So I went on holiday for two weeks and my grandparents were looking after my rabbit, when I got back iv notice she has a huge clump of poo and matted fur by her bum, by huge I mean about 8cm in length, I don't know if it's going to come out with a butt bath so I really don't know what to do...
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Huge clump of poo stuck in fur, what to do?
- Thread starter hoppet22
- Start date
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
Try the bum bath (with just tepid water). The water should loosen the poo & you'll be able to work it out. She may need to see a vet to get the matted fur sorted & a health check would be wise to see what's caused. Have your grandparents been feeding extra treats, less hay, cleaned her out less regularly perhaps. Its fly strike season so its important all the poo goes & you check her twice daily.
Good luck - let us know how it goes
Good luck - let us know how it goes
Jack's-Jane
Wise Old Thumper
You need to remove the clump of poo ASAP. This may involve clipping the soiled fur away. It is often easier to carefully clip away as much of the soiled poo/fur BEFORE attempting a bum bath. Making a large clump of poo wet will just make things more difficult/messy. If you do not feel confident about doing this yourself then a Vet Nurse at your Vet's Surgery may be able to do it for you. It is extremely important that your Rabbit is cleaned up as she will be at very high risk of Flystrike if she has a mucky bum.
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/flystrike_sep_05.pdf
It may be that she has been overfed pellets whilst you were away. So when thanking your Grandparents for looking after your Rabbit I would try to (tactfully) establish exactly what she has been fed and how much. It is usually too many pellets/muesli that causes a Rabbit to suddenly get a muck bum. But there are other possible causes too.
https://www.vetstream.com/watkinsandtasker/html/Factsheets/Otherpets/24_286474.asp
MightyMax
Banned
I've had to deal with this *a lot* with rescue rabbits :roll:
Have a good look at it and see whether it's possible to clip any of it off. By the sounds of it that won't be too easy as it's very long and often attached much too close to the skin for comfort.
As Joey&Boo says, a butt bath is the way to go.
I use about half to one inch of warm water and SOAK. You may have to soak for a while to loosen the poo but it will come off in the end. You have to just gently tease it as you soak, and keep some towels by as you may need to change the water a couple of times and wrap the bun up in between so they don't run off! (preferably with someone helping you!).
Alternatively you could go to the vet but after you've soaked the poo off, you can then see what you're doing to carefully clip the matted fur off. Make sure you notice the state of the skin underneath as it may be a bit sore and you may need to put something on to soothe.
Good luck xx
So I ended up taking her to the vets because it was too bad to get off my self, the vet cleaned her up and put some rearguard on her, aswell as giving her some antibiotics she needs for the next 5 days, only thing I'm worried about and complete forgot to mention to the vet, is about my other rabbit and if he licks the fur with the rearguard on, is this going to be bad for him because of the chemicals ? I assume it is.
