Messy droppings sticking to fur

[Jelly Fairy]

I have a little Dwarf Lop who's now about 10 weeks old. Just recently I've noticed that she has a lot of soft, sticky droppings stuck in her fur around her rear end. Her hutch is always kept clean, and it's not as though she's sitting in loads of muck. I'm probably being paranoid, but we lost all our old rabbits due to an infection where they ended up with droppings getting stuck to them and then the flesh around their behinds started decaying and smelt foul etc. I don't want my new little baby to suffer the same fate (she's in a new hutch and we've moved house since so no risk of infection from the old ones).

Any ideas what I can do? At the moment I'm just keeping her as clean as I can. Is this quite common? Am I panicking for no reason?

Thanks

 

[polly]

just as a few thoughts have you introduced anything new to her diet like vegetables or anything and how much and what do you feed her? usually if they are getting over fed or fed something that does not agree with them its the first cause of to many sticky poo's.

 

[myheart]

Wow, ten weeks oldis a very young age. Are you feeding too much greens, or any greens at all? I know that their little tummies need time to adjust from mom's milk to solids like pelletsand more time yet to adjust to greens.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=13618&forum_id=17

"Be especially careful with rabbits under the age of six months, as diarrhea in young rabbits can quickly become fatal. Many owners wait until their rabbits are older before they start introducing vegetables."

You might want to poke around through the library a bit to find the right diet for your baby. At this point, I would say to make sure baby stays hydrated, cut out veggies, and consult your vet.Hopefully, other forum members will have other advice to give because messy-butt on a baby can't be good.

myheart

 

[Jelly Fairy]

She's getting a very small amount of proper rabbit dried grass stuff at the moment. Not really sure what to do with her because I don't want to put her outside yet because of how young she is, butI feel bad with her being stuck in her hutch all day.

She's drinking plenty and washing herself lots which I guess is a good sign, and she's pretty perky in herself and always hopping over wanting attention when I go to see her.

 

[Maureen Las]

I would think that she may not getting the proper diet.
Did you take your previous sick bunnies to a vet and get a diagnosis or treatment?

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12046&forum_id=17

Some of the links won't open , however many of them will so maybe you can browse through this.
Was your baby lop with his mom for at least 2 months after he was born?

Babies that are taken away too soon often have digestive and other GI ptoblems.
I really think that you should take your lop to the vet as soon as you can.

 

[Maureen Las]

Please disregard the 2 above links that I mistakenly posted.

Your bun could have an imbalance in his digestive tract caused by too many carbohydrates and protein or possibly have an infection.

 

[Jelly Fairy]

Yep - we took the previous rabbits to the vet but I can't remember what was said as it was a few years ago and my stapdad took them. All I know is that the vet gave us some stuff to try and clean them with.

And yep - she was with her mum for 2 months. From reading threads around this sight I think I'm just being paranoid though. I read that bunnies produce softer 'night droppings' which I think these are (it's not as though she's got really runny poop). Apparently the problem with our last rabbits was that when they sat in the poop and it got stuck to them, it never got cleaned off in time(they were a little wild and not easy to catch), which caused flies to lay eggs in it, resulting in maggots causing decaying bunny bottoms. Wasn't pleasant and in the end we had to have them all put to sleep

At least I can handle Molly though, and she doesn't mind me cleaning her up. There's not an excessive amount either - just one or two droppings.

 

[tonyshuman]

[align=left]ARch I had a great long post but it's gone. I'll put it shortly, then fill it in later while i'm at work.

first, I don't trust your vet. Doesn't sound rabbit-savvy. this problem is either an intestinal parasite, infection, or diet problem, and just giving you something to clean their bums is not good enough, IMHO. try one of these:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

second, here are our links about diarrhea in rabbits:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11935&forum_id=10

Third, maybe someone who lives near you can reccomend a good pellet. it sounds like you're from the UK (dialect), and there are different brands of pellets there so i'd start a thread in the nutrition and behavior section calling for the help of people in your country finding a good diet for her. a rabbit-savvy vet could help you do that too.

4th, i hope she gets better!
[/align]

 

[Maureen Las]

Hi jelly fairy

it sounds like you're a younger person and all this information is hard to take in at once.
if you stay on the forum you can learn a lot about rabbits.

The problem with the maggots called 'flystirke" is areally and horribly painful and terrible condition for a rabbit to have.
We can help you so that doesn't happen again.

Do you take care of you rabbits yourself or are your parents also helping you?

If your parents are paying for the rabbit supplies and also the vet maybe you could ask them to read the things that we are sending you.
Please keep us up-dated on you little lop..we don't want anything to happen to him.

 

[Jelly Fairy]

Yes, I am in the UK

I'm 18, so rabbit is completely my responsibility. I'm covering all costs etc.

To be honest I think I'm just being over-protective of her. I had a good look today, and it would appear that her droppings are overly wet - just the "night-dropping" type, slightly stick, bunch of grapes like ones. They're not really stuck to her bottom, just a few odd ones in the fur of her underside where she's so overly fluffy!! I gave her a good once over and she seems to be clean around her behind.

I guess I'm just freaking a bit cos she's so little and I don't want her to end up how the last ones did.

 

[tonyshuman]

Ok, if you don't see the messy poos again, and she seems to act fine, I wouldn't worry. It does sound like they're cecals from how you describe them, not diarrhea. My bunnies miss a few cecals sometimes too, especially when they're stressed out by the heat or bonding sessions! They also get them when they get too much protein in their diet, ie my bf gives them twice as much pellets as usual by accident, or they beg so much when he wakes up in the morning (I get up earlier and usually feed our gang before I go to work) that he thinks I haven't fed them yet, tricky stinkers!! Just a few things to think about if she continues to have them. I don't know about baby bunnies, but I worry if I see cecals more than once a week at the size of 3 normal poops combined, or larger than 10 normal poops combined. Hope that made sense.

You might still want to look around for a better vet for the future, though. I like to take my bunnies once a year to make sure everything's ok anyway. I wouldn't take her to the one you went to before, as I said in my previous post, since I don't think he/she treated your bunnies correctly before. That of course is my humble non-vet opinion.

Good luck to you both, and kudos on doing the research and asking questions! God knows I asked a million when I first got Tony.

PS: I never went back and changed my previous post because although it wasn't very well written, it said everything I wanted to.

 

[ra7751]

I think it might be prudent to study this situation a little more in depth. At ten weeks, you still have a very delicate GI tract. I would stick to a very basic bunny diet in this case. For this age rabbit, unlimited high quality pellets and unlimited amounts of hay of all types. If I gave greens,it would be in very small amounts....very small. I would suggest using a probiotic....there are several available here in the US and I am sure it would be offered in the UK also. Basically, this rabbit is barely weaned. The bacteria in her cecum is not well entrenched as of yet. A proper rabbit diet will help that. There is also the possibility of parasites such as worms and/or coccidia that can also cause this concern. A vet visit for a fecal would also be helpful and treat accordingly.

Randy

 

[Jelly Fairy]

Would it be possible to get this thread locked. The more I read, the more I get the impression that people think I'm completely stupid. I'm not feeding her greens. She doesn't have unlimited pellets or hay. I do know about making sure animals have good nutrition - I've had many types of animals in the past....and bred rabbits before.

Prehaps I shouldn't have even said anything.

 

[Pipp]

First off, we strive to be an educational site thus we post a lot of info intended for other readers, not just the original poster.

Secondly, I think the consensus is that small amounts of greens are normally fine and unlimited hayand pellets are recommended for bunnies until they're at least six months old, often a year. (Unlimited hay should always be offered, although not always alfalfa hay).

But a few bunnies have sensitivities so there is no one rule or method for anybunny.

Sorry for the overload of info.



sas :bunnydance:

 

[Jelly Fairy]

But other people have said not to give her unlimited pellets. I'm confused.

 

[Pipp]

I wish we had more concerned bunny guardians like you in the world.

I would guess the problem with your baby is that she NEEDS unlimited hay. I'd start there. She may need adifferent type of pellet, too, but it might clear up with just a lot more hay.

You're getting mixed signals because bunny digestive tracts and diets are really complicated. And there is a lot of difference between babies and adults. And because each bunny is different and may have different sensitivities.

