bunny has poopy butt

[lovenova123]

Hi my bunny has been getting mats of poop on hes butt and i charged his pellets but it still happens  i don’t know what it is and he does not like to be picked up at all and i can’t give him a butt bath if i take my bunny to the vet will they be able to help clean him and give me a medicine for it.

[animallove7]

Probably taking an animal to the vet is the best solution .

[tobyluv]

Is your bunny a good hay eater? If he isn’t eating much hay and is eating a lot of pellets instead, that can cause poopy butt. Most rabbits don’t like to be picked up, and baths should be avoided if possible, but sometimes a very messy rabbit does need a butt bath. If you have a plastic pan with high sides, like a dish pan, you could place it on the floor next to him with an inch or two of warm water, and quickly lower him into it. It would be good if you had someone helping you. They could hold your rabbit in the pan while you tried to get the poop out of his fur.

Instead of a wet bath, you could try a dry bath, using baby cornstarch powder. Sprinkle some on the dirty area and work it through his fur to hopefully loosen the poop mats. You may have to trim his fur some too, but be very careful with that. It would also be good if you had someone helping you with that – one person holds the rabbit while the other works on him.

You can take him to the vet to have them clip the mats out of his fur, or they might do a sanitary shave on his bottom to remove the dirty, matted fur and to hopefully prevent anything else sticking to him. But you need to find the cause of the problem so it doesn’t keep happening. The vet should be able to determine if there is something medically wrong that is causing this, but it could well be his diet – too many pellets and not enough hay.

[lovenova123]

thank you and can a cage that is too small also be the cause

[tobyluv]

Do you have a litter box in the cage or is he just pooping in a corner of the cage? How often do you clean out the litter box or cage? If poop is piling up, especially uneaten cecals in a small cage, it could start sticking to his fur. The minimum recommended size for a cage is 2 feet by 4 feet. Even then, a rabbit needs out of cage time on a regular basis for exercise and play. Any room he is loose in will have to be bunny proofed.

[vanessa]

What does his diet consist of? It sounds to me like the poops are too sticky to fall from his bun, and they get stuck to his fur. Sticky poops are typically caused by starchy/sugary foods, or too little fiber. Do his pellets have treat in them? What sort of veg/fruit does he get? How much hay and pellets does he eat a day? What brand of pellets do you feed him?

[lovenova123]

one half of my bunnies cages is hes litter box and i let him out as much as i can and i give him 1/4 of a cup in the morning and at night around 8:30 and i think i does not fall and then stick to hes but i think he poops then it sticks,i change my bunnies cage every week or if its really bad i change it every 2 days and he is not litter trained so he pees in the corner so i clean it more often.and the cage is really small i i will e making a diy cage.

[EmbersMummy]

My double lion mane lop suffers from this regularly he’s perfectly healthy just doesn’t like eating his poops! He has bunny baths at the vets and a little groom and he comes out spick and span and lasts a long time before getting matted again

[danykadanino]

How old is your bunny? If he is over 6-8 months try switching over to timothy-based pellets to avoid the extra fat. My bunny used to have poopy butt, and all I did was offer her more greens (1-2 cups, depending on how much calcium the veggies contained) and reduced the amount of pellets I gave her to 1/4 cup a day. a Grown bunny should be having no more than 1/4 of pellets a day, or else they fill up too much on pellets and that’s how they get a messy bottom!
I recently brought my bunny to the vet (she is a year old) and she told me to reduce her pellets to 1/8 cup a day.
The second I reduced her pellets, she stopped having messy bottom.. haven’t seen her have it in months
Hope this helps!

[danykadanino]

How old is your bunny? If he is over 6-8 months try switching over to timothy-based pellets to avoid the extra fat. My bunny used to have poopy butt, and all I did was offer her more greens (1-2 cups, depending on how much calcium the veggies contained) and reduced the amount of pellets I gave her to 1/4 cup a day. a Grown bunny should be having no more than 1/4 of pellets a day, or else they fill up too much on pellets and that’s how they get a messy bottom!
I recently brought my bunny to the vet (she is a year old) and she told me to reduce her pellets to 1/8 cup a day.
The second I reduced her pellets, she stopped having messy bottom.. haven’t seen her have it in months
Hope this helps!

[vanessa]

Does your bunny eat hay?

[lovenova123]

my bunny eats western timothy hay and he is 3 and a half years old

[vanessa]

Well, there isn’t really medicine for poopy butt. It is typically from a bunny sitting on his poop in is litterbox, but more likely from too much starch/sugar, and too little fiber. If it is not him siting on his poop, poops shoudl come out dry enough to fall off his butt. When the microorganisms in the belly get out of whack (starch/sugar/little fiber), then the poops become sticky and sometimes a little soft. It’s always a good idea to discuss it with a rabbit savy vet. If I were you, I woudl look at the bunny’s litter box and cage, an dmake sure he can move around and get exercise outside of the cage, ina safe area. I woudl also look at his diet, and make sure there are no starchy/sugary fruit/treats, and that he is only eating limited pellets and plenty of hay and water. Western Timothy hay is a good choice.

[vanessa]

As for cleaning up his buitt – if he is difficult to handle and you are not comfortable with wrapping him up in a towel, you could ask your vet to show you how. There are also good youtube videos on how to wrap up a bunny – bunny burrito. That is probably the easiest way to hold the bunny still while cutting the matted hair. My little bunny had his matted poopy hair trimmed before I adopted him.

[lovenova123]

cool but if you cant pick up your bunny at all what do you do because we can pick him up but it is very difficult to pick her up

[vanessa]

I guess there are different ways of doing it. I have a bunny who is so difficult to pick up, that I catch her in a cat carrier, and then wrap her up in a towel so she can’t move. I don’t pick her up with my bare hands. She would scratch, draw blood, bite, fight, jump, all bad. She fights like a little tiger. When they fight, it becomes more important to have practice at handling them so they don’t jump out of your arms and hurt themselves. It takes practice to pick up those feisty ones. It is also very stressful for them if they aren’t used to it. If you have a feisty one like that, and you aren’t comfortable with catching and wrapping, then maybe taking her to the vet would be a good idea.

[lovenova123]

thanks for your advise

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