Messy Bottom

[Ginger-Pond]

Hello! I am a new rabbit owner, having adopted my first rabbit in October.

With my best guess, I think Pond is a Holland lop - a Charlie, to be specific based on his coloring. I've read that Charlie's tend to have digestive problems based on their genes and I have noted some problems the longer I have had Pond.

When I first got Pond, his poop appeared to be fine and though his feet were yellow, the rest of his body was clean. He has been neutered for almost 2 months, and has never sprayed urine. Unfortunately, I have noticed his poops to either be extremely soft and stinky (but they are one long, mushy poop - not what a cecotrope normally looks like) or irregularly shaped, harder poops (which vary from being really small to medium-sized to large). In addition to this, his bottom is always covered in urine - even up to around his tail area. I clean his litterbox constantly and the paper bedding I use seems to absorb pretty well, but he is never clean. I try to clean him with baby wipes and sometimes a dry bath in cornstarch, but his bum goes back to being dirty and wet a few hours later.

He eats Timothy-based pellets (about 1/4 a cup each day) and gets one small rabbit treat each day, along with plenty of Timothy hay. He seems to drink plenty of water as well.

Should I take Pond to the vet? Or change his diet? I'm really at a loss of what to do at this point. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, but the smell and gross bum is starting to worry me.

EDIT: Also, I forgot to mention this, but Pond rarely binkies any more. He's not overweight and gets plenty of time outside his cage. Is this normal?

 

[Watermelons]

I would try decreasing pellets and perhaps splitting the decreased amount to 2 feedings. And enoucrage more hay eating. Ditch the treat as well for now.

 

[Azerane]

I agree with watermelons, decreasing the pellets and removing all treats is a good move. If you're still having troubles you can eliminate everything except hay for about a week to see if there's improvement and then work backwards from there, slowly reintroducing small amounts of his pellets. If he is super sensitive to them it may be worth trying out a different brand.

 

[Christiaan]

I have two bunnies now. My first one doesn't eat pellets. Working on second one now. Here's a great link that I found that helped my bunnies be pellet free. Pellets are like treats to them now.
https://bunnyapproved.com/bunnys-pellet-free-diet/

 

[ladysown]

Holland lop, had since October..guessing you got him between 6-8 weeks old, Charlie.

So he's got a wet bum, seems to be getting worse?
No longer binkies.

That sounds like a rabbit with digestive issues... potentially serious at this point.
He gets plenty of hay. Too little pellets in my opinion.

If you decrease the pellets what will you do to supplement his trace minerals and salt requirements.

That's the big problem I see when people do not feed the correct amount of pelleted feed.... they don't find a way to feed those trace nutrients which are needed for optimal health.

You also need to ask yourself.. if your bunny in generally good physical condition.

if so he may be going through changes due to hormonal levels changing.

 

[flemishwhite]

Hello! I am a new rabbit owner, having adopted my first rabbit in October.



When I first got Pond, his poop appeared to be fine and though his feet were yellow, the rest of his body was clean. He has been neutered for almost 2 months, and has never sprayed urine. Unfortunately, I have noticed his poops to either be extremely soft and stinky (but they are one long, mushy poop - not what a cecotrope normally looks like) or irregularly shaped, harder poops (which vary from being really small to medium-sized to large). In addition to this, his bottom is always covered in urine - even up to around his tail area.

I've had rabbit problems with poop, cecotrope pellets, but never having their bottom covered with urine. The three rabbits I've had...all females...always lift their back end up a little bit before peeing and they don't get any urine on themselves. In my situation, it's easy to say, go see a vet...that's because there are two very close excellent rabbit doctors where I live. I imagine that there's a lot of people in rabbitsonline that don't live near rabbit specialists doctors. There

 

[flemishwhite]

I've had rabbit problems with poop, cecotrope pellets, but never having their bottom covered with urine. The three rabbits I've had...all females...always lift their back end up a little bit before peeing and they don't get any urine on themselves. In my situation, it's easy to say, go see a vet...that's because there are two very close excellent rabbit doctors where I live. I imagine that there's a lot of people in rabbitsonline that don't live near rabbit specialists doctors. However, it's time to see a rabbit vet. This is a good opportunity to meet a rabbit vet and discuss some of their health issues.