Bun with poop in fur

[bobbles]

Hi, my bun and I are new to the community. Bobbles is a female mini flop(not so mini). hehe. She I think got stressed two days ago when my fiance and I tried to get her back in her cage. If I let her stay out too long she fights with me. Then the next day I get home from work and noticed that her newly clean cage was still clean. She was peeing but there was little poop. I noticed when she moved smeered poo. I checked her butt and sure enough there was poop stuck to her butt. She hates to be held so i covered her face up to her butt with a towel. I held her while my fiance pulled the poop off her butt. I was alarmed at the fact that he was even getting out little pellet poos. I really dont know if she was stressed or if she was just reacting to the baby carrot I’d give her once a day. I only recently started to give her those. She’s had them before though without any poblem. She’s eating and there are pellet poops but they are still too small. She’s not acting differently. My real question is how do I clean her butt quickest and most efficently?( 1 to 2 times max) She gets too stressed out being held.

Any help would be great..

A worried mom

[daisy]

I too have a mini lop who had the poopy butt problem. I found that the extra sensitive baby wipes work really well if its still wet. Petsmart also sales a wash called squeaky clean. It also works really well but my rabbit hated having her butt wet and then you have to make sure their body temperature doesn’t drop. I had to put a heating pad under her for a while. But if it is dry and you are trying to clean it I ended up having to cut the hair short on her belly and around it. This is not the best solution but it worked and prevented hair from getting in it until it straightened up some.
Kristan, Mom of mini lop daisy

[MooBunnay]

Hi! Welcome to Binky Bunny!

Could you tell us a little bit more about Bobbles diet? Is she still eating? Keep a close eye on her and make sure that she is still eating and pooping, because if she is not that is a sign of stasis and she needs to go to the vet today to get help. Stasis is when the bunnies insides get “clogged” up and they can’t eat or poop, it can be fatal within 24 hours, so thats why its important to make sure she is still eating. “Poopy Butt” is a sign that she is having a diet problem, so by solving that problem you will not have to worry about cleaning her bum. There are diet recommendations on this website you might want to look at to see how closely her diet matches those.

Let us know what Bobbles is eating so that we can help you see if that is the problem!

[bobbles]

She eats pellets and timothy hay. She has veggies every once in a while and the carrots are her favorite. She has been pooping and peeing after we took the bulit up off her butt, and I have been checking her bum occasionally today. I however ran out of the timothy hay on saturday and was still giving her the carrots. You think the timothy hay could be helping her digest? Thats what I read on a web site(hay will help her become regulated) Her poop looks a little too small still, but she is eating like regular. Her demeaner is the same, and that is what leads me to believe my fiance and I stressed her out the other night.

[BunMumTiff]

HAy and veggies are the most important thing a rabbit should be eatting. Pellets arent so important but good to have. Hay should be given unlimited amounts. Maybe not getting her hay upset her tummy as the hay help to keep things moving along

[bobbles]

Thats what I’m getting from this community. When I got Bobbles I basically did what my friend did. I got Bobbles from her. I had done the research when I got her, but I didnt have a lot of money when I got her; so I did the basics. This commiunity has allowed me to do more for Bobbles with all the good ideas everyone is giving. She thanks you guys for that. Anyways, I read that the hay is best but not sure which kind is the best. I have been giving her timothy hay but I have seen other suggestions. She gets the Kaytee animal planet fortified rabbit food.  She also has romaine lettuce. Havent given veggies since yesterday.

[bobbles]

Oh ya..Anyone have suggestions on how to wash her bum without getting her too wet?

[poopy]

Does she have unlimited hay? If its a good sized bunny it should be eating a little under a pound per day. The more hay they eat, the bigger the poops are. Also with oat hay the poops are larger.

[MooBunnay]

If there are two of you to give her a bum wash together, you could take her over near the sink and run some warm water and just have one erson hold her, and the other splash a little bit of the water onto her bum area. Then at it off with a towel. I think that is how I would do it…however I have not had a bunny with a dirty bum before, so I don’t have too much experience with it!

