What is wrong?

Hello there,
I'm new to this forum and hoping to seek some answers for my precious little Rabbit.
Let's start from the top. My daughter took this 2 Rabbits in about 1.5years ago. They are super sweet. They have been together since there previous owner got them and they are a bonded pair. He is a Rex not fixed and she is a dwarf Rabbit and fixed.
My Daughter already had a Darf Rabbit at the time she took this guy's in. She was 9 years already at the time but sadly past away 10.5 years of age. That was about 1 Month ago.
We have a spare room which we convert into a Rabbits Rooms and Munchi and Toffee are in there now.
We have noticed that Munching the Female since she is in the Rabbit room now started to get her poop on her Bum. There Diet is 90% hay and 2 handfulls of Oxbow Pellets and Same brand for the Hay. They get daily Collard Greens and Dandelions and fruit and vegetables.
We are not sure if she is upset that Socks passed away or is it because now she is in the Rabbit room and since Work got so busy we don't see them that much through out the Day or is it serious and we have to take her to the Vet.
Is there anything we can give her that stops her Poop gets stuck on her Bum.
Help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

It could be the stress of the move if this hasn't happened before.
I'd personally start by removing all veg from her diet and reduce the pellets to a small handfull once daily so she is mainly eating the hay and nothing else.

Hopefully someone else will be along to provide more insight and info for you x

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Hello

I am sorry for your recent loss of Socks

There are several reasons as to why a Rabbit gets a mucky bum. Diet is often the primary reason. You say that their diet is 90% hay, but they appear to have a lot of other food too so do they actually eat a lot of hay ? I would cut out the fruit and reduce the Veg to just one or two types a day. Preferably dark leafy greens.

Certainly stress can be a cause of excess cecotrophs/mucky bum. Was your recently deceased Rabbit Socks bonded with Munchi and Toffee ?

As the Rex is entire could he now be pestering the Doe (sorry, not sure which is which as Munchi and Toffee are gender neutral names!). Even if he never did before (which is surprising) then moving to a new environment could start him off. So the Doe may be being pestered constantly which would be very stressful for her. As you say you hardly see the Rabbits now due to work then you may just not realise if the Buck is trying to hump the Doe endlessly.

Other possible causes of a mucky bum are Dental problems. obesity, mobility problems such as arthritis.

Personally if the problem is ongoing I would get the Doe checked over by a Vet and I'd also take the Buck along to discuss getting him neutered. If the situation re work means that Munchi and Toffee will not get much supervision during the day on a longterm basis then I would be concerned that the entire Buck was causing the Doe a lot of stress that was going un-noticed.

I hope you manage to find a solution to the Doe's problem x

It could be the move as you don't say where she was before - were they outside? Definitely stop the fruit and veg until things are back to normal, then you can re-introduce the veg slowly and monitor to see if she stays clean at the rear. If she doesn't, come back for more advice. Sorry you have lost one of your rabbits.

So basically lay of the Fruit and vegetables right know. They have been in my Daughters room before we put them in the Rabbit room. Toffee the male is always sniffing her Bum and trying to get on top of her. She (Munchi) is always hopping away from him.
I must say she is on the plum side. What I might do is put each on in there on Cage and take them downsides in the dining room so they can see everybody and I can take a closer eye on her. Do you think it is wise to put them in there on cages?

Sorry I didn't read your post properly. Keeping an unneutered buck with a neutered doe is normally quite stressful for the doe as the male keeps wanting to mate with her but she won't let him. Does only let bucks mate with them if they want them to. If she is on the plump side then you need to cut down their pellets a little, being overweight could mean she can't reach round to eat her cecals and keep her rear end clean. Rabbits need about a dessertspoon full of pellets each per day. Fruit is high in sugar and can cause a mucky bum.

I would separate them un til the buck is neutered, are they both in a cage together at present or free range?

No there are in the Rabbit room up stairs not in cage. They run around all say long.
So should I then just keep her on mostly hay and only abit of pellets a day and no fruit? Dark ferns and vegetables yes?

The first thing, I believe, is to have her checked over by the vet and arrange - as a matter of urgency - for the buck to be neutered. She will find it very stressful to be with an unneutered buck as he will try to mate with her.

Feed her hay, a few pellets and a tiny piece of veg but no fruit at the moment. The problem with fruit and veg is they are high in carbohydrates and it is this which usually causes a mucky bottom. Hopefully, this regime will eliminate the problem. Do you think she can reach round to clean herself?

Yeah she can clean but not very well so I think it Is diet time. I cleaned her up again today and separate them in two cages but next to each other. That way he can bother her anymore trying to mate with her. Will give her lots if hay knly small amount of Pellets and tiny bit of Vegetable and hopefully that will clean I up but if not I will take her to the vet. They are of of the Rabbit room and in the Living room so I can keep a better eye on her

BunnyMom1412 said:

Yeah she can clean but not very well so I think it Is diet time. I cleaned her up again today and separate them in two cages but next to each other. That way he can bother her anymore trying to mate with her. Will give her lots if hay knly small amount of Pellets and tiny bit of Vegetable and hopefully that will clean I up but if not I will take her to the vet. They are of of the Rabbit room and in the Living room so I can keep a better eye on her

Click to expand...

These links may be helpful

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/Feeding130807.pdf

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/going_green_oct_06.pdf

The next link is about neutering. I would strongly urge you to consider having your Buck neutered. Then he can be re-bonded with your Doe. He is likely to feel very frustrated living next to the Doe and not being able to get to her. He will end up very stressed too.

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/neutering28.8.07.pdf

Thank you so much Jane. I'm making an appointment to get him neutered. Then they can be together again.
So the best is until he is not neutered NOT to have there 2 Cages next to each other so I don't Stress him out because he wants to be with her. I that correct?

BunnyMom1412 said:

Thank you so much Jane. I'm making an appointment to get him neutered. Then they can be together again.
So the best is until he is not neutered NOT to have there 2 Cages next to each other so I don't Stress him out because he wants to be with her. I that correct?

Click to expand...

You are welcome

Yes, I would move him away from her for now. Once he has been neutered he will need a few weeks to recover and for his hormones to settle down. Then you can re-introduce them. This must be done on neutral territory- ie some-where neither Rabbit is familiar with.

Ok thank you o much for the help and the advice in the right direction. I'm moving him away from her and will make the appointment today to get him neutered.

So I wanted to update you guys on Munchi and her messy bum. After a month and a strict diet of pellets and hay. Her messy bum cleared up. I am so happy she is feeling better. We also got Toffee fixed so no more trying to mate with Munchi
Munchi had no vegetables or fruit in that month. My question now would be. When can I give her some fruit and vegetables again and how much and how often? I don't want to give her to much, don't want the messy bum to come back.


Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

I am glad everything is sorting itself out for you and the buns. Are they together now? Fruit has a lot of sugar in it so go carefully if you give them some. Go carefully with any veg also and in time you will learn how much they can tolerate. Sometimes pellets + veg = too much carbohydrate and the rabbit just can't cope with it all. Are you feeding about an eggcup full of pellets per day to each rabbit?

BunnyMom1412 said:

So I wanted to update you guys on Munchi and her messy bum. After a month and a strict diet of pellets and hay. Her messy bum cleared up. I am so happy she is feeling better. We also got Toffee fixed so no more trying to mate with Munchi
Munchi had no vegetables or fruit in that month. My question now would be. When can I give her some fruit and vegetables again and how much and how often? I don't want to give her to much, don't want the messy bum to come back.


Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I think you can safely introduce more greens now but I wouldn't feed none leafy veg or fruit at all. I'd start will increasing by a leaf or 2 daily & monitor for a week before thinking of upping it. Great to hear your boy bun has been neutered & Munchi is enjoying a clean bum - she'll feel so much better. Were there problems rebonding them or did reintroductions go smoothly?

Yes they are together now. I feed 90% hay and 10% pellets. I thought if I start out every 2 weeks say on a Sat some dandelion leafs and tiny bit of vegetables would that be to much would you say?

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

joey&boo said:

I think you can safely introduce more greens now but I wouldn't feed none leafy veg or fruit at all. I'd start will increasing by a leaf or 2 daily & monitor for a week before thinking of upping it. Great to hear your boy bun has been neutered & Munchi is enjoying a clean bum - she'll feel so much better. Were there problems rebonding them or did reintroductions go smoothly?

Click to expand...

No there were no problems at all putting them back together. She went right back to clean his ears

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

joey&boo said:

I think you can safely introduce more greens now but I wouldn't feed none leafy veg or fruit at all. I'd start will increasing by a leaf or 2 daily & monitor for a week before thinking of upping it. Great to hear your boy bun has been neutered & Munchi is enjoying a clean bum - she'll feel so much better. Were there problems rebonding them or did reintroductions go smoothly?

Click to expand...

This is what I would do

Definitely no fruit or root veg. They can be prime candidates for messy bum syndrome