Dirty bum?

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littl3red

littl3red

Ashtin - Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
661
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Location
Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Okay, Teddy's bum has gotten out of hand. Hay sticks to it, poo gets stuck to it, and it's matted from before I even got her. And I would just brush it all out, but 1) that would take too long, 2) it's a very temporary solution, and 3) she also has stains from what I assume to be pee that will, obviously, not brush out, not only on her bum, but also the bottom of her feet. I don't know what to do at this point except cut or shave it. Any suggestions on how to do this without hurting her/scaring her/making her look too weird? (Alternatives to shaving are also welcome, but I would prefer not to have to bathe her constantly...)
 
Quite often I can 'pluck' Mikey's mats out of his butt without it bothering him. I didn't think it was possible, but a friend showed me how and darn if it didn't work!

Cutting them out is really hard and dangerous, really easy to catch the skin.


sas :bunnydance:
 
She is litter box trained when it comes to urine. She is housed in a store-bought cage (moving up to an x-pen when I get my next paycheck) and she, for the most part, only leaves droppings in her cage, but not necessarily the litter box.
 
I managed to brush out some of the mess on her bum. There was one spot near her tail that I had to cut out, it was a dried up poo clump that's been bothering me since I got her. That alone took me almost 5 minutes because I was so scared I would hurt her. :( Luckily, beyond making a point of showing me she did NOT like her new 'do immediately after I put her down, I don't think she's too mad. :) Still, there's the issue of the staining on her feet, and prevention. I can brush out her hair every day, but it would still be better if things didn't get tangled in her fur in the first place.
 
Be very careful removing fur from the bottoms of the feet because it can end up in sore hocks. If it is just staining I would let it moult out.

When I first got Cinderella she was too chubby to clean properly, so I shaved her bum area with clippers. I had a guard on it to protect her skin, but it really helped keep things clean until she could drop some weight.
 
Rabbits that have white on them will almost always be stained in those areas. Even rabbits that do not have any white on them you will still be able to see the stains. This sight sells EVERYTHING for rabbits. https://www.bunnyrabbit.com/brcom.html. The people who own it are really nice and helpfull as well. (I see them at all of the rabbit shows that I go to.) They sell something on the sight that is a water less bath. It works really well as well.
 
Long haired buns do require maintenance down there.

I check Agnes bum everyday. If you stay on top of them they are fairly easy to control.

I've only had trouble once and it was when she had some mushy poop. Otherwise it's easy to just pick out any mats or poop. Is Teddy having some poop issues?

Since Teddy has white you will notice some peeing stains now and again. If it's really bad, try baby wipes but otherwise it's just something you might have to live with and it will moult out eventually.

I keep Agnes groomed down there so it is fairly easy to comb it out
 
She's not having problems with poop right now, she just has such a fuzzy butt everything gets tangled in it. Hay is a big problem because it comes out as she hops around and gets all over my room. I feel like my mom had a trimmer thing for our dog that was like a comb with a razor inside of it, it's kinda hard to explain, but I think I should be able to trim her fur with it and I don't think I could cut her if I tried. Worst that would happen is she'd get poked by the comb ends, and it's not like they're sharp. If I could just find it...
 
Who could do that for me? A vet? I live in The Middle of Nowhere, Kansas, USA, so I don't have a ton of options. :grumpy: Being a farm town, we DO have a lot of rabbits, but an odd lack of rabbit-savvy vets.
 
Ashtin, the reason your farm town doesn't have rabbit-savvy vets is because they're more like livestock. I have the same thing here, unfortunately. Usually in farming communities, sick rabbits rarely (if ever) got to a vet.

My big French Lop doe, Cher, has a HORRIBLE butt problem! One, she's so big I think she has trouble cleaning that area. And the other problem is her poop balls are more like boulders so don't go through the cage floor. When I got her, she was a mess. I trimmed, washed (with her butt hanging over the grooming table and dripping wet washcloths) as much out as I could. Then I clipped as much as possible through the big messy matted fur. When she molted, the hair that I didn't clip came out in a big clump.

For her, I replaced the wire on the floor with 1"x1" wire (so most of her poops fall through). Yours is litter trained, so you'll probably just have to keep cleaning the bum every day.
 
Yeah, that's what I figured I'd have to do. :sigh: At least she doesn't have the really bad mats anymore. I remember that was one of the features on her card at the shelter. "Features: Lopped ears. Matted fur." Awesome. I managed to get them all out shortly after I got her though.
 
My Daisy tends to get poopy butt quite often. I bought puppy shampoo which I dilute with water and wash her bum. Rinse it very well then pat the areadry.

I spoke with my Exotic Vet, she said it was fine to use the shampoo. The vet had to shave her a few months ago when she had a very bad bladder infection, she nicked her in a couple of spots. That just made it very clear I will not try to shave her fur. If a Vet who's done it numerous times can nick the skin can you imagine the mess I could do.:confused2:

Susan:weee:
 
Some bun's bums seem to need a bit of cleaning. Once it the hair is matted badly I say cutting it is best. Be careful! Use safety scissors (the rounded ends keep you from stabbing your bun should decide to move suddenly. Always make sure you have something between the skin and the scissors (I used my fingers and a comb, when one of my buns had an issue). Also no need to cut it very short, just enough so you can break apart the mat with your fingers.

I have also heard of people using cornstarch to dry the mat and help with breaking it apart, but have not tried that myself.
 
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