Runny butt

Question
Hi Dana!

I've got a 14 month old indoor Holland lop who's had a bout of mushy poop and gurgly tummy for the past week or so. The gurgling hasn't been horribly loud, and he's been consistently eating and pooping, albeit smaller poops than normal and runny things that I think are cecotropes that he isn't always eating.

After I diagnosed that he was the sick bunny (I have two), I immediately took him over to his regular vet -- one of the recommend vets on the HRS website -- who gave me some probiotics (which my rabbit won't eat, even mixed with food, and I have no idea how to force him) and some albon liquid (which is easy to force, so he's been taking it). In addition to that, after reading your many articles, I've been giving him Infants Mylicon for the last 36 hours, which seems to have helped the gurgling. He wasn't grinding his teeth, so I don't think he was in too much pain, but the Mylicon seems to have put a little bounce back in his hop.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the problem is diet, as I give him and his girlfriend bunny more carrots and apples than I should -- and believe me, this episode has scared me straight -- and I've fixed that. Now I just want to clear the last hurdle of keeping him from getting a painful bottom or, God forbid, flystrike. His butt is a mess, but here's the problem: I named him "Hucklebunny" partly because he looks so cute when he's chewing straw, but also because he shares Huckleberry's complete aversion to any sort of cleanliness, and does NOT like being picked up; when I tried just to see how messy his butt was, he went about as ballistic as I've ever seen him go and thrashed himself so much that I gave up and put him down. So I have two questions:

1) How do I give this little guy a cornstarch butt bath without a team of firefighters or Navy SEALs backing me up?

2) Should I check anything else out with the vet? Fecal sample came back negative, and the gurgling's mostly gone away with the Mylicon. Poop is still not quite normal, but I'm hoping a few days of nothing but hay and organic greens mix from Whole Foods will sort him out.

This isn't the first time he's had this, by the way, but it's by far the worst. (First time he was maybe six, eight months old, and I freaked out and took him to the ER, but they said he was fine.)

Thank you thank you thank you in advance!

Answer
Dear Matvei,

You've probably already found the cornstarch buttbath site, but here it is again, just in case:

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

If he's really that nuts when you pick him up to groom him (and some rabbits are!), then--and I'm serious here--ask the vet about getting a little bit of Valium to give him about an hour before you plan to clean him up.  It's a very safe drug, used as directed, and it could make your life a WHOLE lot easier than risking him hurting himself in his panic.

If that doesn't work, you may have to contact your local Naval office and have a SEAL sent over to help you.

Note that mushy poop is a sign of something wrong, and it's not often that probiotics alone will do the trick.  Holland Lops are NOTORIOUS for dental problems, and molar spurs can cause enough stress/misery to trigger the GI slowdown that causes cecal dysbiosis:

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

Please see:

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

for more information.

I hope this helps, and that your little guy will be well soon.

Dana