wet hing legs

Question
We recently adopted a big, very fuzzy lop rabbit from the Humane Society. When brushing him, we noticed a few days ago that he had major mats in his fur next to and underneath his tail - we assumed he was sitting in his pee before we got him, and have been slowly working on brushing these out. However, yesterday we noticed that he was wet under there. We're not sure if he peed on himself, or just sat in it.. it was wet under his tail and a bit on his hind legs. I've checked other resources, and he doesn't seem to be incontinent as he still pees in the litterbox as well. He doesn't really have accidents around the house, just a marking here or there. He's not dragging his hind legs or anything..
Am I freaking out about nothing? Does he just need to be cleaned up and brushed out? Or should we take him to the vet?

Answer
Dear Amelia,

If he's *really* long-haired, then the urine may be catching on his fur and soaking in, so it might be a good idea to get him to the vet and ask about a surgical shave in that area, to see if he remains wet.  But it's not normal for even a long-haired rabbit to have a wet bottom.

There are various causes of leaking or inability to posture correctly for urination (resulting in pee on the fur), and some are listed here:

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

Arthritis and obesity also can contribute.  The condition must be treated, lest he develop painful urine burn.  You can help prevent this with the cleaning techniques here:

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

But I'd get him to a good rabbit vet for a good wellness check to be sure this isn't due to a medical condition:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana