the commander has a problem

Question
house bunny 5 years old.  suddenly, every night i come home and have to clean his rear end.  i put him in the kitchen sink with soothing warm water and slowly peel the hardened poop from his butt...then pat him with a towel and he seems happy.  but, it's getting old.  he is caged during the day and at my bedtime and allowed to roam when i am home.  he won't stop eating the corners of the walls and i wonder if eating the paint is messing up his poops.  i don't know how to stop him.  he does it when i am not looking.  he is also ruining my walls; nevermind, they can be fixed.  he has always had a good diet that includes banana, apple, greens, pear, corn on cob, and alwys has timothy hay available, though seems to prefer the others.  he is a chow hound but not fat.

Answer
Dear Mary,

Your bunny is suffering from cecal dysbiosis, which you can read about here:

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

The most common causes are incorrect diet:

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

(the corn on the cob is not a good idea; not only is it too full of sugar, which can promote cecal dysbiosis, but the hulls can cause intestinal impactions)  and dental problems, such as molar spurs--especially in older rabbits:

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

I'd suggest you get him to a good rabbit vet for a deep oral exam to check for molar spurs (a *really* common cause of GI slowdown resulting in mushy poop), and you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

In the meantime, you can find instructions for how to keep his bum clean until the problem resolves here:

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

Hope that helps.

Dana