My girl's making a strange smell :S

[Lily23]

Hi there! I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this query as I'm starting to get quite concerned!

I have a girl dwarf lop, she's 5 1/2 months and VERY hormonal. Every now and then I smell an awful oniony/garlicy/BO smell coming from her, I'm pretty sure it's from her bottom. I thought at first it was to do with her hormones, maybe a form or scent marking or something, but I couldn't find anything on the internet to suggest it was anything other than a life threatening infection!!

She's an indoor rabbit, has a great diet, gets spoilt rotten with lots of excerise, play and affection andis a very happy, playful, friendly andcontent rabbit. Her hormones are just driving her crazy at the minute!

I hope someone can help me!

Thanks, Nicky.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

It's her scent glands.

Rabbits have scent glands under their chin, in their vent area and internally where they optionally scent poos.

She's marking you or something when you smell this.

My Bo nearly killed me when he was that age! he marked me all the time - poos all over mommy! YUCK!

Funny, I've always described that smell as rotten onions and garlic LOL!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Here's a thread on scent glands. Some expanation on how to clean them. If you're not comfortable doing it, you can have your vet do it. I've not had to do it, so I don't have any tips, sorry. I've heard to try and do it near an open window though, lol.:yuck

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=30443&forum_id=16&highlight=scent+glands

 

[Bo B Bunny]

yeah, and cleaning those external scent glands give a whole new meaning to scent glands from what you smell now..... OMg I wanted to DIE when we cleaned Bo's. It made the scent of the onion/garlic stuff smell like roses in comparison..... ew

 

[Phinnsmommy]

Hehe, i've never had a problem with my guys' scent glands.

But I wanted to ask if you've looked into Spaying her to get rid of those hormones ?

 

[Lily23]

Thankyou so much for your help guys! It's put my mind at rest anyway.

Yes I'm definately going to get her spayed! Just she's not quite old enough yet and I'm going on holiday for a week at the end of the month and I don't want to leave her after having a huge operation! I can't wait to get rid of this smell tho eugh!!



Thanks again!

Nic x

 

[Flick]

It's possible that she's passing gas. I couldn't believe the odor in the room where my neutered boy hangs out. I cleaned everything and still the odor was there drifting into the family room. I was ready to clean his scent glands, took a big breath, flipped him over, and started breathing shallowly since I'd been warned about the smell. But, the smell was no worse even when I put my nose very close to his scent glands (not a fun thing to do no matter what the situation). Well, that made no sense. I should have been gagging from the odor, but there was no odor, really.

Later, I noticed the smell, again. It seemed to be wafting up to me. I looked under the computer table and there he was, sound asleep. Hmmmmmm. Started paying closer attention to when the odor seemed worse and where he was at the time.

We now call him the Farterator! He's Farterrific! Through trial and error, I've found that APD pellets reduces his vaporous eminations to virtually zero. I also watch his veggies. Kale seems to cause him to become farterocious. I keep some ProBios on hand and it helps to settle his gaseous displays, too.

Passing gas is a good thing! I'm glad that his gas passer works so well, but he was making my eyes burn and water and giving me headaches, but more than that, it signals an upset in the digestive system.