You have done your research and you're probably right that she just has excess cecal pellets ('cecotrophes'), but it isstill a small health concern. Excess cecal pellet production does signal at least abit of a digestive issue.

Maybe she's just clumsy and missing them during her 'snack time' :yuck, but it's more likely there is something in her diet that isn't agreeing with her, or something that she needs more of. It's really good to determine thisbecausethe outputcan suddenly get heavy or turn to liquid (cecal dysbiosis),and be a life-threatening condition.

Also, as you already know, when their output sticks to their bodies, it does attrack flies, with awful consequences. A perfectly healthy bunnyhonestly shouldn't have any fecal or cecal material sticking to them at all. Healthy, fibrous 'poop' should drop right off, and cecal pellet production shouldn't be in excess of what they can or will eat.

Vets will prescribe unlimited hay and water (EDIT TO ADD: and no pellets) for older bunnies with 'poopy butt' -- the key to correcting it is almost always increasing the fibre, most often combined with decreasing carbohydrates and protein. (ETA: Hay has high fibre, pellets vary according to the brand, veggies have high fibre too, but are more prone to cause sensitivities).

Withbabioes, they needproteinso limiting foodisn't a great option. It's best to experiment and try different foods.

(ETA: What kind of pellets are you feeding her? What does it say about protein and fibre counts on the package?)

Keep in mind that grasses and the like in different areas have different nutrient and fibre contents. If the baby bunnies before also had 'poopy butt', maybe try giving her all sorts of different types of hay, especially timothy.

Hay is particularly good for dwarfs because they are prone to dental problems and it also keep their teeth ground down.

Have you posted pics of Molly somewhere? Love to see her. (I have two dwarfs).



sas:bunnydance:

 

[naturestee]

What brand of pellets are you feeding her, and what is the nutritional information? Are they plain pellets or are there treat bits mixed in? I know there are a lot of problems with some pet rabbit books saying that the mixed pellets are good, especially in the UK. But they're actually a very common cause of tummy upset.

Also, is this the same brand of pelletsthat she had been eating before you got her? If not, did you switch over slowly?

Nobody here thinks your stupid, but there is a lot of incorrect information about rabbits out there and it's very common for people to be misinformed even when they've read up on rabbits and cared for them for a while.

I also agree that you might want to look for a better rabbit vet if all he provided for your previous rabbits was something to clean them with. He should have addressed the cause of the dirty bottoms (even rabbits living in muck generally can keep their bottoms clean if they're fully healthy). Plus there is a prescription product available in the UK called Rear Guard that is meant to prevent flystrike problems which he should have offered. It's especially recommended for rabbits that can't keep themselves clean or are injured. Since your current bun is having a few issues, whether from diet or just being a clumsy baby (at that age my Mocha got a few stuck-on poops too), it would be a good idea to ask a vet about it. Keep in mind that many vets don't know much about rabbits even if they're great with cats and dogs and you might have to ask around for a good rabbit vet.

More info on fly strike, if you'd like it:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12865&forum_id=10

 

[polly]

Hi Jelly fairy sorry i didn't get back on before now. once my babies are weaned from their mums I stop giving them unlimited pellets so you are absolutely fine inlimiting herpellets.and plenty of hay tooSometimes it can be the pellets that cause the problem. seen as you are in the uk I would recomend either the burgess or the pets at home own brand pellets ( they are made by the same people and are pretty much the same thing )

It sounds like she is eating a few to many pellets to be honest I would take them down a little more till you can see that there are no extra squidgey poo's! Dwarf lops are good grubbers so thats probably why she is getting a few extra.

If your bun is not on these already get a bag and wean her over to them over a couple of weeks. The dried grass is great and all my babies start off eating that before pellets so really it shouldn't cause to much problems.

As for being worried about letting her out do you have a run you can put on a patio if you are worried about her eating to much grass? or maye take her to your bedroom for a little run.

Its totally understandable that if you have lost buns to flystrike before that you will be worried about it happening again. The best thing you can do is ask your vet for some rear guard which you apply regular and it will set your mind at rest. But good for you for actually checking her as lots out there don't

If you are unsure or want any help feel free to pm me Polly x