Foods and bath?

[Toby Da Bunny]

Hey guys, so I have 2 questions. Toby is now old enough to start having veggies in the diet. What veggies should I give her every day and how much of it? I know spinach is bad.. and she doesn’t like cilantro or carrots. Should I just do a bowl of romaine lettuce twice a day and some pellets? Now for my other question, her bottom gets filthy. Like it’s always all yellow with dried pee and occasionally poop in her fur and feet. I tried washing but she hates it so much and her feet never really dry for a long time so I’m not sure what to do about that. Her fur is so fluffy all the hay always gets stuck in it along with everything else of course I wouldn’t bathe her feet or bottom if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.. but if I don’t, it just stays filthy. Any tips?

[DanaNM]

Regarding her dirty bum, what is her bedding situation? How often do you clean the box? And what flooring is in her cage? It’s normal for white bunnies to have yellow feet, but if she has soft poops sticking to her or a lot of mess, that could mean an issue with her diet (maybe too many pellets or treats), or unclean living conditions….

Rather than always giving bum baths (as it is very important to keep her dry), you can try using cornstarch to comb out the mess. It absorbs the pee and makes it possible to comb it out, and would also probably help with the poop.

As far as veggies, romaine is a good starter. Sometimes it takes bunnies a little while to try a new thing, so even if she doesn’t eat it right away, keep offering it. Not sure of her weight (which will determine the total amount she should have), but start with a small amount, and see how her tummy handles it. If poops seem normal, you can increase the amount a bit, and feed that same veggie for the week. The following week, continue with the first veggie, but add in a little of a different one, and repeat the same process.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Deleted User]

Don’t feed her anything high in sugar, like carrots, peppers, or fruit, until she’s 6 months old. The key to starting greens is to take it slow. Start with just 2-3 leaves of romaine (check where it was grown due to the recent e-coli fiasco) and give that just once for 3 days and monitor her poops. If her poops are fine you can move on to something else like spinach, boston lettuce, or collards and feed a small amount for again 3 days and monitor her poops. Do this each time you add a new veggie.

The pee stained bottom isn’t a huge concern because she’s white, which means it’s going to show. My boys are always tinged yellow because they have white bums. They aren’t soaked in pee, but they are yellow tinted just because they have white fur in that area. So that’s totally normal. If the poop that is getting stuck is normal poops, you can just easily pluck those and the hay out with your hands. If it gets to be too much, a vet can do a sanitary shave. If the poop that’s stuck is soft poos, you’ll want to reconsider her diet and change the amount of food you give her or the type of food you give her. Again, a vet can easily do a quick sanitary shave to trim it off. No need for bum baths

[Toby Da Bunny]

Thank you so much! As for the cage it has no bedding for now because it would always get stuck to her fur. There is just a litter box in it and her bowl. I clean it out every day so she’s not stepping in her poop and usually the poop that gets stuck to her is the rare times that she makes soft poops. Other than that it’s mostly just pee

[Deleted User]

You don’t use litter? Have you tried wood pellets? You can go to any farm supply store and find wood-based litter pellets. They may be labeled as equine, or horse, pellets. They’re very cheap, like $5 or $6 for a 40lb bag. They are really absorbent and most people prefer them to paper bedding, since it often just gets soppy when soaked with pee. I really think you should use litter in the tray, she shouldn’t be standing in just pee because buns can get urine scald.

Toby is a girl?!

[Toby Da Bunny]

She pees in the litter box! The only thing on the tray is some poops and hay. But she knows where to pee, i will look into the wood pellets but won’t they get stuck in her fur? Anything and everything gets stuck in there especially little pieces of things (paper bedding, hay) I need to get a litter box that doesn’t require her to stand in her pee

Yes! The stupid breeder told me she was a boy. Obviously she had no clue because it was too soon to even tell. So I named her Toby and 2 months later the vet says it’s a girl ?

[Deleted User]

Get a litter box with a grate over it. This will help a ton. Wood pellets are amazing because they cut down on the stench and the cleaning. Honestly, all I have to do is dump the litter and just go over the box with a paper towel and it’s clean in 2 minutes. There’s a really good option through the Binky Bunny store for a litter box with a mesh top, which my boys love cause I stick their hay in there too. But another one I really recommend is the Ware Jumbo litter box because the grate will stop her from getting anything on her bum.

[Wick & Fable]

I did a home-made litter box with grate using plastic canvas (plastic knitting mesh). You can click on my profile >> Albums to see it. Personally I use small granule litter, which is annoying because I can’t just dump the whole thing (wasteful), but I don’t have to buy it very often since I can just scoop out what was soiled.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[kurottabun]

I second everyone else. I use a litter box with a grate and wood pellets myself. I don’t dump out the whole box of litter when I clean though – Kurotta has a favourite corner to do his business in the litter box, and since wood pellets expand after the pee is absorbed, I can see which are the soiled areas and just scoop those up.

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