Messy bum!?

I have been noticing that daisy's bum is ALWAYS a mess! I dont think she can reach back there because she is a rather big rabbit, and because of the amount of hair she has it needs to be groomed daily. Today I picked her up and looked down there and saw that her whole bum down to her tail was covered with wee and poo mats. I took out the brush, scissors, and a wet cloth and went at it but it didn't really make much of a differance. I have done this whole procedure at least 3 times now but I dont feel that she gets clean. What should I do to make sure she stays clean and healthy?! Thank you so much for reading xxxxxxxxx

What's her current diet? Too many pellets and not enough hay can cause messy bums, or veggies than are disagreeing with her tum.

When you say she's a big bunny do you mean she a big on the podgy side? Being over weight can mean a bun can't reach around to eat the ceacal pellets they produce. As well as meaning they then get stuck to the fur instead it also means they don't get the nutrients from them.

Changing her diet will also help with this as well as encouragin her to get more exercise

Whilst you try to get the the root of the problem baby wipes are a good way to do a regular clean up.

Tam

She is on an all hay and veggie diet, with a small handful of pellets when she is a good girl. She has been on the same kind of hay for about a year now, and the veggies have been the same.
She is not really over weight, she is just built very big. Her hair is also very long so I know that must be hard to groom. I have been using babywipes, towels, her brush, and I even had to cut some of her hair off today that had become matted.

Also, I know she never gets enough excersize. When I take her out of her cage, she goes strait to the shelf where I store the pellets, jumps up, and starts her afternoon snack. When I move the pellets out of her reach, she just sits there. I have toys, tunnels for her to run through, and now she has Blaise to play with. While Blaise is running around the room acting like a crazy bun, she just stiffs at the carpet for stray pieces of hay or pellet.
I'm still not really sure what to do...any advise?

**If you suggest changing her diet....what do you think I should try?

Thanks a ton Tam, I just need a bit more help to solve this problem

It sounds like her diet is already good. Whats the fibre level on her pellets? It can vary alot from brand to brand - atleast 18% is recommended.

When you say she gets pellets if she is good, is that every day? Could it be if she gets them irregularly they are upsetting her tum.

Does the mucky bum happen every day or intermitently?

Rather than changing the diet perhaps changing the way you feed it might help. It sounds like she's quite motivated by food so you can use that to get her moving. Here are some ideas:

Treatball - you can buy these for cats - there a ball with a small hole that you fill with the dry food. To get the food they have to roll the ball around gradually tipping the food out. You can try homemade ones with boxes with little holes cut in.

No more bowl - don't put anything in the bowl any food has to be foraged for. Think of it like a childrens easter egg hunt. Stick the food under/in/behing/on top of things. If they have to climb and stretch to get it or shove something out of the way all the better. I have one of those kaboob things - a metal stick you stab carrots etc with and hang up. To reach it my buns have to jump on top of a box, it swings abit so they have to move about and they take it in turns to get the best position for nibbling.

You can get chain really cheap from supply stores. The frames they sell for babies with toys dangling down on would be good to hang things from. You can probably pick a cheap one up second hand or make a similar frame yourself.

A box filled with hay with the yummy veggies at the bottom/mixed in so they have to dog for them.

I'm sure you'll be able t come up with other things. I love watching my bunnies going about getting their food. Their hay is in a hanger so they stand on their back legs to reach it. Big veggies are on the kaboob and their pellets are in the treatball. They have hay in their bed too but still go for the stuff hanging up, I guess it's easier to pick the yummiest strands or something. It means dinner times spread throughout the whole day not gobbled within half an hour

Tam

aawww wow great ideas Tam!!
When Nala had a messy bottom i used to dunk her bottom in warm water in my sink and swish her bottom around to get the worst off, then i combed it through and dried it. She did have some hair cut off to help a little but now her diet is better and has been spayed she doesnt ever get dirty.. not sure which or whether it was both that did the trick. Is Daisy spayed? Nala never used to move either, i assumed it was down to the fact she was pretty solidly built but also that maybe she wasnt used to having room to run around in her old home. After 3months she is now more lively than Simba doing fast laps of my flat and her figure is alot better for it.
I hope you can figure out what is causing Daisy's dirty bott.

THave you tried sitting her rear end into the sink as I do that with a couple of mine who can't reach there rear end, it brings them up lovely and clean. I use hibiscrub with a little warm water.

My Eleanor has just the same prob. She always gets a dirty bottom, which results in a large amount of droppings matted together and stuck to the whole area around her bottom and tail, if not cleaned daily.

She is also overweight too, so I'm aware that cleaning must be difficult.

I have switched her over to small helpings of Science Selective, which seems to have improved things a little, but the problem is still there.

The thing is, Eleanor isnt a huge hay fan. She'll eat a little, but not much. I've tried in the past, putting her on a hay only diet, but she hardly ate any, so I felt sorry for her and put her back on a bit of mix.


I'm also interested to see suggestions to this prob, as I'd love to be able to help her with it.

Thanks

Veronica

What veggies are you feeding her daily?

Veronica said:

The thing is, Eleanor isnt a huge hay fan. She'll eat a little, but not much. I've tried in the past, putting her on a hay only diet, but she hardly ate any, so I felt sorry for her and put her back on a bit of mix.

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Have you tried different types of hay? There must be a difference in taste as some bunnies can be quite fussy over which they'll eat and which they won't. If you have a farm selling hay for horses locally that can be quite good stuff or you could try some of the dry grasses.

Mixing the pellets or some fresh herbs in to the hay can help as they accidentally eat it

Best wishes,
Tamsin

Hi my first bunny patch use to have the same problem i took her to the vets and they adviced me to put her on EXCEL LITE to get her weight down abit i also had to give her a bath every couple of days i use to get the shower on her the vet also gave me some cream to put on her bits cause she was sore

Would it be worth a try using Bunny Basics T which is the Oxbow food for rabbits, the company claim that it is 'a complete timothy hay based pellet, formulated for the nutritional needs of adult pet rabbits'.

Our rescue changed over to this approximately 6 weeks ago, one of the buns I fostered who had a tendency to a very slightly dirty bottom improved on this and I never had a dirty bottom on him once he was put on this, he only got the recommended amount of food and not a gram more though!

Janice

mine dont really eat alot of hay.. but i have found they will eat a bowl of dried grass every day sometimes more so that makes up for it i think.

I have found this discussion really interesting. How much dry food (Supa Rabbit Excel) should I be giving my buns each day? At the moment they get about half a dish (5in diameter earthenware dish) each. Is this too much? By the way one bun is a Netherland, the other a Dwarf Lop, and they live separately.

My buns don't get dirty bums, and I don't want them to! Mine only nibble the hay too. Each day they have either a carrot each, or a little cabbage (half a leaf each) or a little fresh grass from the fields.

I have also heard you can give bunnies willow twigs to nibble, is this true? We have quite a few willows near where I live and could easily get this for them.

Chinakit

I think there are guidelines on the excel bags for how much per weight. A medium sized bun = 50g ish a Netherland probably needs less though.

Tam

hi

Oh I've just seen this reply by Jay on another topic
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=7089

Try the cornstarch drybath maybe? I read about it here:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

Tamsin said:

I think there are guidelines on the excel bags for how much per weight. A medium sized bun = 50g ish a Netherland probably needs less though.

Tam

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Thanks Tam ..... D'oh !!!! Why don't I read the pack ???

Thank you everyone!! Sorry that I was not here to reply, I went out of town (again :roll: ) and had to leave my bunnies for 4 days...I feel like I haven't been home in ages! Well, now I'm back and I will start trying a few of those ideas like the cat treat ball and hiding food, ect. Thanks again and sorry I wasn't here to reply!! xxx