scent glands?

[patches2593]

so i just heard about cleaning scent glands on rabbits near their butts. does anyone do this? is there a specific age to start cleaning it? do you have to? i had another rabbit for a few years and i never cleaned his. can anyone give me information on this? :?

 

[MiniLopHop]

I check scent glands every six months and clean them if they are gunked up. It's a stinky job, but not too terrible. It only takes a minute.

Look on either side of their private area, there is a slit on each side. If it is full of dark stuff then take a saline damp q-tip and wipe it out.

Some rabbits really get them clogged and others not so much.

 

[Samara]

I never had any problems with scent glands till I adopted Molly. She was a retired breeder but in a sorry sort when we picked her up.

I gave her a gentle bath, cleaned up her fur and took out the mats, checked her teeth, cleaned her ears, clipped the terribly long nails and checked her bum. Her scent glands were FULL of gunk. It took 15, 20 minutes to clean her up just in that area.

I don't know if she's prone to it, or if it was just neglect, but so far it hasn't built back up.

 

[patches2593]

how do you know though if you need to? will they seem irritated? i tried to find it but it just looked like skin covered with a flap. if it was it, then it was extrremely clean.

 

[MarisaAndToby]

I've checked Toby's a few times... I've had him for almost a year (April 3rd!!) and have yet to have to clean them. He's a clean boy!

 

[patches2593]

same with me! i got mine the day before Easter this year and he was a months old but under a year and i never cleaned his. i didn't even know they had glands except for the one under his chin which he does SOOOO much!!!

 

[MiniLopHop]

If it just looks like pink skin under the flap then there is nothing to clean

 

[Tessa]

I just saw a tutorial of how to do this on YouTube. How often do you have to clean them? I bet I can pay my vet to do it!

 

[kmaben]

Just depends on your rabbit. I've had Kai 7 months and never once had to do it. Franklin on the other hand I clean his every couple of weeks. It's not ever too terribly bad just a little layer of gunk. When you think about it check it out.

 

[missyscove]

It seems to me that they might be more of an issue in unaltered rabbits and in rabbits that live near other rabbits and spend lots of time marking their territory. I'm sure you could pay your vet to do it, but I think it's a simple enough thing to do yourself without causing any harm and then you can spend your money on something more enjoyable.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I haven't seen any reason to do this, even with my unaltered rabbits. They keep themselves clean.

 

[LakeCondo]

It's not something they really can clean themselves. Some rabbits may never need it, but they should be checked just in case.