Best Bum Bath Method?

[Dee]

I just replied to MimzMum’s poll on poopy butt and this reminded me of a question I have. I need to clean BunBun’s bum nearly every day lately, and it’s really traumatic for him. Here’s how I do it:

My husband picks Bun up and hold him on his lap on his back, belly up with his bum facing me. I have a big bowl of warm water and a roll of paper towels. I dip the paper towels in the water and clean off as much poop as I can first. For the dried on stuff, I either clip it with scissors if safe to do so, or put a wet paper towel on and soak til it softens enough to be worked off. Then I dry his bum if needed and we release him. I don’t pull his fur, scrub at him or use hot water so I doubt it hurts, but every time his eyes bulge out and he struggles. While he’s laying there, he goes after my husband’s arm like he wants to bite, but then remembers he’s a good bunny and licks his arm frantically instead. It’s so sad. It’s also a pain to have to wait for Rick (hubby), because Rick hates upsetting BunBun and therefore dodges me for hours, trying to get out of helping me (very mature, I know- lol).

I have read about putting rabbits in a shallow bath or running water over their privates. I’m hesitant to run water on Bun because our house is ancient and the hot/cold is difficult to balance- I can’t think of much worse than scalding BunBun’s bum with hot water . I guess I would just be very careful and use luke-warm water. The problem is, Bun usually has a bunch of cecals stuck on his bum, which harden quickly when squashed and bcome hard to rinse. I wonder why he’s not eating them- if I pick them off and offer them to him, he eats them.

  Anyway, I would love to hear opinions on the best way to give a butt bath! Thanks .

[longhairmike]

you dont need to have the water RUNNING over their privates,, you just set them in the sink with a submerged towel and a few inches of warm water (temp adjusted before you even set them in the sink),, and you kinda continuously swish water up onto their underside with your hands… it’s sure to saturate the crusty areas and also provides unlimited rinsing. youre not going to get everything softened and cleaned with just a wet towel. that would be like trying to wash your hair with a sponge.

have a 2nd dry blanket ready at the side of the sink to wrap them up when you take them out…

[RabbitPam]

I never got a pix of this so I will try to describe how I used to clean Spockie’s bum daily for months when he lost use of his hind legs.

I set him gently into the sink, and in your case, since the water cannot be running safely, you can set his back half only into the sink, or a rubbermaid kitchen tub (those plastic pans like a litter pan – even use a clean litter pan actually) with about 2″ of warm water in it. Have a washcloth and mild baby unscented soap ready, with a dry towel nearby.
With two of you it’s easier: one of you supports him by slipping your hand underneath his belly so you are lifting up his front half, as if he were standing on his hind legs and resting along your whole arm, his face facing you. This way he is not upside down, which is upsetting him and can result in an accident to his back. With him laying along your extended arm, probably your husband’s, lower his back end into the warm water. The holder of him can use the other free hand to gently hold him down along the arm by pressing his shoulders while petting his head and face.
You can then use the washcloth and wash the whole back area with it, with the soap, and even have a cup of more water next to you for the rinse. Then when he is cleaned, just lift him out of the sink/tub and set him quickly into the waiting towel. Wrap and hold him to dry him off.
It felt so good to Spockie to be clean again, that he clearly relaxed more and more as I set his back half into the sink while I held him there with one arm and washed with the other hand. He could have warm water running down his back half so rinsing was constant, but you can do it as I described if that’s a problem.

[kralspace]

When my Lola was still a chunkymonkey, she’d get wads of squashed cecals stuck to the her bottom and we had to do a butt bath every few days. We started out in the tub but it was easier on my knees to put a plastic dishpan that I use to bath the guinea pigs in the kitchen sink. Like the others I put a small towel in the bottom and several inches of warm water. She was a biter but after a few tries to jump out she’d settle down to resigned death glares and let me use one hand to hold her and one to message her bottom and work the cecals out. Sometimes I had to break them and continue soaking for10 or 15 minutes until they were soft enough to pull off without pulling her fur out.

For all her bluffing and bites, she felt so much better being able to move around afterwards without having her fur pulled by those mats every time she hopped.

[Dee]

Thank you SO MUCH, you guys! I will defintely start doing it that way. I was always afraid that being in the water would scare Bun too much, but I think being flipped onto his back is worse. And like RabbitPam mentioned, that could hurt his back. He really struggles and kicks, and I’m always terrified that he will hurt himself, especially when we’re done and he twists to get right side up. I’m sure that although he might not like the water, it will feel better to him to be on his own feet. And much more thorough- Longhairmike had a good analogy for it- like washing your hair with a sponge- lol. I had to keep using new paper towels to clean him instead of just spreading the poop around, but I never felt like he was completely clean. And it’s occured to me that using a paper towel to wipe him off may have been forcing bacteria INTO his urinary opening rather than AWAY, like soaking in water would do.
With practice, I can probably do this alone too . It really gets me p*ssed off to have to wait for Rick to get BunBun comfortable- I end up yelling at Rick every time he doesn’t help me right away. So this will save Rick some torture as well as BunBun- thank you .
And Mike- I love that pic- what a beautiful bunny!

[longhairmike]

when they are in the sink,, they will often want to put their front paws up on the edge of the sink, so you can put another dry towel on the front ledge, but just make sure you are leaned up against the front so they dont try to leap out onto the ledge.

buki was the easiest to give sink baths…

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