Matted dirty chin?

[BearKitten]

Hello everyone! I have a young Holland lop who is about to be 5 months old soon, his name is Percival. I’ve been noticing he’s been gradually getting dirty underneath his chin, and the fur seems to look matted. I tried cleaning the area with a warm damp cloth. I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Is it dealing with his scent glands? He doesn’t seem to be drooling and his teeth look really good. How would I go about cleaning it better, while having him in a comfortable position? (Apologies for the bad photo).

Hopefully this made sense, first time on binky bunny. \(O 0 O)/

[Wick & Fable]

That is definitely odd. While his teeth may look good to you, it’s actually typically the back most teeth that cause issues and some drooling, and it is impossible to examine them properly without the proper tools and in most cases putting the rabbit under anesthesia for a bit. I would suggest going to an experienced exotic rabbit vet in order to assess what may be happening.

For both the short and long term, it will be important to find out what’s happening. With just the chin dirtiness and any medical issues aside, having a damp and dirty chin is a welcome territory for bacteria to breed, leading to fungal infections, so it is good that you’re investigating what it may be.

When do you notice his chin gets most wet?  Do you notice him having any challenges grooming himself? I’ve never heard of rabbits having issues with those scent glands.

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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.

[DanaNM]

Looks like staining from juicy veggies to me?  Bun Jovi has a bit of a permanently stained chin from veggies, and Bertha had a part of her dewlap that was just always green lol. But that does seem like an abnormal amount of matting and wetness, so I agree with Wick that could be something dental. Does it ever dry?

 

. . . 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.  

[BearKitten]

He mostly gets wet when he is drinking from his bowl, and at times his fur holds alot of water I noticed. I never seen him drooling but i am worried about him so I will be seeing the vet hopefully this week. Grooming isn’t an issue, but I have seen him trying to groom this particular area, I had a friend (who works at the exotic clinic I take him to)  help me clean his chin, and it was pretty clean for the whole day, until the next morning, it was super dirty again. I even wondered if it is the water/hay mixture though. Im slowly taking away his alfalfa since he is getting to that age (he was originally on alfalfa pellets now on alfalfa hay, it was easier to mix in with his main food, to slowly ease him off), he’s been eating mostly timothy, but sometimes orchard and oat hay. So I wondered if the alfalfa could be dirtying his soaked chin after drinking.

[DanaNM]

hmmm, what is his bowl like? Is it deep? I wonder if he is having to dip his chin in to drink? Maybe a wider shallower bowl might help. Could def be drooling from dental issues though so having the vet check him out is a good idea.

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

From the picture, it does almost look like water and “hay dust”. I know a lot of people don’t like water bottles because bunnies tend to drink less when they have them. But… you might try one to see if his chin is still wet.

[BearKitten]

@DanaNM this is Percy’s bowl, at times it does look like he does dip his chin all the way in so I did question if the bowl was just not his type. But I will be definitely going to the vet, already set up an appointment (for his neuter) I’m just on a waiting list, but I will be mentioning the situation, cause I am very concerned, he seems to be eating normal, but I do know they are great masters of disguise, so I would want to make sure his teeth are well still. And true, I prefer my bunnies drinking in their bowls, but I’m sure switching would probably give me some sort of hint as to what it may be.

[BearKitten]

It’s not allowing me to attach the photo apparently of his drinking bowl apparently.

[DanaNM]

Maybe try a very shallow wide bowl and see if that helps in the meantime? I always notice Bun Jovi drinking the water from the plate I feed veggies on, even though he also has a full water bowl (which he drinks from as well).

I would also check his chin right after feeding his greens. It could be that he’s chewing differently because of something with his teeth, so he’s getting more lettuce juice on his chin as a consequence!

. . . 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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