Advice for cleaning matted fur/mucus on bunny’s nose? Poor baby has Snuffles :-(

[cpb]

Hi! I’m a first time bunny owner. I adopted an approximately nine-week-old lionhead named Feta only a week ago, and since adopting, I’ve been reading through all kinds of forum posts on this site for advice and tips on how to be the best bunny parent I can be. Since I brought her home, she’s been dealing with a number of problems, for which she’s been treated by a vet–she has Snuffles (she’s on a course of Baytril now), two types of parasites (she’s on a course of SMZ now), and until this morning was dealing with a blockage in her small intestine–thankfully, I was able to help her break up and pass the blockage with an oral motility drug, and today she seems to be doing much better than she has all week.

The one thing I *haven’t* been able to find out from these forums or from my vet so far is how to effectively clean the dried mucus from her nose/face/chest. I’ve tried dabbing at it with Dawn and some warm water and I’ve also tried using hypoallergenic organic baby wipes (after clearing it with my vet) but neither method has been very effective. 

Has anyone tried the dry bath with cornstarch for mucus, or found a different, effective way to clean mucus from their bunny while they’ve dealt with Snuffles? I’m afraid to try the cornstarch for fear it might further harden the mucus, at least until I hear a success story from someone else… I want to offer her some relief because I can tell it’s making her uncomfortable, and I also need to remove it so that I can brush her fur (worried about another intestinal blockage). Help! 

[Mikey]

Cornstarch is not a good idea

My Badger has constant allergies and went through a bout of snuffles earlier in the year. To clean the dried snot from his nose/face, we use a damp warm paper towel. You wont get the stains out, but youll get the dried bits out of the fur

[jerseygirl]

Yes, I was thinking a warm wash cloth to soften it would be useful. If your rabbit will allow tou to hold it over the soiled areas. You may then need to use a fine tooth comb to get it out of the fur.

I remember a member here got a product from their vet once, for cleaning fur around gunky eyes. Something like that could help too.

[cpb]

Hypoallergenic, unscented baby wipes did nothing for me as far as removing the snot, but they DID seem to help a lot with staining. Maybe those could help Badger next time he has a hard time with his allergies   Thank you!

[cpb]

I’ve tried using a warm wash cloth along with the Dawn, but maybe if I use a warm wash cloth almost like a compress, holding it over the soiled areas as you said, I can get it to soften enough to remove. I will most definitely try. 

I actually asked about the wipes for eye boogies and runny eyes because I’ve used them with my dogs before, but my vet said hypoallergenic, unscented baby wipes should do the trick just as well! Obviously didn’t help with the dried mucus for me, but maybe that can be useful info for someone else with a less sticky problem  Thank you so much! 

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