HELP! asap.

[whitelop]

I just had to give Foo a butt bath because shes so stained with litter and pee and what have you.
As I was drying her off and cutting her nails, I noticed that she needs to have all that fur cut away.
I have little scissors but I don't know how to go about cutting the fur.

How do I hold her down? How do I wrap a towel around her to get her to stay still?
She is in my lap RIGHT now, so I'm literally about to trim her butt fur, so any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated. ASAP!

Thanks y'all!

 

[JBun]

Personally, I'm terrified of using scissors on my buns and accidentally trimming too close to the skin. Do you have electric hair clippers, for people or animals? Those would work better and be safer. If not, I would pinch some fur between two fingers and trim above the fingers so there's no chance of cutting her skin. Or you could wait and pay a groomer to do it.

 

[missyscove]

Are you just cutting it because it's stained? I would just let it grow out personally.

I wouldn't feel comfortable holding and using scissors on my rabbit at the same time. Get someone to help you.

 

[miverson]

Yeah as everyone else said this is probably a two person job. Get a friend or family member to help. If it isn't hurting her I would wait it out. Rabbits are pretty good at cleaning themselves

 

[whitelop]

No I'm not just cutting it because its stained. Its matted and her skin looks kind of red in the folds (I guess thats what it would be, a fold?)

I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow and get them to shave her or do whatever they need to do. I don't know if she can groom herself the way she should be able to, because her whole butt/tail area is matted and stained yellow. I don't think she is dribbling urine, but I could be wrong.

But there is something not right and I'll be taking her to the vet, hopefully tomorrow.
I feel like such a bad bunny mom.

 

[napagirl]

Don't feel bad... I had a rabbit about 15yrs ago that this happened to. I have no idea why, but he suddenly became soiled. I also washed him, and did my best to trim the fur. You REALLY have to be careful trimming... I'd leave it to the vet. You can nip a small area of skin and not know it, then an abscess occurs with major infection. This happened to me with my adult cat, and I felt HORRIBLE. Fortunately, she was fine after a $500 vet visit. With a rabbit, it is way worse... they don't tolerate insult well.

Excellent choice to be vet-bound. She could have bowel issues because of diet. I had one rabbit with staining that had sustained an internal hairball. Sorry, not to scare you, but he had to be put down. Hairballs are a real issue for some rabbits, but that is prolly on a more uncommon list.

I pray your bun bun is healed up fast, and report back on what the vet says...

 

[whitelop]

I really hope its nothing like a hairball. I hope its nothing serious. I'm like a nervous wreck right now thinking about what it could be. I'm kind of just hoping that she isn't cleaning herself right.

I just rigged the litter box so she won't be touching the litter. I wasn't able to find the lighting grate stuff that other people use in their boxes, I looked last week.
So tonight, I just put a cookie cooling rack on top of her litter box. It doesn't look pretty, but it will keep her off the litter until I can find something to put in there for real.

I'm making an appointment for the vet first thing in the morning.

 

[Imbrium]

could you not find it in the store or do they just not sell it for sure? if you asked for eggcrate, there's a good chance they wouldn't know WTF you were talking about - it's better to ask for lighting diffusers or just scour the lighting dept yourself.

if they absolutely don't have it, it's possible to fashion a metal grate out of hardware cloth, though I found it hard to get the corners to fit since you can't just clip a couple squares out like you can with the eggcrate. the edges are also quite pointy but if you leave extra on the sides, you can bend it down so that it hides the pointy bits from the rabbits and provides some lift to it (akin to the legs you'd make for eggcrate).

I hope all goes well for your girl at the vet tomorrow!

 

[whitelop]

They didn't have it at the store. I went to lowes and they didn't have it. I also couldn't find NIC cubes there or at walmart. I'm going to have to order the NIC cubes.
Its like ALL these people use THESE things for their rabbits, we all live in different towns and states, but ALL of you guys use it and don't have problems finding any of it. But in my little podunk town, I can't find any of it! I have to order it.
She is getting on the cookie rack thats on top of her cage. hahaha. I wasn't sure if she was going to get on it, but she is. I'll figure something else out though.

Thanks for the well wishes for Foo.

 

[whitelop]

Wow, as I re-read that, its a little hostile. Sorry about that!

 

[Imbrium]

it's ok, you're frustrated... very understandable when you're worried about your little bunny on top of being cranky that your little town doesn't have any of the good stuff!

I'm kinda surprised lowe's didn't have it, guess they suck, heh. kinda like my home depot and not carrying the 4'x8' sheets of really cheap coroplast that ldoerr's always talking about. that irked the hell out of me because I live less than three hours away and am in a bigger city - you'd think my home depot would have it too, but nope.

most walmarts don't have the NIC cubes in store, only online - I live in San Antonio and even the walmarts here don't have them. WTF. if you have sears, I highly recommend ordering online/doing site-to-store - you can do the same thing w/walmart, but walmart is a good bit more expensive AND it's only 17 grids while sears' is 23.

 

[whitelop]

Yes, sears was my thought for ordering nic cubes. Everyone says its the best price. I just think its stupid that they only sell some stuff online.
Anyways the vet opens at 7:30 so that's when I'll be calling. Im just so nervous.

 

[Imbrium]

well, sears does have them in store at many locations... it's $21.99 for 23 panels instead of $17.59, though. you can go to the page for the item and click on "store pickup" and it'll show if there are any currently in stock at a store in your area. it remembers my zipcode now and I don't remember exactly how it went the first time, but I assume I was prompted to enter my zipcode.

here's the link to the sears cubes:
http://www.sears.com/stor-floor-sta...p-00913332000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

btw, if they have 'em in stock locally and you go to the store instead of doing site-to-store because you'd rather pay a little more than wait, they most likely won't know WTF you're talking about if you ask for storage cubes... and even if they do they probably won't know where to find them. it took like three employees to finally figure out where in the store to take me. ask for garage shelving instead, that's the department the storage cubes "belong" to

 

[missyscove]

I use the plastic crossstitch screens on my litter boxes. I've seen them in the craft section at walmart as well as at craft stores like Michael's.

Good call with the vet trip. If she's that dirty there's probably a reason she's not keeping herself clean.

 

[whitelop]

No vet trip today, thanks to my husband. (I don't want to talk about it, I'm not very happy today)

Hopefully, I'll be able to take her tomorrow.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed that my husband doesn't wake up tomorrow with his panties in a bunch.

 

[MiniLopHop]

You might want to request a urinalisis. The one time Sophie got all stained under there she was having a bladder infection. She was in the livingroom just laying there and all of a sudden peed! She didn't even stand up. I took her in because it was weird and she had an infection. By the time the antibiotics were done her fur was back to normal.

I use a rabbit resting board, but I got it from ebay so I have no clue where you could get it locally. It is a little wider plastic cover but the mess still goes through the holes. I was afraid the narrow plastic on the lighting grids might hurt Sophie (large bun) or Gary (mini rex prone to sore hocks) feet.