Poopy butt, baths, nail clipping and hair trimming…..

[Michelle&Lolli]

I think that about covers my questions.  lol 

I have two buns – Eddie a mini lop and lollipop a mini rex.  Lolli has had bouts of poopy butt off and on, but both of them now have it.  I have cut out all treats.  They get their lettuce, pellets, and hay.  I have already tried giving Eddie a bath by myself and it went ok.  I was only able to really clean his skin rather than get the rest of the dried poop out of his fur so I am having a friend who used to be a professional dog and cat groomer come over and help me bathe both of them really well.  I just let him sit in about 2 inches of lukewarm water in the sink.  He hated it of course, but he was actually pretty good considering he’s a biter.  lol

Lolli has had more problems because of her rex skin.  At least I’ve read that rexes have thinner, more sensitive skin so I’m assuming that’s why she tends to get sores so easily.  She has self mutilated herself out of boredom and I ended up having to take her to the vet for sutures.  At that time, they clipped her nails and cleaned up her bum and even clipped her fur in that region a bit shorter.  It wasn’t shaved completely, but shorter.  I really noticed that this helped prevent poop getting stuck in the fur.  Lolli also has a tendency to have more problems i think because she doesn’t like being picked up or held.  So I respect her wishes for the most part.  I try to pick her up every couple of weeks to check her over.  Most of the time she is fine, but then like with her self mutlitation, it was bad by the time I caught it even though I do my best to look her over when she lying around. 

So that’s a bit of background on them.  Now onto my questions:

Would it be better to bathe them in the sink or in the bathtub?  I’ve noticed from other posts, this seems to be a personal choice.  Also, since they both need baths, would be it less stressful for them to let them soak together in the bathtub? 

Any thoughts are using a Dremel on their nails?  Would using one make it any easier to trim their nails on my own?  This doesn’t get done too often because it’s simply too difficult to do a good job on my own.  Usually I am either able to do just the back feet or front feet and then they run from me for the next couple of days.  lol  Eddie flat out fakes the bunny trance.  Yes, that’s right.  I have watched him do it.  Lolli gets a bit too stressed to actually go into it really well.  So both end up fighting me no matter how I try to hold or wrap them or what. 

Sometimes when they have poop stuck in their fur, I just take some small scissors and do my best to cut it out.  Again, this completely depends on how well they are going to stay still for me.   Would buying some grooming shears and trimming their fur in their bum region be worth it? 

To take them to the vet just to get their nail clipped is $22 for both.  I don’t know what they’d charge for bathing and trimming their bum region.  So i’m trying to look for alternatives that might be more of an investment (dremel) but will make their grooming upkeep easier to do and maintain. 

Eddie is 3 and Lolli is 1 1/2 and both are altered. 

 

[Beka27]

You shouldn’t have to bathe them at all. If they are getting poopy butt that often and it’s necessitating frequent bathing, there is something wrong either with their health or more likely, with their diet. Have they had fecal tests for parasites?

What does their diet consist of specifically:
type of greens and in what amounts daily?
type of pellets (alfalfa or timothy) and what amount per day?
type of hay (alfalfa, timothy or other) and approximately how much do they eat a day (one handful, two?)
Any treats at all: including carrots, fruit, raisins, grains, petstore treats, etc.

Nail trimming can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but let’s first get to the bottom of the poopy butt issue.

[Andi]

I’m with Beka and the poopy bum issue.
I have a couple bunnies prone to poopybum, my minilop does when he get’s Banana, even the smallest of pieces. it took a while to see what it was causing his issues.
Suzy-Q is also prone, she is a larger mix bunny (Rex/Angora.. yes that is really the mix) and with her even a 12% pellet is just to much. I put her on Martins less Active and have never had a bum issue again.

So a prone pooy bum bunny may need diet restrictions. Overweight bunnies can also get poo bum as well, and in some cases rabbits with spinal or arthritic issues have problems with poop bum b/c of their lack of mobility.
Try out some different diets, maybe including removing watery or sweet veggies/fruits for a while and push more hay. Trying a low fat pellet as well.

I also have issues with nail clippings, my spouse works different shifts then me, so nail clipping is usually done by myself I would suggest trying to just do small clips yourself, getting the bunnies used to being touched there, even if you just pretend to do it every week, and then praise them after with treats. Practice makes perfect
Also, i know the rescue group i work with has nail clipping by donation of $5 or something. Maybe see if there is a rescue in your area that can point you in the direction of someone who can help you with nails at a much discounted price compaired to the Vet.

