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My domestic rabbit is losing her hair. Please help!

Tanya015

New Kit
Hi Everyone,

My domestic rabbit Rosie has a problem. She suffers with a bad tummy (she has wet poo's) which I've been to vets about and its normal for her, as she is very sensitive to things. Her old owners had this problem too.

But now because she has wet poo's and she very lazy, they are getting attached to her lower body including her genital area and the surrounding area. Its now got so bad that when i clean her, that her hair is coming away from her skin and leaving her pink skin out.

So should i carry on cleaning her as usual, when she needs it and leave her skin alone and keep an eye incase of infection. Our should i take her to the vets and see if they can help, which i doubt. Any advice would be appreciated.

Many Thanks
Tanya
 
Hello and welcome.

I have had a bun who suffered with a messy bottom, it can be quite common but is often diet related or comes from having poor teeth or a gut problem.

Some background information can be helpful - age, condition (overweight?), diet - food, hay, treats, veg, housing, bedding, access to grass? Exercise.
 
Hello and welcome.

I have had a bun who suffered with a messy bottom, it can be quite common but is often diet related or comes from having poor teeth or a gut problem.

Some background information can be helpful - age, condition (overweight?), diet - food, hay, treats, veg, housing, bedding, access to grass? Exercise.


Hi,
Thanks for the reply the vet said its nothing to do with diet, its somethings to do with her sensitivity to food, so i gut problem. She is a house bunny, the previous owner said she about 4 yrs old now. We had her for nearly 12months. She weighs about 10 pound. She lives in a very big cage, with lots of hay. She has carrots, spinach and dry food ( that was suggested by the vets), her treat is broccoli. She is out to play for roughly 5 hours a day or more. She doesn't have grass due to her being a house rabbit, she goes in the garden but only accompanied by me and my garden has no plants or grass.

Many Thanks
Tanya
 
Ok.

IMO if the bun still has a messy bottom problem then she is sensitive to something she is still eating.

I am by no means an expert but the usual advice, once medical/teeth problems are ruled out is to strip back the diet to hay and water for up to a week during which time a nice clean bottom is usually obtained! After this you carefully, slowly and individually reintroduce any foods you wish to (although many rabbits eat a hay only diet).

The final diet should comprise 80/90% hay a few (an eggcupful) high fibre pellets and a little bunny safe veg or wild foods.

Does she actually eat the hay? Is it given fresh twice daily? She should eat a quantity in a day equal to her body size.

Personally I would not feed more than one or two spinach leaves. Many rabbits find broccoli too gassy (mine can tollerate a small floret or a piece of stalk, carrots are too sugary for the daily diet and should be kept to an occasional treat in very small quantities.

What dry food do you feed and how much? Many bunnies have problems on excel pellets or museli type foods and in fact any dried food if fed in too large a quantity.

Unfortunately not all vets are bunny savvy - I know in the past mine suggested live yogurt to mend my messy bun bunnies tummy when they are lacto intolerant!

Sorry for all the questions!
 
Ok.

IMO if the bun still has a messy bottom problem then she is sensitive to something she is still eating.

I am by no means an expert but the usual advice, once medical/teeth problems are ruled out is to strip back the diet to hay and water for up to a week during which time a nice clean bottom is usually obtained! After this you carefully, slowly and individually reintroduce any foods you wish to (although many rabbits eat a hay only diet).

The final diet should comprise 80/90% hay a few (an eggcupful) high fibre pellets and a little bunny safe veg or wild foods.

Does she actually eat the hay? Is it given fresh twice daily? She should eat a quantity in a day equal to her body size.

Personally I would not feed more than one or two spinach leaves. Many rabbits find broccoli too gassy (mine can tollerate a small floret or a piece of stalk, carrots are too sugary for the daily diet and should be kept to an occasional treat in very small quantities.

What dry food do you feed and how much? Many bunnies have problems on excel pellets or museli type foods and in fact any dried food if fed in too large a quantity.

Unfortunately not all vets are bunny savvy - I know in the past mine suggested live yogurt to mend my messy bun bunnies tummy when they are lacto intolerant!

Sorry for all the questions!

Yea she eats lots of hay, and she does get fresh hay twice a day. She has about two egg cups of pellets. What veg/how much veg would you suggest for a giant house rabbit? And how much dry food. And what snacks and how often? So i can attempt to take her off her food and start again? Also what do you think of her hair coming away from her genital area and surrounding area?

Thanks
Tanya
 
Yea she eats lots of hay, and she does get fresh hay twice a day. She has about two egg cups of pellets. What veg/how much veg would you suggest for a giant house rabbit? And how much dry food. And what snacks and how often? So i can attempt to take her off her food and start again? Also what do you think of her hair coming away from her genital area and surrounding area?

Thanks
Tanya

Also she has special dry food, because she use to have a lot of blood in her poos, so her previous owners and the vets suggested the one she is on now.
 
If a bunny savvy vet examines the rabbit and gives the all clear then I would have no hesitation restricting to hay to settle the tummy problems.

Blood in the poo! I wonder what the diagnosis was?

What is the "special" dry food?

If you start a new thread asking for a good bunny vet in the area you live in you will get some recommendations.

In the meantime I would clean bunny daily, gently washing and drying the area first then hopefully you can just wipe from there on, some people use fragrance free baby wipes I believe. A very thin layer of sudocrem can act as a nice barrier but be sure bun isn't licking it too much. I think it's the acidic nature of the poop that is causing the hair loss and soreness. Could it be that bunny is incontinent? Has a urine infection been ruled out? Is bunny spayed?
 
It sounds like urine scold, where the urine/poop sticks to the skin it causes sores the fur the falls out. The best way to manage it is to get the area shaved, that way the poop doesn't matt to the skin and is much easier to clean off. Then you can wipe several times a day - baby wet wipes are good for this, dry gently and then apply a think layer of vasiline. This will act as a barrier between the skin and the irritation :)

It might also be worth applying something like rearguard to prevent fly strike. Flies often target animals with poop around their bottom to lay eggs and rearguard stops the maggots hatching and attacking the skin. It's not as big a risk indoors but you can still get the odd fly.

In terms of diet, I'd try completely cutting out the vegetables and half the amount of pellets, see if that helps. If so you can then gradually reintroduce things one at a time and see if anything in particular makes the problem worse.
 
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