a lot of water. We took him to the vets thinking he had a water infection they gave us some wormer and antibiotics but they didn't work so I spoke to the breeder. At first she said it sounds like moult as some bucks moult aggressively in the summer and can drink a lot. So we got some drops which she recommended but they didn't work! So decided to get him neutered.

It's been a week since he's been neutered and he's still wet and peeling outside his litter tray. It is so frustrating as I am cleaning his cage every two days which is costing a hell of a lot in hay and wood shavings for his tray.

He is very happy and doesn't seem to be in pain. He is very loving and runs around to greet us! I love him so much but feel like I've failed as a bunny owner I really need some advice as my breeder is now puzzled. She's putting it down to the hot weather but I'm not sure.

I could actually cry wish he could tell me what was wrong! My partner is sick of it and refuses to spend more money on him but I told him I will take it out of our wedding fund if worst comes to worst.

Fudge is due his check up tomorrow but I want to know if anyone has experienced this?

Also, we have wormed him, groomed him no sign of lice or anything!

Please help!

Photos attached if his wet back legs. I have noticed he has got ursine burns how do I soothe these for him? Heard sudocreme is good? The photos show his fur urine stained not exactly wet.

Hi :wave: do you live in Burnley? If so, you're not far from me. Which vets do you use? It sounds like you could do with finding one who is more clued up on rabbits - lots of vets aren't, unfortunately
Has the vet done a blood test? The excess drinking and urinating made me think about possible kidney issues :? Your breeder sounds pretty clueless to be honest!! does Fudge have any other symptoms? Is he eating and doing normal droppings?

symptoms seem exactly what I have been going through with Cookie and found to be cystitis. I had his bloods done just to check his kidneys as he is 8 1/2. Cookie was constantly at the water bowl and peeing like mad. If it is then the correct antibiotic should clear it up but you need to take your bun to another vet for a second opinion and if poss take a wee wee sample with you as they can tell straight away if it's a water infection

Although unneutered rabbits urinate outside their tray as part of marking, they don't end up soggy like that. There are a few possibilities, it could be a bladder problem eg a urine infection. Your vet can test for this but they'll need a clean sample, the way to get this it to clean the tray and not put litter in. Most bunnies will still go and then you can decant it to a pot for testing. It could also be a nerve issue with his control. Another possibility is a mobility problem, rabbits usually back up and lift their tail to urinate, but if they don't it can end up soaking the fur instead.

For keeping him comfy, the vet can shave the fur, so you don't have to bath him, and then you can apply a thin layer of vasline or suducream and that will make a barrier. Then wipe him several times a day (wet wipes are great for this) and reapply the cream. That should stop him getting sore whilst the vet investigates

Bladder or kidney infection or sludgy bladder is my guess too. I've been there and it isn't easy but, clipping some fur for now as above is perfectly sensible to help you and him out.

I find Vaseline to be a better barrier because it is thicker, whereas Sudacream just seemed to kind of disappear and I constantly had to keep reapplying it. I used to keep a pack of baby wipes by my bridge bun's litter tray, and then when he had used it, just kind of mopped him up, patted him gently, to stop any drops getting on to his legs.

Definitely think there is an infection of sorts going on, and a blood test, and urine sample should identify this. Not to sure as to why you think you are a bad bunny mum when you are doing all that you can to get him right again. We've all done things we wish we hadn't and vica versa, and it can be very hard knowing what is really going on at times, especially with how bunnies try to hide illnesses. Don't be so hard on yourself. A bad bunny mum would be someone who didn't care about their bun and what was going on with it.

Your vet may want to try Baytril which is a bunny antibiotic and very good for treating bladder infections. If it is cystitis you may also want to add a drop of cranberry juice to your buns water to help with this 1 third cranberry juice and 2 thirds water but he really does need to see a vet.

Please be very careful and check your buns bottom area twice or more a day as the urine smell on his fur will attract flies which can lay eggs on your bun and once hatched (maggots) eat your bun alive. Flystrike. This happened to my disabled bun who was incontinent. You can bottom bath your bun in the bathroom sink, just his bottom half, from the waste down to help prevent this (do not fully bath him as this will be to stressful).

