Wobbles and poopy butts

[goneforbaroque]

When I took my 2.5ish year old Flemish/NZ mix to the vet a while back for sniffles, the vet mentioned something interesting that had never occurred to me. She asked if he had ever fallen, and I told her I didn't know since I adopted him at a year old. She said his hind end is particularly unsteady and she was hypothesizing there might be some nerve damage. This made much sense to me because he has never been a graceful rabbit (missing the couch, wiping out while hopping, pivoting on his hind end instead of turning) which I had attributed to him being unfortunately proportioned. I mentioned that he had always had a difficult time grooming himself, especially his rear end and ears since he could never balance enough to grab his ears with both front paws. The vet also said he may not be able to feel when he is sitting in wet litter. My question is: what is the best way to keep his rear end clean? Is there some sort of a washing solution or recommended way to trim hair back there? (He has medium length fine white hair) I clean his scent glands often (they are always crusty due to his inability to reach back there to clean) so I would just add this butt cleaning to his weekly maintenance. Thanks!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have one that goes to the vet to be shaved every other month. Any spot cleaning we usually do with unscented baby wipes. We also put potty pads for her to lay on and took out the litter pan.

 

[goneforbaroque]

Unscented baby wipes sounds like a good idea. He still uses the litter box regularly so I'm hesitant to take it out, plus I'm pretty sure his little friend would absolutely destroy potty pads. Is your rabbit afraid of the electric razor?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Yes, they have to sedate her. Our Checkered Giant doesn't mind it a bit though.

 

[tonyshuman]

You can use a fabric that is comfy and hard to tear apart on top of the pee pads to wick the moisture through. Fake sheepskin or polarfleece-type material is good. They also make something called Palace Pet bedding, which is expensive but great.

I think a butt fur trim might be good. Has the vet ever taken an x-ray? He might have a common condition called spondylosis, which is like arthritis of the spine, with abnormal bone growth that can cause pain and limit mobility. If he has that, he should probably be on long-term pain medicine. A final concern is e cuniculi, which often first presents itself as hind leg weakness and kidney disease/urinary issues, followed by rear end paralysis and progressive damage. It might be helpful to have his EC titer checked. Although the titer itself is not extremely helpful, since nearly every rabbit will test positive for EC, if it is very high it may be indicative of an active EC infection. You could also have his titer checked, treat with an antiparasitic like ponazuril (much preferred for EC due to its ability to enter nervous tissue and destroy the parasite there) or fenbendazole, and then re-ceck his titer to see if there is improvement.

 

[LaylaLop]

I think my 7 week old bunny is just lazy at grooming her rear end since some poops tend to stick in her tail fluff. I gave her a bum-trim today so hopefully that helps!

 

[tonyshuman]

Young bunnies are not so good at cleaning themselves anyway, and they often have a protein-rich diet so they sometimes ignore their cecals, which can get messy.