Sticky bottom success

[northerndancer]

A while ago I posted for some advice on my rabbit Flora who had stickly bottom and had to go to the vet twice for dematting under anaesthetic.

Some of you gave me advice, mostly around focussing on her diet. I have made changes and am pleased to report (although it is early days) that this is now her second week of having a clean, non smelly bottom!:bunnydance: Only another rabbit owner would understand how happy this makes me!!!!!!!!:colors:Thanks for all your advice guys.

Anyway, what I found worked was to cut back gradually on her pellets and increase the ratio of quaker oats to chopped veg, while cutting down the total amounts of everything. Also I stopped feeding a variety of veg and now they just get grated carrot and kale every day. We are now really really strict on treats as well, she just doesnt get any. She still wont eat hay though!

Also we put baby cream on her bottom as the skin was sore initially and now it is all nice and healed. I'll keep going with that as it'll stop poops sticking.

Cheers,

Liz Flora and Northern dancer

 

[cheryl]

whoo hoo now that is great news,its fantastic what a change of diet can do for a bunny,well a clean smelling happy bunny makes for a even happier owner



cheryl

 

[Nadezhda]

Hooray for Proper Poo!
:bunnydance:

 

[tailof2rabbits]

Also we put baby cream on her bottom as the skin was sore initially and now it is all nice and healed. I'll keep going with that as it'll stop poops sticking.

What baby cream? For nappy rashes?
Won't this make her sick if she licks it off?

Have the same problem with my little girl, Mocha. Every other day or so, she gets damp, stinky poop. And her colon's distended maybe a centimeter. It doubles during sticky poop days.

 

[zoecat6]

I had the same problem with my rabbit that had SEVERE poopy butt, it was making me crazy. What I found out through trial and error was that changing her from a alfalfa based pellet, to a timothy based pellet made it go away. I'm using oxbow timothy pellets, they are the best.

Timothy pelletsalso helpedmy flemish giant a lot who has crystals in his urine, which the alfalfa exacerbated.

 

[naturestee]

That's great news! Yay for Flora!

Tailoftworabbits, have you been able to find a decent vet? If Mocha's colon is extending outside her anus, she needs professional help.

 

[tailof2rabbits]

Hey, naturestee. Still looking. I wish it were as easy as it sounds. I found one that seemed okay but he's affiliated with that blasted pet shop that's housing their 3 week old rabbits for sale in a small acquarium and selling fake hotots for PhP8,000 (approximately $150, which is a lot of money here already). I'm not about to see him anytime soon.

She's otherwise very healthy (still doing mad bunny 500s and binkies, especially more so lately) and I'm doing the best I can under the circumstances. I was willing to import all their food supplies before I found out we had an official local distributor. I just feel so frustrated and helpless.

I'm going to try switching her to timothy pellets. Marbles has no problem with the alfalfa pellets but maybe Mocha's just more sensitive. We have none available here in the country so I'll have to ship it in. :sigh I wish I could ship in a good rabbit vet.

 

[northerndancer]

tailof2rabbits wrote:

Also we put baby cream on her bottom as the skin wassore initially and now it is all nice and healed. I'll keep going withthat as it'll stop poops sticking.

What baby cream? For nappy rashes?
Won't this make her sick if she licks it off?

Have the same problem with my little girl, Mocha. Every other day orso, she gets damp, stinky poop. And her colon's distended maybe acentimeter. It doubles during sticky poop days.

So far its been fine, we just put on a little, and the skin is so muchbetter. The vet told us to do that as the skin was very irritatedbefore. He told us one to use that doesnt have any additives oranything its just a plain cream thatI dont thinkwouldharm her if she licked a bit of it. The vetsaid it would stop "build up" of poop on the fur and make it easier toclean her too.

Good luck with Mocha. How long has she had this problem?

ND

 

[Greta]

Yay for Flora!! :woohoo

 

[tailof2rabbits]

thanks, ND. appreciate it. there's no buildupof poop on the fur. they're mostly cecotropes (i think) so they dry upand fall off in their own time. they're just damp and stinky. otherwiseshe's got a clean bottom but i worry about the slight distention.sometimes it stinks. my old vet told me not to worry about thedistention. that's why he's my old vet.

poop's always normal except for after feeding alfalfa pellets, sheoverproduces cecotropes a bit. reducing that gradually. it's killingme. can't find timothy based pellets here. will commute three cities toget to potentially okay vet this weekend or next. just really worriedit'd stress out the bunnies and it'd get worse. they both hatebeing in cabs.

 

[FlopsnWills]

tailof2rabbits, how much pellets is she gettingin one day? how much does she weigh? my mini rex was still gettingaccess cecos at 1/4 cup a day, when i switched him to 1/8.. it stoppedand he's a great weight now.