Hi all thank you for the advice.

He has already been on antibiotics think they were called Bytril? Something like that with no effect. I always check my bunnies bum as he's always been a bit of a messy bun and I always bathe him and he's so well behaved. I try to keep on top of it as much as I can.

He is going to the vets today for a check up after the op he had last week so I will ask a few questions. My partner is not impressed and doesn't want to spend more money on a bunny! Told him he's my little baby boy and need to look after him. What he doesn't know won't hurt!

I think cystitis can require long courses of antibiotics so the fact that they didn't work might not be because it's not that. Hope you get on well at the vet, let us know what he says.

Thank you all. I do appreciate all your advice. I could actually cry because of the situation I feel so bad in a way even though I look after him and clean him out every two days because of this. He is such a little softy, he will let you stroke him all day and kiss his little nose. So besotted with him haha x

Hi all

Just returned from the vets for his check up after him being neutered. The wound has healed very well and everything is fine. I expressed my concerns about him still peeing because she was a Vetinary nurse and not a vet so was unable to comment really she thinks the wrong antibiotics may have been given but she did tell me it takes awhile for the hormones to calm down so she said to keep an eye on him for a few weeks and see how we get on.

She shaved his back legs and hit matted fur so we could start fresh. He was so well behaved and the urine burns are not that bad at all. She even said if the grooming gets on top of me I can come back to get him clipped for half price which was excellent

I mentioned how he sits in his litter tray. Constantly obviously this doesn't help so she recommended some type of litter tray stuff that they use can't Remember the name now! Something like vet pro its like a sanitary towel in a sense where it absorbs the pee but its dry on top so he is not sat in wetness! So will do some googling.

She was lovely and was smitten by Fudge he was so well behaved!!

Lets see how we get on. Fingers crossed

Hi again :wave: glad you're feeling a bit better. Just wanted to say that if you do live in Burnley, the best vets I have been to are Oakmount - they're not rabbit specialists but seem quite clued up. Your little bun weeing on himself has nothing to do with whether he is neutered or not, I can't understand why they've told you that :? I hope he's ok anyway x

Yes, the neutering is a good idea in general, but not related to getting his fur soggy.

You could always call and speak to the vet, our vets usually happy to do that - they just take your number and they call when they get a gap in appointments It might be a urine infection and a different antibiotic would sort it

I agree with the others that say that whether a bunny is neutered or not, it shouldn't be weeing itself. It's great that he's been clipped as that'll make everything a lot easier for you. I'd definitely make a post in rabbit chat with the title 'Looking for a bunny savvy vet in (your area)' to see if you can find a specialist. Many vets aren't very knowledgeable about rabbits, as they're classed as exotics and they only receive a few months training on exotics as part of their training. We can advise on this forum but he'll likely need bloods/urine tests to be able to tell properly. Getting a urine sample is surprisingly easy - they have kits at my vet where they give you some clear plastic beads that you put in the clean tray instead of litter, then once he's been to the loo you can syringe/pipette it up into a urine pot. If for some reason your vets don't have this, he might wee in a tray without any litter in.

I think the litter tray stuff the vet nurse meant might be vet bed. You can get it from pet shops but you can get smaller offcuts on eBay for much less money. I'd get 3 or 4 to allow you to change it once or twice a day, but still wash and dry it in enough time. It's really soft, like a fleece, and draws water/wee down to the bottom so the top remains pretty dry. A lot of people with incontinent animals use it as it's exactly what it's designed for! This listing has reasonable prices: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Non-slip-..._Steamers_Cookers_PP&var=&hash=item257ec50ef4 or there's loads here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=vet+bed&_sop=15

yaretzi said:

I agree with the others that say that whether a bunny is neutered or not, it shouldn't be weeing itself. It's great that he's been clipped as that'll make everything a lot easier for you. I'd definitely make a post in rabbit chat with the title 'Looking for a bunny savvy vet in (your area)' to see if you can find a specialist. Many vets aren't very knowledgeable about rabbits, as they're classed as exotics and they only receive a few months training on exotics as part of their training. We can advise on this forum but he'll likely need bloods/urine tests to be able to tell properly. Getting a urine sample is surprisingly easy - they have kits at my vet where they give you some clear plastic beads that you put in the clean tray instead of litter, then once he's been to the loo you can syringe/pipette it up into a urine pot. If for some reason your vets don't have this, he might wee in a tray without any litter in.

