Dirty Bunny Bottom…

[Ebi]

Hello Bun lovers!

I am happy to find a helpful place like this. I have a new issue with our new buddie. His name is Mocha. We adopted him from a Pet Store to be a companion to our Freckles. Mocha has a dirty bun-bum problem now and I am not sure what triggered it or what to do about it even…. Some history:

Freckles is our first bunny. She is 4 years old and has been spayed for about 2 years now. She’s ahppily adjusted and I think bonded to the cats? HAHAHA Terrified of anything not carpeted and won’t navigate the stairs if her life depended on it. She lives in a luxury 3 story condo with all the hay, green and pellets a bunny could want. She’s incredibly sweet for petting, but too busy to stop and does not like to be held. No biggie… we just let her come to us for her love.

Mocha is a 6 year old bunny. We adopted him from a pet store. We fell in love with him for a few reasons: 1. My husband is a sucker. HAHA 2. He was (and still is) so laid back! 3. He’s older and had been waiting for a home for about a month. We had him checked over by a vet who found a small lump on his right shoulder. Unsure about it, we opted to have it removed. It was just a skin growth. In the process of this surgery we also opted to have him fixed. Not something I think I would have done unless he’d had that growth in question. He seems awfully old for a neutering. ANYWAY, he had good litter habits before. Now he does not. Can’t decide what had triggered it… could it be the neutering? Something worse? All the hair around his tail is filthy and matted. I gave him a shallow bath today, tried to brush him out, blow dried him and trimmed some of the harder mats out. He was AWESOME! I had two small struggles from him. The rest of the time he just laid in my lap and let me mess with him. I was really shocked.

We did start introductions about 2 weeks ago. We started outside. Mocha proved to be the dominent bunny and Freckles easily submitted. Now though (we moved inside) she’s been getting squirted alot because if Mocha does not give her the bunny kisses she wants, she gets a little… antsy? She’s started in on him and he just runs like crazy. Then it seemed like a breakthrough happened (and during this time I began to notice the wetness above Mocha’s tail) and neither of them really fought. They’d eat together okay even. I moved their cages next to each other and they’d lay on either side of there cage closest to each other. And Mocha’s whole backside is now sopping wet and smells awful.

I intend to try some of that cornstarch baby powder for a dry bath but I am very concerned. Is this something more then just a sudden change in litter habits??? It’s not a pleasant job to clean him up and even more difficult to dry him. I didn’t know what else to do at the time though. He needed something.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this and listen to my woes here. I hope someone might have a bit of helpful advice. I am concerned. We’ve only had Mocha about 2 months now. The first month was just him coming to our home, having surgery and recovering. He seems to be handling most everything that happens around him with little to absolutely no agitation. He even goes on vinyl and has tried out the stairs! He loves having bunny kisses and petting more then Freckles even too. Such a sweet guy to be in such a mess…..

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hi and welcome!!

Since I’ve had a beloved girl die from poopy bum, and what your describing sounds as bad as hers was-I’m going to stronly advise you get to a vet as soon as you can manage it.

I found the easiest was a bum bath in the bathroom sink-use pet shampoo-or better rabbit shampoo (but don’t use yours). Clean it throughly and keep him warm after. If you have a hair drier, you can kind of put him down in the corner of a room and blow dry him on ‘cool’ setting, using your hand to fluff the fur and ensure it’s not too hot.

But he does need to go to the vet. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Ebi]

I am going to call the vet on Monday when they open. But I will say that it’s not poopy. It all seems to be urine based to me. Sorry that I didn’t mention that earlier. His stools are all fine… and everywhere… Hehehe… He never was good with all his doodles. I didn’t mind that, just sweep ’em away.

PS! Thanks for that incredibly fast response!!! I was cruising around reading other posts when I got the notice I had a response! hehe… wow…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hmmmm if its definitely pee-maybe he peed and laid in it? Like on a surface like lino?

[Ebi]

Yah know what! He has been moving his towels into a bunch in the corner and won’t lay on them. He’s been on the plywood… I’m gonna see about getting a heavy piece of carpet put down in his pen instead of towels so he can’t move it around.

Still calling the vet just in case. Picked up the cornstarch baby powder today going to do his fuzzy bum now with that. Hehe… Should be interesting…

OH and a side note, I am making a lower to the ground litter box for him out of a cardboard box and some newspapers. I am wondering if his new box is just too tall to get in and out of easy? Once he’s bonded with Freckles they will share the large condo, but for now he’s in a smaller pen are next to the condo. I am going to start rotating them back and forth between the cages next week. Freckles will not like this… hehe…

[Beka27]

that’s a good point. at 6 years old he does count as a senior, so it’s possible he cannot get in and out as easily. if you have the tools to do it, you could also cut out a large notch from the front of the litterbox, just high enough to keep the litter in but so he can step in easily.

[Ebi]

I thought I’d give an update. We’ve been busy with school starting and all…

At any rate, Mocha is doing very well!!! He’s using his new makeshift box like a pro again. He’s no longer burning himself with urine or sitting in it in his cage so his fur is growing back and his back end is not so irritated or wet all the time. PHEW!

It appears that through all of this or what caused all of this is that he has a sore hock! Go figure… That is starting to heal up though too. He’s finally putting on weight now too! He was beginning to make me really nervous about his weight but his appetite must have just been low because he didn’t feel good.

All is looking good again though! YAY! Thanks for all the thoughts and comments on here. Helped me brainstorm his issues a little better.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s great-I’m glad to hear it!!

[BinkyBunny]

Whew! Good to hear it!

[laylalover]

tough one, my layla had a runny poo and then proceeded to roll in it, and squish her bum in it! and she is a long hair bunny so it was TERRIBLY SMELLY! so what i did was this: i got into WITH HER. held her to my body and cleaned her bum gently with the sower head. i ended up sopping wet, but she was absolutely fine. i dried her off with a towle, gave her love and a treat, and she was happy

[Author]

Messages