I don’t clean my rabbits anal glands either and if they needed to be done I would have the vet do it for fear of causing some damage in that delicate area.

I go to a very experienced rabbit vet and when I got Otto she told me to clip his nails every 6-8 weeks, but that cleaning out his glands was completely unnecessary. At the moment he won’t even let me do his nails and has to go to the vet, so I haven’t cleaned his anal glands and we haven’t had any issues. In my experience with dogs, many don’t ever need to have their anal glands cleaned, but some have issues with draining – so I wonder if it might be a case where some buns have issues and some don’t, so many people recommend cleaning them anyway? I don’t really know. I would probably be afraid of doing some damage down there anyway, even if he was more cooperative.

Hmm that’s interesting, I’ll have to ask my vet about the anal glands. My first rabbit (pre BB) I never hard of cleaning them and actually didn’t know they had those. He never had any problems and after I found out on bb, I looked at his and they weren’t to bad. I always check them when I do the nails. With Sandy, well she’s impossible to hold so I haven’t looked. Archie is pretty good I don’t really clean his but check them. Gracie I do have to clean about once a month because one time I skipped it and she had poo stuck on her and her glands were bad. So Gracie is one of those bunnies that needs her cleaned or she’ll have problems. I’d still check down there to see if it’s bad and would need cleaning and maybe ask the vet about it.

Not sure about the anal gland thing… but it’s very rare that a house rabbit would be on enough varied flooring to adequately wear the nails down. Wild rabbits run around on grass, rocks, they are always digging… Rabbits are also prone to sore hocks so that is a big issue when nails are allowed to grow, or they can tear nails out…

Re: Anal Glands — Coco Gets Skunky – Jackson Never does.
Re: Nails —- Coco Never needs her nails cut. She is a Crazy digger and seems to keep them down herself, But Jackson? WhooooBaby. I am going in tonight to trim his. He grows Talons.

That’s interesting. I guess rabbit care and rabbit medicine is evolving as they become more popular pets. With maintance (ie, glands and nails) I think it’s important to check regularly. Not necessarily clip/clean etc. I think rely on common sense really. If a nail looks like it’ll snag on flooring – clip it. If you find a hard wax plug in a delicate skin area – it’s likely causing some discomfort, so remove it. Maybe their concerns are that rabbit owners (slaves) are getting over zealous in the grooming? Makes a change from the days of forgotten backyard hutch bunnies.

I don’t think you should do anal glands on your own for the first time. But some rabbits need them done more often and if you want-you can get a vet to do it, but it’s certainly an easy task and not one that’s needed too often at all.

On the nail clipping-umn yeah…that’s really bizarre to me? WE have rubber, lino, carpet, hard wood and tile-and all my bunnies need their nails trimmed. (Noot and Kahlua grow faster then Rupert and Chuck) AND it’s obviously not that hard if people have been trimming dog and cat nails for how long right? Even quicking a bunny (or any animal) is really not that big of an issue.
Maybe 90% of nail problems come from trimming…but what problems are they? How often do they occur? -seems a little odd

to each his own-these people you spoke to are vets with eight years of education…I hardly think I can aruge? Maybe like you said-just the area thing?

Honestly If I didn’t trim nails (and I say this for most rabbits) my rabbits would look like neglect cases. No need for them to look like Edward Scissor hands

Ok and a cute tidbit from my vet on anal gland cleaning. So I’m wrist deep in my dogs bum as she’s showing me how to clean his glands. (not wrist deep-ok second joint on my finger deep lol)

And Dave is complaining to her that he figured glands don’t need to be done and I just have a bum obsession and I’m doing all this to torture him.

And he lets her know I used to get his help to do the bunnies glands, and he’s talking about he wore gloves and a mask and still wanted to barf and my vet turns to me and says “Lesley, one needs to each their SO into bum duties-slowly” hehehe :p

LOL ^

I had a giggle at you in another thread Lesley, where you put the info how to take a rabbit temperate. I was thinking – “Whoa there! This is a new member, no need to scare…” lol

I suggest wearing a full suit of armor when attempting to take your bunny’s temperature.

That’s a strange opinion about the nails. You’d have to really let your rabbit ruin your floors through digging (or have really rough floors) in order to never need to trim their nails. Nail trimming really isn’t that big of a deal. Rabbits can be taught to tolerate it just like dogs and cats- and just like their teeth and hair, they grow, so their nails will need trimming every month or two. Without trimming your rabbit’s nails they will get too long and your rabbit will have to rock back on it’s heels for support resulting in sore hocks- and eventually- the nails will grow back into the foot. Not pretty.

For anal glands I agree. There is no need to mess with an animal’s anal glands if it can naturally empty them periodically itself through defecation. But if there is a problem you certainly need to get it to a vet to have it checked out!

Posted By Monkeybun on 12/08/2009 01:44 AM
I suggest wearing a full suit of armor when attempting to take your bunny’s temperature.

You made me spit my pop out. LOL

I just clean my buns anal glands every few months, not very often at all. but I try to clip their nails monthly.

The goop in Jack’s anal glands gets very built up and hard. It could be because he is territorial and uses them to add that extra special scent to his  territorial poo more.   And if I don’t clean them out, he can get skunky. My rabbit-savvy vet also said that the anal glands can get infected if they get blocked, as well as that waxy stuff can harden and cause discomfort. (This happens to Jack) Though they do not necessarily need to be cleaned monthly, from what I have been taught from the rabbit-experts here, I believe it is important to check them and clean them out if they get gunked up. If you are not sure how to do it then it’s a great idea to take them to a vet. I know some rescues like SaveABunny will do nail clips and anal gland cleaning as well for a small fee. So you can check with local rabbit rescues as well.

When I was volunteering at the rescue, sometimes we would be put on nail and gland duty. ECH!  So I can tell you first hand that the anal glands can really get filled with stuff that can turn rock hard over time. I don’t know how anything can excrete then at the source (way back in) when the whole pocket is filled to the brim with a rock. Ouch!.  When I would come across a bunny that had rock hard goop that was just stuck, I would soften it first with warm water applied with a Q-tip,  and then wait a 10 minutes while I did other bunnies. 

As far as the nails -I definitely am a big believer in keeping them trim. Ditto Beka on the sore hock issue.    Also, Inside bunnies who are mainly on thick carpet will develop a sort of sharp hook nail that can caught up on things which can rip the nail right off, or worse (pull the toe out of it’s joint or break).  I have never had a bunny that wore down their nails naturally in the house. 

The nail thing does sound odd to me, but I do know that cutting them stimulates growth just like our nails. And it also matters a lot HOW you trim them, what angle etc. Perhaps there is a really specific way we can trim them that minimizes new growth so you don’t need to do it as often?

Boy that would sure be nice to find out…

*headdesk* I am SO confused about glands now. 0_o
My own vet, whom I adore, says they don’t need doing. BB.com recommends they be cleaned once a month. (and more people deal with bunnies here than at my vet) Who’s right??
I admit, shamefacedly, this is NOT something I do regularly, even though I know I am supposed to (at least from what I’ve read here) but now I am concerned because I have done Pip’s and Mimzy’s (Fiver is too squirmy) and AV’s vet says not at all because then you HAVE to keep doing it? *sigh*

Also-and this is just a random weird question- I wonder if, should gland material get hard and infect the rear area of the bunny, is there any recommendation to removing the blasted things so the bun doesn’t become ill? Like an infected appendix in humans? >.< Maybe I just have an avoidance issue with bunny bums instead of a fixation. ~_~

Furface…I have learned never to read this board with anything in my mouth whatsoever. I would have either long since choked to death or redecorated my keyboard so many times it’s not even funny. >_<

Posted By angelicvampyre on 12/12/2009 06:54 PM
  I have one dog that every 3 months we make the trip to the vet to get her anal glands done as she starts to bum scoot and whines,

OMG…I just read this and a light went on…does anyone know if cats have these too? One of my cat’s behaviours may have just been explained, if so!

I think once a month if there seems to be no reason is excessive, maybe check them once a month?

Ahh..there’s the rub! After all this time, still have’t mastered th bunny burrito, but yes, I do check bums when I can…and the minute I start poking around down there, it’s game on. >.<

Just need to get better at trancing, but it takes the pressure off if it’s not a direct order to clean each month.

Posted By MimzMum on 12/12/2009 06:39 PM
 
. BB.com recommends they be cleaned once a month. 

I just need to clarify this. We recommend CHECKING once a month, and that will help you give some reference point of what your own bunny would need as far as cleaning.  If you have a bunny that doesn’t get all gooped up much, then within a few months you may figure that out. Here’s what our the Monthly Maintenance section says about how often you need to check and clean the glands –

“Check every month. You’ll soon find that some bunnies build up a waxy substance very quickly while others only need cleaning a few times a year”

Source:  https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Mon…fault.aspx  Scroll down – this line is below the instructions of how to check.  I had a thought though – maybe that line should be above the instructions to prevent misunderstandings. 

So really, the recommendation is really only to check so you know what’s going with your own bunny, and from there you can make the decision on how often your bunny’s need to be cleaned.  And of course, once you make the determination, you can then of course just check when you feel they may be getting built up. 

And in the end there will always be differing views from the net and from vets; I recommend taking it all in and then just make a decision about what you feel is right for your bunny right now. Then just keep an eye on glands and ESPECIALLY the nails with an open mind.  That way later you can decide if the advice you chose to follow did or didn’t pan out , and you ‘ll learn first hand what works best for your bunny.   

My bunnies do not dig too much so I trim their nail monthly- long nails can break but they can also put unnecessary pressure on a bunnies toes forcing them up and possibly contributing to pain or arthritis.

Griffins nails have to be trimmed at least every month otherwise I notive “dots” on his ears from him stepping on the insides (he is an English Lop) and I bought a emery board from the drugstore and give each nail a swipe or 2 to remove any sharp edges.

I’ve never done Charlie or Layla’s anal glands. I check them regularly but there never seems to be much in there, so they must drain fine. However another friend’s rabbit smelled seriously skunky and it wasn’t until his glands were cleaned that he started to smell a bit fresher. The smell, oh my gosh, the smell!

I notice that Eclipse’s back nails wear down, but her front nails don’t. The other two don’t move around enough to get worn down, and even if Hubble did move around more, his nails grow in backwards! Plus they have those darn dewclaws (I don’t know what they are called on rabbits). As for anal glands, I tend to leave Hubble alone, but Nova’s get kind of blocked and Eclipse is just skunky. For my dogs, I have one chihuahua that had her anal gland rupture, but the other two hardly get any build up so I only clean them once a year.

My apologies, Jennifer, I had thought the basic opinion here was clean once a month. I think we had a few threads running that suggested that, so I was mistaken. Sorry.
AV, thanks for the link on the cats. Going to check it out now.

No Worries Mimzmum! I can see how that could happen as we certainly have had plenty of discussions about how to clean, and who knows i might have suggested it in a thread especially if people’s bunnies are like my Jack. Sorry if we confused you!