Gnawing at her bottom

[Tara Adams]

We have a 3 month old gorgeous dwarf lop who has been chewing at her bottom - it is now all infected.

We have seen the vet twice, she is now on antibiotics and we are cleaning it twice daily however it isn't getting any better and she us only making it worse with chewing on it.

She now looks to have 'wet tail' ... the poor little thing.

She smells horrible too.

She seems happy and is bright, completely cheeky, eating and pooping and if you didn't know any better you wouldn't think anything was wrong with her.

We are taking her to a rabbit specialist vet in a few days - is there anything we can do to help her - it looks awful and so painful.

Has anyone elses rabbit had this?

It is gross but I can post pictures.

Thank you so so much.

 

[JBun]

If she has true wet tail, which is where not just the cecotropes are mushy but the fecal poop(normally round fecal balls)is also watery and/or pudding like, this is a considered an emergency situation in rabbits and you need to get her to a vet immediately. It could be due to the antibiotics particularly if an unsafe antibiotic for rabbits was prescribed, and treatment to stop the diarrhea needs to be started immediately(metronidazole, cholestyramine, fluids, etc) as diarrhea due to enterotoxemia can prove fatal very quickly. If the antibiotic is the cause of the diarrhea it also needs to be stopped as well.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Unsafe_medication/dangerous_antibiotics.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Generalities/Enteritis_en.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/Clostridial_enteritis_rabbits.htm

If the fecal poop is the normal round balls and it's just the cecotropes that are mushy, this could be due to the antibiotics, stress, and/or diet, and isn't quite as critical a situation usually. Often this kind of mushy poop can be corrected by removing any sugary/high carb foods from the diet and making sure the rabbit is eating lots of good quality grass hay.
https://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

I would suspect there is an underlying health problem causing the self mutilating behavior. It could be a skin condition like fur mites or fungal infection, or it could be an internal problem that is causing internal pain and/or discomfort resulting in the self mutilation. Something like a nerve problem, spinal pain, joint pain, really anything internally. Another thing that might be a possibility would be hormones causing extreme sexual frustration.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Mechanical/Mutilation/Selfmutilation.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Mechanical/Mutilation/Mut_doe_en.pdf
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/PhysicalTraumatic/Self_mutilation_rabbits.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/furmite/fur_mite.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Fungal/Fungal_en.htm

The easiest possibility to treat for would be mites with ivermectin, but if it isn't that the other possibilities are likely going to take further testing like xrays and blood tests to try and determine the cause, unless it's hormones causing the behavior.

In the meantime, with the warm weather were you are, fly strike is a severe risk and needs to be carefully checked and monitored for several times a day. Flystrike can occur quickly and be fatal in a matter of hours. You need to ensure flystrike hasn't already occurred.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Myiasis/Miyasis_fly.htm
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/Flystrikedontgetcaughtout.pdf