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Forum DIET & CARE Grooming?cleaning bunny’s backside

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    • Monica G.
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        Hello everyone! I have a beautiful long haired bunny “Oreo”,who I believe is a Mini Rex. (Mostly white with black spots). Although I keep his kennel and potty as clean as possible, I’ve noticed the hair on his backside is discolored from sitting where he goes to the bathroom. He even has a dried “piece” stuck in his hair back there. I tried removing it with scissors, but I’m terrified of hurting him. He wont sit still on my lap long, unless he’s swaddled in a blanket, so I can’t imagine trying to wash his behind with soap and water. Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can get him clean? I’m sure a little discoloration back there is inevitable, but I want to keep him as healthy as I can.Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice!


      • tobyluv
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          Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny! Rex rabbits have very short, velvety fur, not long fur, but any fur can get discolored. Besides his cecotropes, which are soft, are his poops normal? He may be sitting on a cecotrope and getting it stuck to his fur, but if his regular poops are soft, he may need a change in his diet. Does he eat plenty of hay?

          You do need to be very careful if you try clipping bunny fur. Instead of that you may want to try a bunny butt bath, either the dry method or the wet method. Here are the instructions for both: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html. The few times I have had to give an elderly bunny a butt bath, when they had trouble keeping clean on their own, I used a plastic dish tub, placed on the ground with an inch of water, and used a small piece of hypoallergenic, natural soap, such as Clearly Natural or Kirk’s Castile.

          A vet can give a rabbit a hygiene clip if they have long fur and have trouble with poop sticking to it. It does look like the rabbit pictured in your avatar has short hair, though.


        • Monica G.
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            Thank you so much for your reply. This is our first bunny, we’ve bought him from the local pet store four years ago when he was tiny. I was told then that he was a dwarf bunny, but there’s nothing small about him! He’s huge (to me), he’s gotten pretty thick over the years! As for his hair, it’s very soft, and I’m surprised to hear he may have short hair! I always assumed it was long, and he sheds like crazy! I’ve never noticed any soft poops in his potty’s, I’ve only seen little hard balls. I can definitely increase his hay intake though. The food I give him is “Encore Foraging Feast” made up of pellets, fruit and veggies. Oreo has never liked pellets much. He’ll pick out all the good stuff first and leave the pellets behind, then he acts like he’s starving again. I’ve tried a few other types of food containing just pellets, trying to get him to eat healthier, but he won’t touch them. Other than that, he gets fresh kale, greens, and carrots. (I’m learning a lot from this wonderful website about other food choices for him.) I will have to give the bottom bath a try. He’s going to hate it but his health is more important. Thank you again for your advice. I’m looking forward to learning a lot more about my bunny here. This is a wonderful community!


          • jerseygirl
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              Welcome Monica : )
              Oreo looks like a little sweetie. Love his markings. tobyluv has already given some great info.

              The food I give him is “Encore Foraging Feast” made up of pellets, fruit and veggies. Oreo has never liked pellets much. He’ll pick out all the good stuff first and leave the pellets behind, then he acts like he’s starving again. I’ve tried a few other types of food containing just pellets, trying to get him to eat healthier, but he won’t touch them.

              Lol! Little con artists aren’t they? Keep trying!v And keep the ration small. He should take to eating more hay then.

              I was told then that he was a dwarf bunny, but there’s nothing small about him! He’s huge (to me), he’s gotten pretty thick over the years!

              Do you know how much he weighs? Maybe he’s a standard rex? Both mini and standard rexes are prone to weight gain. Not great as that can then affect their hocks as they dont have much fur there to protect them. Overweight bunnies can also have trouble cleaning their hind end, so that might be part of the trouble also, if he is a bit tubby.


            • tobyluv
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                If you do try the bath, it would be good if you had someone to help you. It was helpful to have my husband hold on to the rabbit in the dish tub, while I splashed water on the dirty/pee stained area and pulled off any poop that might have been stuck on. Your rabbit will likely not care for the bath and will try to get out of the tub. That is one reason why I think it’s best to have the dish tub on the floor. It scares me to think that a rabbit could jump out and hurt himself if he was up in a sink or if the dish tub was up on a counter. You can buy plastic dish tubs for just a few dollars. Try to wet him as little as possible and have a towel standing by to dry him with.

                I’ve never heard of that brand of pellets, and it’s always recommended that rabbits have plain pellets without any seeds or colored bits, so it would be good to cut back on the pellets and even pick out some of the other ingredients. As jerseygirl said, cutting back should make him eat more hay, and might make him lose a little weight, both of which would help him have a cleaner bottom.


              • Bam
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                  I have given my bunny Bam many buttbaths over the years, and as Tobyluv says, it’s absolutely best if someone can help you hold the bun. My bam doesn’t love butt-baths, but what he does seem to love is getting his little butt blow-dried after. If you blow- dry your bun, use a very low setting and keep one hand on the bunny butt so you make sure all the time that it doesn’t get too hot. You can of course dry him with a towel instead, micro fiber towels are the best because they really suck up moisture. Don’t let him run around with his butt all wet and get cold.

                  As for his diet, as the others have said, bunny mixes often result in the type of selective eating you’re describing, and that’s of course not the best thing. He ought to eat more hay and less of the bunny mix. However, you need to lower the portion size of the mix very slowly, the bunny tummy needs time to adjust, especially when you transition to a healthier diet with lots of roughage (hay). The bunny gut is dependant on the bacteria present in the cecum, and they’ll get the right gut flora by eating hay, but it takes at least a few weeks. Before the right bacteria are there in the appropriate number, the bun can’t access the nutrients in the hay and so it will starve, and that’s dangerous for rabbits. So never make any swift changes to a bun’s diet!


                • Monica G.
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                    You guys are all awesome! tobyluv, jerseygirl, and bam-THANK YOU so much for sharing your bunny knowledge and great suggestions with me. I’m definitely going to give him a butt bath (on the floor, with help from my son), begin decreasing the goodies in his diet and add more hay. I don’t know how much he weighs, but yes, Oreo is a chunky bunny! He has chins, and rolls! Sometimes I see and hear him struggle to reach areas of his body that he’s trying to clean. And I feel terrible that I’m responsible for making him that way! We just thought he was so stinkin adorable because of his chunkyness, not realizing he should be eating healthier. It’s time to make some changes! Again, thank you all for your help. You’ll be seeing me alot more around here, learning how to be a great bunny mom


                  • tobyluv
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                      If he’s not an enthusiastic hay eater, you can try different varieties or brands. Timothy is great, of course, but some rabbits prefer the second cutting, which is softer, or they may prefer orchard grass, which is also softer and it’s sweeter. Then there are rabbits that like the harder, crunchier hay, such as oat hay. It’s good to have a variety on hand, to entice rabbits to eat more.


                    • HotCrossBuns
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                        Monica, just wanted to add that Oxbow pellets are a great brand to transition your little man on over too! I have never had any butt problems with any of my 4 rabbits when they have been on Oxbow.You can buy Oxbow pellets right here on Binky Bunny or on Amazon. Depending on where in the world you are located, such as US or Canada, they sell Oxbow in stores. I am not so sure about Europe or other places. Other off pellets brands such as the museli mixes with all the colorful bits and seeds always ended up in poopy butt. Good luck with your boy


                      • Monica G.
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                          Great information! Thank you so much!


                        • Monica G.
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                            I’ll give Oxbow a try (Oreo…not me lol)! Thank you so much!


                          • Q8bunny
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                              That’s ok. You wouldn’t have been the first bunny mom to try their furbaby’s stuff.


                            • Monica G.
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                                Lol! I can’t even imagine!


                              • Monica G.
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                                  Hello again bunny lovers! Here’s my update and concern. So I had a friend help me bathe Oreo in the bathtub, his tush really needed it. He actually handled his first butt bath really well! I’m worried though because within three days, he needed another bath. His behind is nasty again! Since my previous post I have increased his Timothy hay, and decreased the amount of food I put in his bowl. (He prefers the fruity bits over the pellets and leaves the pellets behind, then acts like he’s starving!) He’s pooping the same hard, small balls as normal. I don’t see a lot of cecotropes in his litter box though, only small amounts sometimes when I clean it. The only evidence of soft poops is on the floor of his house, left from his behind. One of you mentioned having a vet clip his hiney hair-great idea! That’s definitely my next step. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can eliminate this problem? Should I change his diet completely? (I also give Oreo kale and carrots a couple times a week, and as I mentioned before, he’s pretty chunky). I really want my bunny to be healthy and happy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!


                                • Q8bunny
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                                    Fruity bits?? That’s a red flag right there. Bunny pellets should be grass hay based and not have treats in them. I’d keep him on clean greens for a while and see if the poopy butt clears. Some buns just can’t handle sugar at all, and must nom hay and leafy greens only (and even some of those may irritate a sensitive tum – trial and error…)


                                  • Monica G.
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                                      …I just reread the message from HotCrossBuns regarding Oxbow food. I’ll get Oreo on it right away. Thanks!


                                    • flemishwhite
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                                        Somewhere around the 9 year timeframe, Bunny started having a dirty butt problem. She no longer was eating her cecotrops. They would moosh up in her fur and was quite a problem to keep her clean. Long story short…she had spinal stenosis…arthritis of the spine. She was not able to bend around to eat the cecotrops. We started giving her Metacam. It cured her back pain problem so she now was able to bend around and eat the cecotrops so the entire problem just went away.

                                        How she got her daily Metacam med. She was use to having a banana slice every morning. We would cut a conical depression in one end of the banana slice and fill it with her 1 1/2 ml dose of Metacam. She would lick the Metacam and then eat the banana. Metacam has a nice sweet taste. About bananas, experience is that rabbits like their banana slice a little tart, in other words the banana skin should have some green on it.


                                      • Monica G.
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                                          Thank you for your reply. I am decreasing the fruity stuff he loves and making sure he eats the pellets more before I refill his bowl. I’m transitioning him to Oxbow adult food, mixing it with his current food to give his tummy time to get used to the transition. I read on the Oxbow website that an adult bunny’s diet should be 75 percent hay, and he should be eating an amount of hay that equals his body size daily. I’m also hoping his vet can see him tomorrow for a clipping and to make sure I’m doing what I need to for him. I pray Oreo doesn’t have back problems! It seems like he’s just too chunky to clean his backside properly. I’m working on this! I’m grateful for all the knowledgeable bunny parents here. Thank you for your help


                                        • Monica G.
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                                            I wanted to leave an update about Oreo. Previously, I was having problems keeping his backside clean and free of sticky poop. Since I got him off of the food with fruity bits and on to eating only Oxbow brand food and hay, along with his fresh veggies, he has had no problems at all! His backside stays much cleaner and I think he’s lost a little weight. He’s able to groom himself better now too. I wanted to thank everyone again for all your help and suggestions. Changing Oreo’s diet has made a huge difference! I now have a beautiful, happy and healthier bunny!


                                          • LittlePuffyTail
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                                              That’s great news!

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                                          Forum DIET & CARE Grooming?cleaning bunny’s backside