inflamed genital

Question
I have a dwarf bunny not even a year yet.. I give her plenty of good foods. timothy hay, pellets, occassionaly romaine lettuce and carrots and apples.  her litter box is cleaned 2 times a day.  she goes through a 16 oz bottle of water every 2 days she is quite frisky and playful running all over the house.. today when she came out to play she stopped running and being frisky when i picked her up to examine her for her unusual behavior i looks like her genital area was inflamed and red.  no discharge. her anus looked normal and I could tell the area was senitive it was actually pretty dry looking.  i was wondering what could be causing it.. and how I can fix it...to help with the chappness of it what kind of ointment can i use.. or a patrolleum jelly?? I plan to clean her cage really good and I'v been using a kitty litter thought i would change that back for a while to a soft cotton pellet type of litter. her appitite is still healthy doesn't seem to be drinking much probably because possible it hurts to urinate.  if you could give me some insight would be appreciated. thank you Amy

Answer
Dear Amy,

You should not try to treat this yourself.  The problem is probably not limited to the external genitalia, and she may well have a urinary tract infection that needs to be treated with the correct antibiotics.  Please read:

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

and

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

You'll need a good rabbit vet to help you, who is aware that certain antibiotics will kill a rabbit.  Please find a good vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana