Cleanliness issue

[Daisy's mom]

My almost 4 yr old Holland Lop bunny, Daisy, is completely litter trained. However, she loves to sit in her litter box. She also does not eat her cecotropes and sits on it and ends up with a disgusting poopy butt almost daily.  I end up cleaning her rear end almost every day. She gets a tad matted from the constant bathing as she also hates to be brushed back there.  I am at my wits end. She is a beautiful, loving bunny. She is indoor only. We made her a custom cage out of an extra large dog crate with 2 levels, all covered in indoor/outdoor carpeting, a large litter box, a hide box and it is surrounded by a very large pen so she can come out and run around.  I also take her outside when the weather is nice. Besides this one issue, she is a wonderful, healthy, loving bun,  She eats a good diet of show quality pellets, timothy hay and fresh greens daily. Fresh water daily. What else can I do? She hates the baths and frankly, so do I…

[Bam]

Show bunny pellets are generally too rich for adult bunnies. They are rich so the bun should plump up and be shown and then bred, long term health and longevity aren’t the main priorities.
“Poopy butt” or “sticky poop” is common in buns that get too rich food and to little fiber. I suggest you cut back a bit on the pelletsand up the hay. Don’t make any radical changes though, bunnies don’t tolerate radical dietary changes well.
Some buns have a hereditary predisposition for poopy butt, and that of course means they are extra sensitive. So it is often a combo between a too rich diet and a sensitive tummy that leads to poopy butt.

[Daisy's mom]

Thanks for the pellet info.  So I can cut that way down and increase her salad and hay. She will have no complaints with that. I did have to clean her again last night and noticed she is a little raw in a small spot on her bottom.  I’m not sure if this is from the poop, the baths, or from sitting in her litter box.  I do dry her pretty well when I bath her.  I keep her wrapped in a towel until she is just slightly damp.  She really does not like to be held so sometimes are more challenging than others. BTW, I do clean the wet litter from her litter box twice a day so I really try to keep that as clean as possible as well. This bunny has me totally perplexed.  Anyone I know who has ever had rabbits has never experienced these problems. Although most of them were kept outdoors and were shorter haired bunnies.  Daisy has a rather long, very thick and fluffy coat which only makes the problems worse. Any good grooming brushes you can recommend?  I’ve tried quite a few and they just seem to go right through the hair without actually removing anything, yet she sheds tons! 

[LBJ10]

I agree with Bam. The pellets are probably the culprit. Are you able to switch to a basic timothy-based pellet like Oxbow?

If your friends’ bunnies lived outdoors, then they may have been burning the extra calories (presuming they were given rich food too) to maintain their body temperature.

Hairbuster comb. It’s the only thing that works on Wooly.

[Bam]

Raw spots can be treated with bag balm or beeswax cream or even vaseline, fat creams like that protect the skin from moisture. If you suspect some type of bacterial infection, you can use a thin layer of plain neosporin cream on the spot (not the neosporin that has an added pain-killer).

Oxbow pellets as LBJ mentions are quality pellets made to fit the needs of pet bunnies – i e bunnies that are kept as companions and most often are de-sexed (show-bunnies are never de-sexed, of course) and living indoors.

Hay is the most important food though and 85% of the daily food intake should be hay. To a human it sounds a bit meagre and dry, but bunny- tummies are like horses’ tummies: made to process large amounts of low-caloric, low-fat, high-fiber grass.

If she’s difficult to keep her clean, you can cut the fur on her hind legs/butt a bit (but be very careful so you don’t nick the skin), just never cut the hair on the feet, buns don’t have padded feet so they need all their feet-hair for protection.

[Daisy's mom]

I’ll get the OxBow pellets next time I go to the store.  The sore spot on her bottom is just red.  The skin just seems a little raw either from the bathing or from sitting in her litter box (on urine wet bedding).  I’ll  use the vaseline and see if it gets better in a few days.  I thought about trimming her hair back there but I am so afraid as the skin is so thin and delicate I’m afraid she will make a quick move and I will nip her!  Let’s hope the dietary changes do the trick!  I just got a kitten that she loves to play with so maybe the increased exercise will help too.  Fingers crossed. 

[Bam]

Fingers crossed! And yes, exercise has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the gut microbiota.
How cute they must look together playing

[LittlePuffyTail]

Instead of bathing, when my bunny gets messy from extra cecals I just dust on some cornstarch to mop up the stickiness and then gently remove the hardened gunk with my fingers or some battery trimmers.

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