Poop butt

Question

Foo bunny   QUESTION: I have a 4 yr old neutered rabbit.  For about 2 months he has had poop on his rear, it is caked on his tail.  The backs of his hind feet are also stained.  I have washed him with soap and water, this helped a little.  I feed him oxbow adult rabbit pellets, lettuce, parsley, and broccoli.  His stool is round, and sometimes mushy and soft.  Is there something I can use to clean him; Is this a medical condition; should I contact my vet?

ANSWER: Hi,

yes I would get in to talk with your vet.

I believe it's probably what you're feeding him.  He really needs hay more than anything else, it is fiber and it makes their poops nice and firm and drier.  you might be overloading him on the veggies.  And/or he may have a problem with a particular veggie.  Sometimes they don't have problems with veggies until you give them too much.

I would also augment his diet with some Bene-Bac (good bacteria) that you can get from the pet supply store or your vet.  It will replenish his gut with good bacteria, this will help get a better balance in his gi tract, which will help with his output.

Push hay, reduce treats, do not feed more than 1/4 cup of pellets per 5 pounds of body weight, per day.  

rabbits with weight problems tend to get messy butt because it is hard for them (they strain) to bend down and eat their cecal pellets when overweight.  If the vet says he's overweight he needs more hay, good amounts of water, less everything else (food wise and treat wise) and more exercise time out to build muscle and burn fat.

Get in to your good regular rabbit vet. Get him checked over.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your answer.  Foo has unlimited hay in his cage. He recently stopped eating when I switched bags.  I then went back to the old hay and he is eating it now but he isn't eating alot of it.  How do I get him to eat more hay?  I think I am feeding him too much vegetables as well, how much should a 4lb bunny get?

Answer
Hi,

if they stop eating hay it's either a sign they don't like the hay and/or there may be something wrong with the hay (mold, etc).

It's good to always have extra bags around so in case you have to return one, you've got a backup bag.

I would probably make sure all the old hay is gone, he will probably start getting an appetite back for it soon but his gut will take some time to get back to normal.  Doing the things I suggested above - especially the bene-bac (probiotics) and giving him more of the hay he likes while temporarilyperhaps cutting the veggies and making sure you aren't overfeeding pellets.

However, given the fact this all revolves around the different hay he didn't eat, I would say this was the cause of his problem, and not that he is overweight, or getting too many veggies IF he is also eating his normal amount of hay.

Without him eating the normal amount of hay, his gut got imbalanced, he wasn't getting enough fiber and it affected his fecal pellet output (and cecal pellets as well).

vets usually recommend no more than about 1/2 cup (well packed) of greens per 5 pounds body weight, per day.  Now this is a general guideline and for some rabbits this may be too much, and for others they are just fine or can eat more.  If you've never had the problem before he probably can handle what you've been giving him, as long as he eats his normal amounts of hay.

Make sure the vet checks his teeth out in the exam.  Sometimes they also go off hay because of teeth spurs that grow and cut into the mouth or tongue and they start eating less because of it.  I don't think this was the cause of him going off hay (change of hay was), but since he hasn't eaten much lately his teeth may not have been worn down properly due to lack of grazing on hay fiber.

You can see how important hay is to a rabbit.