Not sure what the issue is.

[SheepBrains]

I have a male Dwarf Lion's head bunny who's about four at the moment. He's never been good at cleaning his butt, as far as I'm aware he's not overweight so I'm not sure what the issue is. He has a "girlfriend" (fixed) who's also a Lion's head bunny, and they clean each other, but this little guy can't seem to clean his butt so me and other people have been having to clean him. Recently he got an Infection because of this, and we have to take him to the vet. Does anyone have any idea why he isn't cleaning himself? He's had other issues, such as not leaving his cage much despite being free rang, nipping at people for attention, and jumping on the bed to pee in the spot someone else sleeps in, but I'm just worried about him. He has fleas (it's been an issue with our animals and he chewed off his and the cats flea collars a while ago) but it's not severe enough to where he's itching constantly, we comb him out and put dust to get rid of them in his cage and on him. I'm not sure if that's an issue but I really would like to help him.

 

[JBun]

Likely it's not that he can't clean himself off properly that's an issue, but that his poop is mushy and so sticking to his fur. Most often when there is mushy poop, but the fecal balls are normal, the mushy poop is due to improperly formed cecotropes from an imbalance in the diet. Usually too many carbs and not enough fiber.

There are a few other possibilities as well, like if the cecotropes aren't mushy but are properly formed and sticking in his bum fur. Then it could be that being a lionhead, the fur is too long and catching onto the poop before he can injest them. Or being overweight or having arthritis can make it difficult for a rabbit to reach down and ingest the cecals. So they may instead, get stepped on and smooshed into the fur around the hind end.

So you'll need to evaluate which might be going on. If he's having difficulty ingesting his cecals when they come out, or if they're coming out mushy and getting stuck in the fur.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Rabbit_poop

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952892

What's his diet - type/brand of pellets and hay, any veg, treats, supplements, meds? Have you ever tried making any changes to his diet to see if it helped clear up the mushy poop (if that's what he has), primarily increasing hay and decreasing other foods?

Just FYI regarding the flea collar, or any kind of collar. They should never be used on rabbits. Rabbits aren't sensible like cats. If a rabbit gets the collar snagged on something, they can freak out and end up strangling themselves. Along with that, the chemicals used in a flea collar may not be safe for rabbits.

There are only a few flea treatments considered safe to use on rabbits. The regular Advantage (which I'm not sure they sell anymore) and Revolution (or other selamectin flea treatment), with Revolution being the better of the two (in my opinion). If you need to give your rabbit a flea treatment, Revolution (selamectin) is what I'd use. Just never use Fipronil on your rabbit as it's toxic to them. Or on your cat if your rabbit and cat live together and your rabbit could groom it off your cat.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Fleas

 

[SheepBrains]

Likely it's not that he can't clean himself off properly that's an issue, but that his poop is mushy and so sticking to his fur. Most often when there is mushy poop, but the fecal balls are normal, the mushy poop is due to improperly formed cecotropes from an imbalance in the diet. Usually too many carbs and not enough fiber.

There are a few other possibilities as well, like if the cecotropes aren't mushy but are properly formed and sticking in his bum fur. Then it could be that being a lionhead, the fur is too long and catching onto the poop before he can injest them. Or being overweight or having arthritis can make it difficult for a rabbit to reach down and ingest the cecals. So they may instead, get stepped on and smooshed into the fur around the hind end.

So you'll need to evaluate which might be going on. If he's having difficulty ingesting his cecals when they come out, or if they're coming out mushy and getting stuck in the fur.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Rabbit_poop

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952892

What's his diet - type/brand of pellets and hay, any veg, treats, supplements, meds? Have you ever tried making any changes to his diet to see if it helped clear up the mushy poop (if that's what he has), primarily increasing hay and decreasing other foods?

Just FYI regarding the flea collar, or any kind of collar. They should never be used on rabbits. Rabbits aren't sensible like cats. If a rabbit gets the collar snagged on something, they can freak out and end up strangling themselves. Along with that, the chemicals used in a flea collar may not be safe for rabbits.

There are only a few flea treatments considered safe to use on rabbits. The regular Advantage (which I'm not sure they sell anymore) and Revolution (or other selamectin flea treatment), with Revolution being the better of the two (in my opinion). If you need to give your rabbit a flea treatment, Revolution (selamectin) is what I'd use. Just never use Fipronil on your rabbit as it's toxic to them. Or on your cat if your rabbit and cat live together and your rabbit could groom it off your cat.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Fleas

Alright I'll have to monitor him with the poop and see what's going on. As for the food I feed him a mix of the Menu rabbit food and the Oxbow one. We originally gave him Timothy hay but had to switch to a mix of that and orchard grass otherwise he wouldn't eat it. Thank you btw for the info about the fleas, the collars we used were snap off and came off incredibly easy but we immediately stopped after seeing that he chewed on them. Thank you again for the info though.

 

[JBun]

How much of each of the pellet types does he eat each day, and how much hay in relation to his body size (pile the size of his body, half the size, etc) per day? About how much does he weigh?

That Menu rabbit food is pretty bad when it comes to the ingredients in it. I would consider it essentially a 'junk food' pellet. It's full of grains and starches, which is very likely contributing to his poopy butt, if not outright causing it. In fact, I'm not at all surprised he's having poopy butt issues being fed that food.

So my first suggestion would be to gradually start phasing that out of his diet completely. There's no reason he can't be eating just the oxbow pellets, which are going to be much healthier for him and less likely to cause poopy butt issues.