poo on my rabbits bottom - i can't handle her,

[slartybartfast]

but do i up the hay and down the pelletts,
she has had plenty of dandelions recently?
are they the culprits?

I had a rabbit with this problem. Excess greens were the culprit in her case but you should see your vet just to check.

Although it's grim, you will need to clean her up. I used those disposable surgical gloves - buy from the chemist - and cotton wool soaked in warm water. On one or two occasions, when it was really bad, the vet cleaned her up under a General.

She still lived to be 10!

You really need to clean it up - poo around the bottom puts them at risk of flystrike, which is a horrible way to lose a pet :(

I don't know whether it is diet related, isn't this just something that happens with rabbits every now and again?

thanks, i can't catch her
so perhaps cut out the dandelions.
i spose i could make a concerted effort to try catch her.

You do need to clean her - flystrike is terrible, and more likely now the weather has improved.

Definitely up the hay and down the pellets. Mine have a large handful of pellets each, split into two feeds, plus unlimited hay and whatever veg I have around (carrot peelings, apple cores etc), though there are several days each week where they don't get veg.

If she has a sticky bum, I'd seriously limit the pellets and give as much hay and grass as she'll eat. But clean her up too

P.S I don't think it'll be the dandelions causing the problem, unless they could be contaminated with weed killer / exhaust fumes from side of road?

thanks happysandboy.

i did previously give her less greens but then i read a couple of handfuls a day. so changed it.
i shoudl change back.
i spose if i could take her to vets that might be easier, try and catch her in a carrying box.

oh, just read what you wrote about dandelions.

will decrease pellets then.

Definitely try to catch her. Gardening gloves might help if she's a biter? And/or get someone else to help you if you can.

I know it might be distressing for her but it's better than the alternative.

she doesnt bite, as far as i know. hasnt ever bitten anyway.
i only tried to catch her once or twice and she didnt like it., leapt out of my arms.

I too had this problem with my elderly bunny, in the end I had to cut out all fresh food and just feed her pellets and hay.

To catch her try use a large bath towel, and cover their head too, it helps to keep them calm. Keep them wrapped in the towel and I found running warm water over the back end helped to release all the poo. My bunny actually seemed glad that I was cleaning it away and although was quite skittish used to lay and actually lift her back end for me to get to.

I bought a couple of cheap towels from wilkinsons just for her and just put them on a hot wash after I'd used them.

It's not a pleasant job I admit, but I worried about the vets giving her a general at the age she was, and just got used to doing it.

We lost her last December, she'd been a house bunny most of her life and had lived to the great age of 10

This happened to our old rabbit, just after we got her. Vet said it was because she was too fat and couldn't get round to clean herself (she'd been fed on flakes and carrots). Changed her food, but had to clean her every day - somebody held her and I did the washing with cotton wool and warm water and used rubber gloves. Did the trick, she didn't get flystrike.

ah, thanks for the extra info.
really helpful

Rabbits do two different types of poo the normal pellets that you see and softer caecotrophs which normally they should eat to keep their digestion correct. Diarrhoea is very rare in rabbits and is usually due to infectious causes. Rabbits should have a very small amount of dry food per day around 20% of diet shoule be dry food and 80 % of diet should be grass or hay. Vegetables should be a treat.
Rabbits can die of flystrike within 12 hours so from April till November all rabbits should have their bottoms checked twice daily there are medications that can help like rearguard, but you still need to check.
I would recommend having a vet look at your bunny to see if their is a reason why they are not eating their caecotrophs the most likely causes are a too large dewlap so weight loss would be required or back pain making it difficult to get round to their bottom.
I am a bunny owning vet.

i dont recall seeing my rabbits eat this!! will watch closely.

Ah the caecotrophs come at night and thats when they eat them - hence no one ever sees it. In some cases we actually advise scooping the caecotrophs up and syringing them in - where older rabbits with back pain get repeat gut stasis due to not eating them.
I have two very dedicated owners who currently do this daily and their elderly (one is 9) bunnies are much better for it.

thanks for further comments lizcat.
not managed to catch her yet,
she was happily eat dandelion leaves and i didnt have the heart to throw a towel over her at that point.
will enlist some help tomorrow.
so cut back the vegetables as well?
are the dandelion leaves a type of grass of vegetable?

I would class dandelion in my grass group and relatively high in long fibre.

we had a rabbit who was killed by flystrike - it was horrific. Ihad rehomed the rabbit from my sister as she could no lnoger look after it. I regularly cleaned her bum in teh bath (my rabbit's, not my sister's ) and the hutch was always cleaned and she was taken care of daily with runs in teh garden in good weather and runs in teh kitchen in colder months (paper down). One morning I went to feed her and she was just lying dead in her hutch.I called dh to see her and when he picked her up she had maggots crawling out of her backside. It was horrendous. Please get her fixed!!!! Most pet shops/vets do a bum shave service.

My rabbit died from fly strike last summer. Vet said we caught it early but the shock killed her.
As others have said, please clean ASAP. It takes such a short time for maggots to hatch and start eating away at bunny.