I think the litter tray stuff the vet nurse meant might be vet bed. You can get it from pet shops but you can get smaller offcuts on eBay for much less money. I'd get 3 or 4 to allow you to change it once or twice a day, but still wash and dry it in enough time. It's really soft, like a fleece, and draws water/wee down to the bottom so the top remains pretty dry. A lot of people with incontinent animals use it as it's exactly what it's designed for! This listing has reasonable prices: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Non-slip-..._Steamers_Cookers_PP&var=&hash=item257ec50ef4 or there's loads here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=vet+bed&_sop=15

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We use vet bed just as bedding, if they have a wee on it we havent found it to be dry in top.:?

Emmzie said:

Hi all

Just returned from the vets for his check up after him being neutered. The wound has healed very well and everything is fine. I expressed my concerns about him still peeing because she was a Vetinary nurse and not a vet so was unable to comment really she thinks the wrong antibiotics may have been given but she did tell me it takes awhile for the hormones to calm down so she said to keep an eye on him for a few weeks and see how we get on.

She shaved his back legs and hit matted fur so we could start fresh. He was so well behaved and the urine burns are not that bad at all. She even said if the grooming gets on top of me I can come back to get him clipped for half price which was excellent

I mentioned how he sits in his litter tray. Constantly obviously this doesn't help so she recommended some type of litter tray stuff that they use can't Remember the name now! Something like vet pro its like a sanitary towel in a sense where it absorbs the pee but its dry on top so he is not sat in wetness! So will do some googling.

She was lovely and was smitten by Fudge he was so well behaved!!

Lets see how we get on. Fingers crossed

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Just wanted to say, I really wouldn't want to leave my bunny for a few weeks with a UTI, especially if they are so horrendously uncomfortable for bunnies as they are for humans, and I kind of suspect that they are. As the Baytril is obviously not working, and my vet has said in the past that it isn't actually the most appropriate anti-biotic for these type of infections, he prefers to prescribe Zithromax himself, which has a much greater and quicker success.

rachylou said:

We use vet bed just as bedding, if they have a wee on it we havent found it to be dry in top.:?

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It does stay dry on top, it's designed for that and wicks away the moisture.

I hope your bunny is better soon and you get to the bottom of the problem, I think I would be inclined to get him back to a vet & hopefully get him sorted if it's been going on a little while with no improvement.

Morning everyone

I will be taking him to the vets again. My partner doesn't know but I will have to do this behind his back. Going to take a urine sample in and see what they say.

Just cleaned out his cage for the third time this week. It was soaked poor man. Trying my hardest to keep on top of this but it is stressing me out. What more I'm on a eight week jury service so its going to be difficult to get bunny seen without my partner knowing. I'm going to ring the receptionist to see if I can bring in a urine sample then go from there.

Wish me luck and thank you for all your advice and support.

Question, if he has a UTI is it likely he will be in pain? If he is he doesn't express it. Very happy bunny considering...

One of my buns is currently being treated for sludgy bladder and is on Septrin which is an anti-biotic (the baytril id not work).

I had one with an infection last year and it would not clear and she had loads of tests and funnily enough we gave her some metacam in case she was in pain and it cleared up.

We clean out their toilets every day (they have a cat litter tray). You can also get some megazorb to soak up wee in their toilet area. I normally put hay over th top of it to stop them nibbling at it.

Hope you can get it sorted.

When you say you've wormed him, with what and for how long? EC can cause buns to wet themselves, so it's worth ruling that out. You can get panacur from pet shops/vet but I tend to get lapizole online from Vets UK. A good idea to check with your vet but it's non prescription so you can just order it if your vet thinks it may be helpful... :wave: