Washing rabbits

Question
I have this rabbit who i noticed today was trailing his waste, tried removing what i could. However it seem s to be caked on badly and i can easily remove it.
He is a house rabbit who has full run of the house and garden, his diet consists of 1 pear, 1 carrot leucene pelletes and rabbit mix.
What is the best way to clean (wash ) him so that the faeces can be removed easily around his bottom.
Regards
Guy

Answer
Hi Guy,

first, this is being caused by his diet.  You need to stop giving fruit, greatly reduce lettuce and carrots.  You need to give him Timothy Hay - this should be the main thing he is able to eat, whenever he is hungry.  He can eat all the Timothy hay he can eat.  this is the best thing for their digestive system and will stop causing the mess you see on his bottom now.  The fruit and carrots are really bad for him in his current condition.

You should give him no more than 1/4 cup of timothy pellets (like Oxbow timothy pellets) per 5 pounds of body weight.

The best way to wash him is to use a cotton washcloth wetted with warm water and then squeeze most of the excess water out of the cloth.  You need to place the moist cloth on the matted areas to loosed them up in order to either pull them off in the washcloth, or to comb them out with a regular man's comb.  Be careful you do not scrape or cut his skin with the tines of the comb.

This may take awhile.  Be patient, and keep the area moist - rinse out the washcloth after awhile, re-wet and squeeze out most of the excess water.  A second person can pet his head and try to keep him calm.  If you can get most of it off, he will be able to do his regular grooming down there and gradually take care of the little that is left.  

I would not suggest trimming the area as you can cut their (paper-thin) skin and cause infections and injuries that require a vet to fix.  If you cannot get everything off and a lot remains, I would take him to your vet and ask to be shown how to take care of this via soaking/washcloths.  They can also trim the area without injuring him.

Lee