Bum bath with baking soda?

[Jutchy]

So my bun has had chronic ear infections for a while. It kept being cleared, then it would come back a few months later, and so on for about a year and a half now. 

I went to the vet today because I noticed the secretions in his ear had come back. This time, not only the infection came back but it never went away, it just got deeper, got in his mouth and infected his roots and jawbone…. Poor little guy is gonna need shots for the rest of his life. He’s doing well though, eating, jumping, playing…

During the exam though we noticed his heels were pretty raw. I hadn’t noticed because he VERY fuzzy and there was fur covering the rash. I have some cream for him so i’m keeping an eye on it. The vet suggested I give him a quick bath just to remove any urine that might be dried out in there to prevent infection. Then I remembered my mom would give me a bath with baking soda in it when I had a rash from chicken pox. I think if I rince him well enough after it should be fine, but I was wondering; what do you guys think? Should I just go ahead and use only water? Water with a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit of bunny shampoo? Baking soda to relieve swelling and possibly itching?

[tobyluv]

You have to be very careful about giving a bath to a rabbit, using as little water as possible, and using a very mild, hypoallergenic soap – not any of the rabbit shampoos you might find in a pet store. In the past, when I had to give my elderly rabbits a butt bath occasionally, I would use the same soap that I use for myself – Clearly Natural. It is hypoallergenic, mild and comes in an unscented version or some natural scents. There is also Kirk’s Castille Soap which is hypoallergenic,mild and only naturally scented.

Here is the article on bunny butt baths:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

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