Red raw back legs and always wet

[Maximus]

Hi

We moved house last month and the owners left their beloved rabbit with us.  He has a lovely set up, Wendy house with hutch inside and hutch is never closed, he is out in his run all day and get put to bed at 6.  He is the nicest little bunny you could meet and we are very lucky to have him.  The past owners told us he must eat grass all day and must have a small handful of his food at night (Wagg Bunny Brunch) otherwise his tear ducts get blocked.  When i mentioned his bald patch on his back they said it comes and goes with stress so when I noticed his inside back legs were bald I put it down to stress. To cut a long story short, the past owners have not contacted me to see how he’s doing so I contacted them to express my concern over his eating as I felt sorry for him not having nice cabbage or celery etc and she told me that he was not allowed anything other than grass and a small amount of wag.  As he has been dirty since we got him i gave him a shallow bath which he was so good in but didn’t do much to get him clean so I booked in to a local groomers hoping this would make him feel better.  On arrival groomer took one look at our Maximus and told me he needed to see a vet as she though he had wet tail. Vet said he had an infection and he was seriously ill ashe was not eating the poop he should with the nutrients in, daughter started crying and I was trying to hold tears back too.  He gave him an anti biotic injection and some medicine to give mornin and night til we go back next week. He said I should bathe him each day as well.

His symptoms are red raw inside back legs and he is alway wet on his back end, he is otherwise a very alert little bunny.

I have bought him some excel bunny pellets today which he loves and some Timothy Hay.

Can anyone please advice as to what they think is wrong so we can help this very loving little bunny. 

Thanks for reading.

[Sarita]

So glad you took him to the vet – it is possible it is a urinary tract infection or it could be bladder sludge – did the vet do an urinalysis – does this vet have experience with rabbits, do you know?

[james waller]

–thank you for caring about wildlife,,–this is obvious neglect,–it is fixable,-but it will take time-,knowledge.-patience,–here is a link which will give you an enormous boost of confidence– http://www.medirabbit.com  -let us know how the he does…sincerely james waller 

[jerseygirl]

Aw poor little thing! You’ve done right by him though so I hope you see an improvement.

It sounds as if he has urine scald. I’d consider using a barrier cream on his bare skin to protect it.

A rabbit I was looking after last year had this. After giving her back end a wash, we shaved away the soiled fur that was keeping the urine in contact with her skin. This really seemed to help keep her dry. Then I put sudocream on her bald areas. Her skin became a healthier looking pink within a week.

Did the vet indicate whether to wash just the soiled area? You’ll want to be careful with frequent baths as the affected skin will already be so fragile.

If you get a chance, try watch what happens when he goes to urinate. This could give the vet more of a clue as to what’s going on. The rabbit should lift the tail and urine shoot out behind the body at an angle.

If a rabbit doesn’t posture correctly to pee, it may end up running down the legs.
Some reasons for this is arthritis, spine or muscular weakness or injury. Other reasons for urine scald are infection (as mentioned) or bladder stone.

{{{Vibes}}} that he heals well.

[Maximus]

Thank you all so much for replying,

Maximus was given Baytril 2.5% twice daily, started Wednesday and there has been no difference, he is a very happy lively little bunny, but we need to sort out his little sore legs and wet bottom.

Vet said to bathe his back end every day but we have been doing it every other day as we also thought that was too much for him. I will start to use a barrier cream now on his little legs and try and watch him wee. He is due back on Thursday where he will be seen by a different vet, hopefully one who can say more than he is seriously ill!

Maximus loves the Excel rabbit food although he doesn’t like how I am introducing it slowing into his food slowly.

[jerseygirl]

Excel is popular in UK and another is Science Selective. One to keep in mind if the Burgess Excel doesn’t agree with him.

[JK]

Maybe this is a dumb question but is it possible his cage or litter box is wet? I have a bunny that used to drink water nonstop and so his litter box was wetter than normal. I solved that problem by always putting a layer of hay over the pellets so he would not stand in a wet box when eating his hay. Also, I clean it daily. He should definitely be eating a lot of timothy hay as his main diet. Does he have a clean place to sleep? You say he lives in a hutch. Hopefully he is not sitting/sleeping on open wire which is very bad for the feet.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Baytril will take time to work. Infections in bunnies can be stubborn.

((((Feel Better Maximus))))))

[Author]

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