poorly rabbit

Question
my son's rabbit is almost 3yrs old and has always been happy and healthy, eating well, lovely thick fur and an affectionate character, he has never needed any vet treatment. in the last couple of weeks however his bottom and tail have become very dirty and we have had to clean him up, which is very hard to do, we have tried to give him less fresh vegetables (as we wondered if that would make any difference, thinking that maybe he had tummy ache) but still make sure he has plenty of pellets and fresh hay, his food has been what we have always given him and it has never caused any problems before. today when again cleaning him up i noticed that he has sore patches on his back feet, i don't know if the muck he is covered in is wee or both wee and dhiarroea, he smells unpleasant.  he is still eating and running around, not lethargic but with his backend being so dirty it appears that he is no longer grooming himself properly and we feel he has lost a little bit of weight in the last few weeks. we will be taking him to the vets in the next few days but are very worried about him, what do you think is wrong.

Answer
Dear Jo,

Your bunny appears to be suffering from chronic cecal dysbiosis, which is fully explained here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

The problem isn't that he can't digest his greens, but it could have something to do with his diet, if he's getting the wrong type of food.  Please check that here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

The second most common cause of this problem is probably pain/stress from dental disorders, such s molar spurs.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

Other cryptic health problems can also elicit GI tract slowdown (and cecal dysbiosis), so if your bunny isn't quite acting himself, please read this, too:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

You will need an experienced rabbit vet to help you, and you can find one via the Vet Referral Listings linked here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

In the meantime, you can safely clean bunny and keep him comfortable with the techniques described here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

I hope this helps you get to the bottom of the problem and get it under control.

Dana