If she was not able to get her hay, that is definitely what leads to the poopy butt. Bunnie’s poops are retty much just digested hay, thats what gives them their shape an texture. If you can only buy two things for her, make it hay and pellets. Bunnies could even survive on just hay if they really needed too (though they need to transition from a pellet to a pellet free diet) but as soon as she is able to eat hay for 90% of her diet, her poops will definitely go back to normal. I would make sure to keep hay around for her, as changing suddenly from hay to no hay can definitely upset her system!

[Deleted User]

How old is Bobbles? Either way, you will need to hold Bobbles to clean her up … not an easy task I know and can be stressful to both you and bunny. Have someone with you … Are you able to trance bunny by placing bunny on her back … wrap her up in a towel, may be easier. I do this with one of my buns to cut her nails. Some bunnies are easier than others though.

I would try a damp, warm face cloth and place over her butt area and ever so gently dab. This might loosen the stools, then perhaps bunny will clean herself up. I would not pull at the hair as its probably hurting her and she is getting upset. (Just like when you have knots in your hair and someone is pulling a comb through … Ouch!).

Yes, the hay in a bunny’s diet is very important … I would cease the carrots as too much can cause problems. Concentrate on unlimited good quality hay, plenty of fresh water, leafy greens (if she is able to take those, the greenier leaf type the better) and no treats, including carrot/apple. Are the pellets you providing bunny have bits of nuts/fruit or other form in them … if they are, I would cease those and purchase some good quality rabbit pellets.

Hope my five cents is somewhat helpful!

Dawn
xx

[bobbles]

Bobbles and I appreciate all the help. Bobbles however will not let me put her into a trance. She wiggles round so much even when I rap her up in the blanket. My fiance and I have been cleaning her bum and the problem is almost gone. I have stopped the carrots but I have to wait till tomorrow to pick up the hay. She’s poopng and peeing reglar(good sign)

Bobbles is 1.5 years old and cute as can be. I did look at the habitats on the site and saw some pretty cute rabbits, and saw some cool houses. I cant wait till I can make her one.

[BinkyBunny]

It’s good you have stopped the carrots.  They are okay, but only as small treat as they are high in sugar.

How is your bunny doing now?

I have to give Bailey a bum wash almost everyday because of her spine issue and now her weakness in back legs.   She is just so used to it, that when I put her bum under the water faucet, she just quietly lies there until I’m finished.    In the beginning it took both my husband and myself.   One to hold her, while the other cleaned.   We would basically hold her as upright as possible and put her bum under a  faucet with luke warm, low – medium flowing water.  We kept her upright to prevent too much of her back from getting wet.  

I have also found that paper towels  soak up the wetness afterwards really well.  Better than our towels.

[bobbles]

I want to thank everyone for your advice. As does Bobbles. She is doing much better and her food options has expanded to parsley, cilantro, romaine lettuce, pellets and hay. I looked for mint but wasnt able to find it. Went to Super Target. I got her the hay and it looked like a different product. It even had differen name on it…Timothy Hay-Kob. Is there a problem with the Kob added at the end? Is it an additive?

[BinkyBunny]

The ingredients should be printed somewhere on the label, so just make sure it’s only Timothy Hay. : )

UPDATE:  I just did a quick search about it – couldn’t find any additives – so it’s probably fine. If you don’t see ingredients and are still wondering, there should be a phone number somewhere on the label and you can call.

[Hedi]

I have found Target to be the cheapest for Timothy Hay. I think that ka-bob is when it is in small cubes? Is it in cubes or just loose hay?

If your bun is 1.5yo then I would guess she is around 5lb or so? Is that right?

Make sure the lettuce you are giving her is Romaine and not the Iceburg lettuce because that will give her diarrhea. I know my buns love the cilantro, flat leaf parsley, a little kale. They are not big fans of the collard or spinach greens.

Rabbits can have 1 tsp of treats per 5lb body weight. So that would include carrots, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, rasberries, sliver of banana, piece of apple, etc. Pretty much any fruit is considered a treat. And carrots because they are so high in sugar are considered a treat. So once you do get her diet straightened out you may want to just give her a carrot every other day and consider trying other fruits as treats.

[Author]

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