Poop stuck to my rabbits bum!

[BobbyBunny]

My rabbit has some poo stuck to his bum that he doesn’t seem to be getting off himself, he is not overweight so doesn’t struggle to reach, I was just wondering what I could do to help. However he does not like being handled that much especially since he got neutered last month he has become abit jumpy if you go near his back end, what can I do? I managed to get a big clump off earlier when he was eating but I can’t get to the other parts easily?

[MeketatenBun]

My bunny has had the same thing for as long as I can remember. What are you feeding your bunny? Sometimes if a rabbit eats a mostly-pellet or a lot of sugary foods (fruit) diet they can have softer poops that stick to their bum. Slowly weening him down to 1/8th cup of pellets and eating mostly timothy hay might help to firm things up.

In the mean time, however, sometimes using alcohol/scent-free baby wipes can get the poop dislodged, but if you feel iffy about using baby-wipes even a rag or paper towel with warm water could help. If you’re having a LOT of trouble, you could try soaking his bum in about an inch of water in an old litter pan or similar box structure. I say this is a last resort because many bunnies don’t like the water, but if it’s shallow enough to just get his bum soaking it shouldn’t be too bad.

When Meki is fidgety and doesn’t let me flip her to get the poo off, sometimes I’ll just distract her by having someone pet her face and cheeks while I go ’round back and lift up her butt-skirt with one hand and get to the poo with the other. If all else fails, it may be best to get a buddy so one of you can hold him upside down and calm him while the other gets the poo off. With two pairs of hands working on it, it should go by faster for him to not be in such a position as well.

[Bam]

Agree that hay is the best remedy for this. You can give a butt-bath if his neuter-incisions are properly healed. There are instructions on how to give a butt bath on the BB info page. I have had to use more than 1 inch of lukewarm water, I have one bunny who used to have quite a bit of this type of problem. A change of diet fixed it – but it did take a LONG time, and when he relapses, I immediately put him on only hay and water for 24 hours.

An over-procuction of cecals is not uncommon and may be due to too rich food or an imbalance in the intestinal flora for som other reason. Some rabbits are prone to this problems, other rabbits (like my other one) have tummies like feral goats.

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