bunny butt

Question
Our 7 year old Dutch dwarf rabbit has a large, hard mound of stool stuck on her bottom.  We have bathed hr in warm water and tried to manually remove the fecal matter but were only partially successful.  We ended up taking her to the vet for removal of the matter for $57.  how can we avoid continual trips and fees to the vet?  Is there a successful, safe home treatment for this problem?

Thanks for your help.

Esther Berger

Answer
Dear Esther,

This is a pretty common problem, and a result of cecal dysbiosis.  You can read about this here:

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

The most common causes are incorrect diet, too high in starch:

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

and pain/stress from dental problems:

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

Be sure you have a good rabbit vet who can do a deep oral exam to check for molar spurs, which can contribute to this problem (odd as it sounds).  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

To keep bunny's bum clean, please use the tips here:

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

I hope that will help until you get the problem under control.

Dana