Bum Trouble

[AlicePalace]

for the last couple of months my rabbit merry has been prone to getting large amounts of poo stuck to her bum and i mean large! im having to clean her bum everday and bath her once a week. ive just given her, her weekley bath and it took me an hour to remove all the dirt and poo from her bum. I dont want to keep doing this as its pretty stressful and baths arent good for rabbits i know ive changed her diet a few times and no difference. she has no front teeth so deffinatly not the problem, i was wondering maybe its her weight? shes also a lionhead and long fur seems to not help this situation. any help?

 

[Sarita]

I would think if she had no front teeth, that could be a problem. She may not be able to eat her cecals properly. Also have you had her molars checked lately to see if they need trimmed?

[AlicePalace]

its not her cecals that shes having problems with i see her eat them and the ones she doesnt she leaves, its her normall poo thats getting stuck :S there getting stuck to the back of her hind legs too! Yeah she never has problems with her molars, they were recently checked after her teeth op.

[Tate]

What brands of pellets have you tried so far and how much are you giving? One of my rabbits was not able to eat the recommended amount, as he would have excess cecals AND his normal poop was… wet.

[AlicePalace]

Her poo is quite soft :/ she has excell burgess light to keep her weight stable as shes pretty lazy she gets about half a bowl a day the rest is hay and small treats of veg, she gets no pellets at night only hay

[Dee]

Normal bunny poop should be round and hard, so it shouldn’t be able to stick to her bum. I find it very hard to tell messy regular poop from cecals when it’s all mashed over their butts though >.< . My BunBun has had poopy bum problems (I shotrten it to PB to save time) almost since I found him. Either way, when they end up with PB. it means that are either overproducing cecals or their regular poop is geting soft because something is throwing the balance off i their gut. And I know how stressful bum baths are- I hated giving Bun his baths. But before I learned to, he got a UTI and developed bladder sludge. He would posture and twist when he peed- it would just about kill me to watch. I thought it was bladder sludge crystals causingthe pain, but now I think it was simply irritated privates. I did find that putting Bun in a shallow baking dish full of warm water nd working the poop off his bum gently was the least upsetting method. But I wasn't able to thoroughly clean him/trim his fur like I did when hubby flipped him over and held him for me. I just decided that it was better to frighten him less and maybe not clean him as well- laying on their backs evey day is very scary for bunnies.
Anyway- sorry for the endless post- I’m sure most members are used to me by now though . I do tend to babble… but PB is one of my favorite subjects! Anyway, if you haven’t done so already, take a poop sample to your vet and have it tested for parasites and such. If it comes back negative like BunBun’s did, then it’s time to try diet modification. I had to stop giving Bun EVERYTHING but hay for about a week. You will have a very unhappy bunny- rabbits really do live for their food, much like me I might add . But hopefully the PB will stop with the hay only diet. If it does, then add one thing back at a time, waiting at least 4 days in betwee each food. That way you will identify which food make Merry get PB. BunBun can’t have fruit, sugary treats, and many greens. His pellets must be kept to under 1 tsp daily too. And even now, if he gets more than 3/4 cup of greens at once, he gets poopy. But it’s much better than before, and his peeing habits are now normal . Good luck with Merry!

[AlicePalace]

thankyou! Oh no dont worry i love to babble to luckily merry is very good with getting her bum cleaned she just isnt as keen on getting in the bath Yeah i got a poop sample ready for the vets i just gotta book an apointment now. do you think i should just feed hay untill i take her to the vets to see if anything clears up or should i stick to what im doing now? i wont be able to take her till the weekend?

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