Rabbit Has Matted (Urine) Fur on His Butt

[CircesOasis]

Hello! I have currently been owning my two rabbits, Castor and Pollux, for a year now and I have some concerns about Pollux. He’s a 1 year old Holland Lop, and while grooming him today (I had flipped him over quickly just to make sure no eggs or maggots were down there because I am deathly afraid of these little guys getting flystrike!!!) I saw that in his genital/butt region, he had some matted and soiled fur that crept up as far as halfway to his inner legs. I didn’t see think any poop, and when I went down to smell, I smelt urine. Now, I did the best I could to clean his booty with an anti-bacterial wipe/snipping off some of the matted fur, but I’m still concerned for him since I don’t know if this is a medical issue. He’s very young, and his brother has a very clean butt compared to his. Does this warrant a visit to the vet? Or should I just be cleaning the litter boxes more diligently (right now, I have two litterboxes that I clean about 1-2 times a week.)

 

[JBun]

Is he neutered? Any pee accidents, dribbling urine, spraying urine, urine that is white and cloudy or thickened and gel like or creamy?

 

[CircesOasis]

Yes! He and his brother got neutered at four months. And about incidents, during the first couple of months of having them, both Pollux and Castor would spray a bit, but it hasn’t been consistent behavior since then. They’ve had some white pee before, which I have since dealt with, and I haven’t seen it since. They’re litterbox trained and rarely poop/pee outside of their two boxes, and from what I’ve seen, all of the waste that has been produced looked healthy.

 

[JBun]

If their litter box set up has good drainage of urine away from them and it's cleaned regularly, it could be he just doesn't position himself properly and some urine gets on him. Though it would be good to check to make sure the litter box set up isn't the cause.

It is possible for there to be a health related cause, but you haven't described seeing any other symptoms that will usually accompany a health issue, so it would be hard to say if this is the case. If in doubt, it's always best to check with a knowledgeable rabbit vet.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[CircesOasis]

Thank you so much! I might schedule an appointment just in case, just to be sure, but your help was greatly appreciated

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had a couple that had to be trimmed around the nether region or else they'd end up with urine in their fur and get scald.