Odd evidence of wetness in Pip’s lower jaw fur

[MimzMum]

Well this one has me stumped.

Pip is a voracious eater. All her hay is gone twice a day and she also is ravenous for her treat cookie after cleanup. She has no qulams about chewing…including my fingers if they get too near.

However, as her facial fur continues to grow and lengthen, giving her those lovely lionhead whiskers that we can all be proud of, they appear as if they have been wet at the ends…you can see the fur matted together the way it does when it’s been in water. Now she drinks from a bottle, not a crock, or I’d think it was because she’d dipped just the ends in the water dish. There is no sign whatsoever of drool from her mouth and her chin is dry. So I am pretty convinced it’s not a tooth problem.

Is it possible she’s just catching these whiskers on the end of her bottle spigot? Or could she just not be drying them properly after washing her face? All her other fur is immaculate. Why would just these tips of her facial whiskers (on the lower jaw) be stuck together? Should I try trimming them? I’d really hate to do that.

This has been going on for about two weeks, btw, and it’s not every day.

Opinions?

[jerseygirl]

Weird. I would go with the spigot theory too. Is there drips below the bottle too? Just thinking if she knocks it with her whiskers/whispers then maybe they’d be drips on the floor too. It’s kind of like if you have long hair and in dips in the soup. Also check for pee puddles outside of her litter box I guess.

[Monkeybun]

Do you give her wet veggies at all? Monkey’s whiskers get wet when she has her veggies every day… but then she spends a heck of a long time drying off.

[bunnytowne]

Hmm wet vegies  good thought.    Cotton has a bowl but his whole mouth area is wet after he drinks and he cleans but doesn’t get it all. 

It isn’t matted tho.   The hair on top his hind feet are matted I tried to brush them out to no avail.  

Hmm can you comb it out?  I know you do not want to trim it.   Ah the big question will she let you try to comb it out.

[MimzMum]

lol…You have her attitude spot on there, BT, no she doesn’t even want me touching anywhere near her mouth. ^_^ Uppity bunny.

Yeah, I’ve seen her get really messy with her greens, but I haven’t given them to her for awhile. Her bottle drips terribly, I do need to get her some new ones or some new washers for her bottles. It’s really annoying.
Does anyone know where I could get washers for my bunny bottles? I am afraid to use ones I find at the plumbing store. They could have some kind of nasty residue on them that I may not be able to get completely off them.
It’s so funny, she had some long wisps of hair when we got her, but over the years the half mane has gotten long enough to fall in a shock over one eye and the facial hairs are MUCH longer just recently. I have to wonder why the sudden growth spurt?
Yeah, the matted fur doesn’t get too bad, it does just look like she’s dipping her fur in something wet. Nothing dribbling outside her litter box either, so….*shrugs*

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

hmmm the wet veggies sounds reasonable to me?

No idea on the water bottle cleaners-here’s what I always do/did (dont use em too much) I put a squirt of dish soap in it. Then I put it directly under the tap and turn the tap on hot-at between ‘on’ and a dribble-and let it sit for about fifteen minutes-then do much rinsing. So it basically cleans itself-if that makes sense-it’s kind of a waste of water-I’m more lazy then ‘green’ But it totally works

I needed water bottle scrubbers for my guinea pigs-because you have to put vit c in the water and they get scuzzy-we bought them in a petstore but I bet the cleanest source is lab bottle scrubbies-they cannot have any residue on them as that would compromise the studies-http://www.justmanbrush.com/

[MimzMum]

So even light dishsoap is not safe to use on water bottles, spigots and washers, even if you rinse thoroughly? 0_o But the washers get slimy even with only bottled water in them.
Should I just wash them with water/vinegar then? I’ve been using a thin soap and water mixture and then a heavy rinse for the last two years.
I also have a large supply of the bottles, so I can rotate them and not use the same one for more than a few days in a row.

…Now I have to wonder if may be this is what’s affecting Mimzy’s nose? Maybe he can still smell the soap? o_O

[jerseygirl]

So even light dishsoap is not safe to use on water bottles, spigots and washers, even if you rinse thoroughly? 0_o But the washers get slimy even with only bottled water in them.

I think K&K was referring to in Lab situations they have specific cleaning regime. For us everyday pet people, dish soap should be fine. The manufacturers themselves probably recommend this. Personally, I think a vinegar/water rinse after soap will help. I use straight vinegar as a rinse aid in the dishwasher and it works fab.

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