Lingering territorial poop smell… or scent gland cleaning time?

[Wick & Fable]

Fable has always had very… potent, oniony poops. She is spayed, so either it is who she is or being with Wick that makes her still poop those territorial, oniony poops. However, I’ve become more aware of how potent the smell is. Sometimes she’ll leave the litter box and hop over to me and I can smell it very strongly, and I’m unsure if it’s because she’s wafting the scent over to me or if it’s lingering from recent poops. She does poop a lot more and has larger poops than Wick.

Never having to clean a rabbit’s scent glands before, what are the signs? Is there an obvious “funk” I may be smelling from her that isn’t the oniony territorial poop smell? She doesn’t smell like this all the time. I once napped next to her and every time I saw her stomach move/gurgle, I’d get a waft of the scent (I’m assuming they were farts..) and then she ate a cecotrope, so I think it was just circumstantial, but best be safe than sorry and ask the BB community.

She does seem to groom herself fine.

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.

[Louiethebunny]

I haven’t dealt with scent glands yet, but Howcast has a video about cleaning rabbit scent glands. I guess you could just check Fable’s scent glands, it’s apparently pretty obvious when they need to be cleaned.

[Bam]

It’s very easy to clean the glands, if you have someone who can help you hold the bun. Prepare two q-tips with vaseline or veggie oil, have a few clean q-tips for cleaning the oil out of the glands post getting the goo out-if there is any goo. Sit her in the other person’s lap like she was sitting in an armchair. Gently widen the gland slit with your thumb and index finger to have a look. Some buns get hard black stone-like plugs in the glands, some just get a bit of goo and some will have pristine glands. It can of course also vary from occasion to occasion.

I do this every few weeks with Vilde. It’s very undramatic. None of my buns have seemed to mind. 🙂

[DanaNM]

I only had to do Bertha’s glands a few times in her life, and I did start to notice a funky smell when they needed to be done! Like an oniony skunk!

. . . 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.  

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