Worried about my rabbit. Help?

Hi. I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for some advice regarding Hamish, my mini lop.

Basically, I took him to the vet to get his nails clipped a few weeks ago. I also had another query about his rear end which I thought was a little dirty and smelly but otherwise, he had been perfectly healthy. The vet agreed about his dirty bum, so to prevent infection, she gave me some diluted Iodine solution to use for a week on his bottom to clean the area up. This was a success and his bottom seems fine now. However, she looked in his ears as well, and said there looked like there was some waxy build-up inside so gave me an ear cleaning solution. I used this one him once then realised he had started to develop crusts around his ears and neck so I booked another appointment. She said that he was probably having some sort of reaction to the ear cleaner but wasn't sure so gave me a different one to use in his ears and on the scabs for a week, miss a week and then another week. I have now been putting the ear cleaner in for a week and he just doesn't seem right - he looks very unclean around his face and ears due to the oiliness of the ear cleaner and it looks like his eyes are watering (although this may be just because he looks so dishevelled). He also seems a little less active. I may be over reacting and creating problems that aren't there but I'm only eighteen and have forked out £50+ over the last few weeks and I feel that his health has gotten worse since these 2 visits to the vets. I'm wary to take him again as he was absolutely fine before I took him to get his nails clipped in the first place and I feel like they are taking money off me for treatments that are not working, and that he possibly does not need.

Sorry for the length of this, I'm just very worried and need some advice about what to do.

Your poor little bunny!
First of all, is he vaccinated and neutered?
I've never heard of cleaning up a mucky rear end with iodine, but perhaps that's just me.
What is his diet like, ie what are you feeding him?
Is the vet you took him to an exotics expert - ie a rabbit savvy vet?

I would recommend a second opinion from another vet asap, one that is definitely clued up on rabbits! Not all are. The iodine thing is an odd one for starters.

Where are you? We can probably recommend a nearby rabbit savvy vet.

I agree, definitely think a trip to a different vets might be worth a try!
I'm sure you're not over reacting - you know your bunny best and it's always better to be safe than sorry
Did she look for ear mites in his ears? They can cause brown gunky stuff in their ears - might be a possibility. I'd get to another vet for a check hope your buns ok!

Yeah I agree with the others another vet is needed, and it needs to be a rabbit savy one.

Also anything else you can tell us on here is always useful as although we can't diagnose we can help point in a direction if someone has had a similar problem .... :? I too have a mucky bum bunny and I too have never heard of iodine for treatment. I had a non rabbit savy vet years ago and spent hundreds on treatments while they tried to work out what was wrong with his tummy.... then changed vets and The bunny is now a gummy bunny as it was his teeth that's a problem not the stomach.... Non savvy rabbit vets aren't all bad but they do have to do more try something and see.

How old is your rabbit? What do you feed him? Anything you can tell people can help . Don't worry about long posts x

Hi guys. Thanks for the quick replies. I would say that the vet I have been seeing is pretty rabbit-savvy, I've never had any problems with her before but who knows, I could be wrong. As far as I'm aware, the Iodine was used as an antiseptic as his bum was a little sore looking and could have become a bit infected. It seemed to work perfectly so I'm not too concerned about that. Regarding the ear mites, she did check and said she couldn't see any mites. Tbh, there was no problems with him before I took him to the vets, just a case of long nails. I feel like all this has started since I started giving him all these different treatments

He is about three and a half (outside rabbit) and I feed him regular rabbit food which he eats all of and doesn't pick 'favourite' bits (I refill his bowl in the morning and at night), lots of hay and veggies every now and again. I have no idea if this is a good diet but i've never noticed any problems with his digestion or anything.

I should add, two nights ago, I was checking his rear and found that he had a lot of droppings dried into his tail and he smelled a little of urine. So I washed his bottom and he seems ok now.

I don't think there is anything seriously wrong with him. He just looks very dishevelled right now due to the oil from the ear cleaner and I think that's making me worry more.

Also, I live near glasgow but there's not all that many vets where I am.