[kralspace]

geez, I’m lucky. Lola doesn’t get runny poo, she just can’t get to the cecals sometimes and sitting on them squashes them against her butt.

[MimzMum]

I’ve had to remove all and any treats from Fiver’s diet to ease his poopy butt problems. (mini-rex) Not to mention he is gaining too much weight, which is causing him more difficulty to get to his cecals.
He also has not eaten pellets for over a year. He doesn’t seem to miss them. And I add about a 1/4 cup of canned plain pumpkin to his meal each night to help keep his eliminations firm.

[Michelle&Lolli]

They get unlimited timothy pellets, unlimited timothy hay, and fresh romaine or leaf lettuce. Sometimes I will buy them parsley and cilantro, but they don’t get that on even a weekly basis. They don’t seem to like any vegetables. They were getting way too many treats, but I have eliminated treats once both of them started having problems. Lolli is overweight, Eddie is not. The pellets are “unlimited” in that I give them a scoop that almost fills their bowls and don’t refill until most of it is gone. If it has been sitting there for a couple of days though, I will dump it and give them fresh. But between the hay and the lettuce they don’t tend to eat a lot of pellets.

I am bathing them to remove poop that gets stuck in their fur. I only bathed Eddie once and that was 2 weeks ago. They are not having serious issues. It just seems to come out a bit mushy and then gets smushed into their fur. Like they are too lazy to move when they poop. Cause most of the time, the poops are perfectly formed. They just somehow get smashed into the fur and then stuck. However, this last bout has been more sludgy.

I know what has caused this – fruit and starch based treats. Right now I have eliminated both and am just wanting to get tips on bathing them. I am planning on this bath to be the last by continuing to restrict their diets. Which will be hard cause you all know what little beggars they are. lol

[jerseygirl]

Weight can contribute too of course. When they can’t eat their cecals direct it can get mushed onto their fur sometimes. With the pellets, would you say they consume more when you first put it out and then graze at it over the following days? I thought maybe if they consume more on the first day that this might effect their poop so you’d see fluctuations in poopy butt. Perhap experiment just putting out a little each day, the average of what they eat per day. It keep it more consistant in what they consume daily.

Some bunnies are just sensitive to certain foods. It’s good you’ve identified some of the culprits and hopefully you’ll be seeing an improvement .

Re the Dremel: I have a battery operated trimmer but honestly I don’t use it much. My Doe does ok with it. I’ve used it mainly to smooth of cut nails. You can grind down nails with it but only a bit at a time. You have to take care friction heat does not transfer down the nail. At the end of the day I’d say you still having to pick up at handle the rabbit as often as you would for a nail clip. If you feel more confident at using a grinding tool rather than clippers then it might be the option for you if you want to take care of the nails yourself. Rather than a Dremel, i suggest looking at something like Pedi-Paws. There are previous discussions on those if you want to do a forum search.

[Beka27]

In this case, you may want to consider having the vet do a sanitary shave on both of them. This will remove the excess fur in that area, so while you work out the kinks in the diet, it will make it much easier for cleaning up. For bathing, you’ll want to do each separately, only getting their hind ends in the water. Try the bathroom or kitchen sink (Clean!) and fill with a couple inches of warm water. Have a towel down for traction. Hold the bunny upright against your chest and only wet the butt area. No shampoo or anything is necessary, just water, and work it thru with your hands. Make sure the bunny dries thoroughly before going into a drafty area.

For pellets, “unlimited” is so difficult to judge in terms of what they’re actually eating, and in a bonded pair, who is eating what. Can you a do a little experiment when you have a day or two off work? Feed them a very, very limited amount of pellets. Maybe 1/8 cup each. And just time how long it’s taking them to eat them. Adult rabbits should be able to eat their pellets within the course of 20 minutes (or an hour if they are “grazers”), and then not have anymore until 24 hours later. They don’t need to have access to them around the clock and it’s better that they don’t. I feed pellets in the evening and for my one rabbit who tends to tummy upset, it’s a good indicator as to her state. If she’s racing to get pellets, I know she’s feeling good. If she could care less that it’s pellet-time, I know to keep an eye on her. Limiting pellets will force them to eat even more hay, which is never a bad thing. Especially if you’re dealing with an overweight rabbit, the pellets are going to need to be reduced, and possibly, the bunnies separated for pellet feeding.

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