one of my two rabbits has a problem with poop sticking to his bum. the other never has this trouble. can his fur be trimmed or what can i do to prevent this?

thanks

ray in pa

hi Ray,

The bigger issue is why there is poop sticking there? The best prevention is likely some diet changes.  What's he currently eatting most days? If he's getting a lot of treats that can cause loose stool. There's some good info in  "bunny info" tab above about bunny diet.

To get rid of the poop- you can soak the bunny's butt in some warm water and try to work the poop out.

theyre getting the regular rabbit pellets and timothy hay. not many treats, they dont seem to care for much. yeah, we have to soak this ones butt every so often. we let them out in the yard regularly but they dont seem to eat much there either. carrots and celery a couple of times a week. i havent been able to tie it to any particular food or activity.

can you trim the fur back there?
thanks
ray
i'll look more at the diet site

are the pellets timothy or alfalfa based and how much are they getting daily? if your bunnies are older than 8 months, they should be on a timothy based food - about 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of bunny. If they're on alfalfa pellets that may be the culprit. There are some bunnies that just don't do well eating pellets at all. Also, when bunnies are very overweight they sometimes have issues reaching their butt to clean it :-(

You might want to read about Jennifer's experience to get some other ideas about diet: http://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO...fault.aspx

this may be helpful too: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

If you were to trim the fur, be very careful as you don't want to hurt your bunny. But I would still recommend more importantly investigating if there are dietary changes that will stop the health issue entirely.

we checked and the pellets are alfalfa. now it makes sense why this is not a continual problem, sometimes we get the timothy which is more expensive. they arent over weight , i think, and they have constant access to food. thanks, i'll let you all know if this remedies the trouble. i just read the article at the site you recommended and it was most informative. we will have to cut back on the pellets and increase the hay. i hope we are not to the point of cecal dysbiosis. ray

Just to add, don't be discouraged if you change pellets and it doesn't go away right away.  It can sometimes take weeks to get a system back in balance.

Also, you may need to go gradually with changing pellets.    Mix them and over a a couple of weeks gradually take out the alfalfa.   Sometimes quick changes in diets can also cause upsets.   So you may be stuck with poopybutt for a little while while you change her diet and then after that for her system to get right.

I know how awful poopybutt is, as Bailey has an extremely sensitive system.  PLUS, she's a crumb Bumb.   So I always have to use a little battery powered sweeper  to make sure that there aren't any cracker crumbs on the couch or floor left behind from our snacking while watching TV.

Keep us updated!