Oh, and the scabs don't appear to have cleared up any but they haven't spread/gotten worse. I researched it a lot and there is very little info on why rabbits could get scabs around their head so I'm pretty confused about that. He has had harvest mites before which produce similar orange crusts on his back (my cat and him seem to pass them between each other) but as I said, the vet said there is no mites on him :s

He is also eating, drinking and running about as much as normal

The mucky bum will almost certainly be due to his diet. Muesli causes this, so I would think about switching him onto pelleted foods like Excel or Science Selective. What veg does he get because this can cause a mucky bum too. A rabbit should never ever smell or have a mucky bum, unless they have a health problem.
I'm shocked that your vet didn't mention any of this to you. I would definitely be looking for a different vet because they sound as though they don't really have a clue.

The crustiness sounds like mites but he definitely does need to see a different vet to get the diagnosis. http://medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/earmite/Psoroptes.htm

Hi,

I would definitely have a look at posting in the Health section asking for a pet savvy vet within your area, just in case.

Diet sounds ok, 80-90% of diet should be hay, with an egg cup of a good, high fibre pellet. I feed Neo Science Select.
What veg do you feed? It may be worth reducing the amount.

Our rabbit has small scabs on his ears, our vet said it can be a hormonal thing, or possibly he's cut himself scratching.
I think if his don't clear up soon I may take him in for another check up at my other vets and I suggest you do the same with a different vet.

You'll need to be very strict on flystrike protection as it gets warmer if his bottom is mucky.

Good luck...

There's quite a few members near Glasgow. If you wanted you could start a new Thread asking for a rabbit savvy vet near Glasgow. A "mucky bum" is usually caused by eating too much rabbit food and not enough hay. You say you give him 2 bowls a day, this is too much and we would recommend you start giving him less but in a gradual way. The crustiness in his ears sounds like ear mites but can't say without seeing a photo. Hope you get your bunny sorted.

I'd just like to point out that iodine is perfectly safe for bunny use and is actually more effective in some cases than hibiscrub. Hibiscrub is actually known to cause the sloughing of rabbit skin and rabbit savvy vets I have known (and I've known quite a lot as I'm a vet nurse) will not use hibiscrub on rabbit skin. I'm not saying hibiscrub shouldn't be used and I use it myself at times, however, I do generally prefer the use of iodine, especially when there is broken or infected skin. Iodine is a very good antibacterial and is very good at drying up a wound. Many vets use hibiscrub as it is often more 'to hand' than iodine.
I recently took on a bunny with terrible urine scald and her skin was bald. I cleaned her up with iodine and now fur is growing back.

Thanks so much for all the help everyone. I've managed to organise a trip to an open clinic at a different vets for this afternoon. He now appears to have an eye infection so I'm even more concerned now. I'm also going to change his diet over the course of the next few week. Will let you know how it all goes

Mariann said:

Thanks so much for all the help everyone. I've managed to organise a trip to an open clinic at a different vets for this afternoon. He now appears to have an eye infection so I'm even more concerned now. I'm also going to change his diet over the course of the next few week. Will let you know how it all goes

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Best of luck, and well done for asking questions, please never feel scared to.
If anyone ever sounds irritated or rude, don't take it personally if you can help it, it's not always easy to convey tone with text!

If you fill his bowl morning and night, he's having a lot of dry food.
I would gradually cut down to about an eggcupful a day which should increase his hay consumption and, hopefully, put a stop to his mucky btm.

Mariann said:

Thanks so much for all the help everyone. I've managed to organise a trip to an open clinic at a different vets for this afternoon. He now appears to have an eye infection so I'm even more concerned now. I'm also going to change his diet over the course of the next few week. Will let you know how it all goes

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Good luck today. Hope they get to the bottom of what's going on.

bunnylover4 said:

Good luck today. Hope they get to the bottom of what's going on.

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Hehe... 'Bottom'.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but you cannot see mites with the naked eye.

I also agree that the bum issue is most likely dietary.

If the ear treatment is Canaural then my buns really do not get on with this - it is so oily it gets all over the fur and then they ingest it. I always prefer the water based ones.