My girl rabbit has a not very clean rear

[JaneB1rkin]

What should I do? She is neutered and about 3-4 years old. She's on her own since her mum and sister were taken by a fox, so no one to help her keep clean.

I was looking at her just now as I'd put her in the run with the boys, and they all appeared happy together, and half an hour later I found her cowering and they had obviously been trying to mate with her, poor lass. So looking for any injuries, I noticed she has some dirt around the sides of her vent, where there are little gaps if you are familiar with this bit of a rabbit!

Should I clean it out, it is a bit smelly - or is this normal? I've not looked very often so forgive my ignorance.
And if so - cotton bud with warm water Ok? And should I do it regularly?

Thankyou.

You can clean the vent with a non scented baby wipe. She should be able to clean it herself, rabbits do not tend to groom each others bottoms or genitals. Is she overweight? A common factor with overweight rabbits is that they are unable to reach their bottoms. Another point is to examine her diet, her main food must be hay (unlimited amounts). Plus a small handful of pelleted food. With some veg and grass (but don't keep changing it, and don't give too much). if you are regularly seeing caeotrophs (bunch of grape-looking stools) in her living area this is an indication her diet is wrong, in which case I would cut back on the veg and give her mainly hay.

You can get rearguard from the vets, this will help protect against flystrike. if her bottom is messy it would be worth asking the vet to check her too.

A final tip is not to keep mixing her in with the other rabbits on non neutral territory. If you intend for this to be a permanent move it must be done on completely neutral ground and then the trio must stay together. The mating behaviour is most likely dominance behaviour, and she is cowering in submission. This can easily lead to a fight and you have been very lucky that she has submitted to the others. Bonding rabbits should only be attempted by someone experienced in doing so.

Thankyou so much for answering and I realise it was a foolish thing to do without experience.

It was neutral territory, none of them has been in the run since over a year ago when she was in there from time to time with her mum and sister, so I thought it would be alright, and it was alright for the first while - they looked happy, cuddled up together in a group after some initial chasing and tail sniffing.

I should not have gone out at that point. She was always the most submissive of her own group so I didn't anticipate she would fight at all, but the boys haven't been neutered yet and maybe that ought to have been done first.

I did clean her vent with cotton buds and water, very gently and got out the dirt. She was quite upset for a while that night, poor love. I felt terrible.

She's not overweight at all, her family never ate the hay I gave them or indeed grass (very strange) but they had, and she still has, rabbit food every day and usually fresh greens, sometimes a carrot. And I still give hay though she seems to use it more as bedding.

The girls were all in a huge walk in run last year but then managed to burrow out of it into the garden, which is when the fox took two of them. I have been unable to make it safe since as I know she will just burrow out again, so she has been in the hutch (6x2, not teeny) all winter since it happened and I was hoping she could share the run with the lads. We only got them to keep her company but they are in a separate hutch as I was unsure how to introduce them.

If you have any hints on how to go about putting them together properly, I would be really grateful, but if it's just not a good idea I will keep them separately. I did read up about it quite a bit before trying it, but obviously got it wrong.

Thanks again for all your help.

I would get the boys neutered then leave it a few weeks. Then ask a local rabbit rescue (there is a geographical list on rabbitrehome.com) if they will attempt to bond them for you. Many will do that for a very small fee/donation. If you bond them yourself it should be indoors so you can listen out for any upset, in a small space such as a bathroom or spare room and you would need to commit to a few days at home observing them. Humping and chasing all normal, fighting is not and if they fight they should be separated. Keep a broom at hand to separate. Rabbit fights can be devastating and very expensive.

You can stop them digging out by laying some paving slabs under the run. being on slabs is better for their nails and more hygienic as you can hose it down.

It's not good that she does not eat hay, hay is so important for their digestive tract and keeps their teeth down. Pets at home sell Timothy Hay, it's lovely long light green stems, i bet she will eat that.

Good luck!

Thankyou so much - I did not realise that rescue places would do the bonding thing, I'd be happy to pay for it.

I've seen proper fighting before when we fostered two baby girls last year and put them with the adult females. They were locked into a grip and it was very hard to get them apart but luckily I did and no one was injured, just a few tufts of fur. I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't been with them.

So that was why I thought boys would be better and they are, I think BUT they had obviously mated with her a lot as she was quite sore. Hopefully the neutering will calm them down.

Thankyou for the tip about Timothy hay. She seems to have eaten some of what I gave her the other night, now, so that's good...maybe they do eat it more than I realised.

Slabs might work, I'm thinking of building them another run, somewhere else in the garden, I might put wire under the ground, to stop any rats getting in as that's another problem.

Thanks again. Will see how we get on!

sounds a bit like my old rabbit. she used to ppop then sit in it so that she would have big lumps of poop stuck to her fur. we used to just cut it of. sooo i guess just wash it. :o

Mine don't like hay much neither. We buy the Burgess timothy hay with either dandelion or apple pieces in it, and they eat that more. I mix it up with their other food to encourage them to eat it, and I also put a handful in the litter tray as they quite like to munch and poop at the same time.

If you cut down her veg and pellets she should start eating more hay. Mine have an eggcup full of pellets each a day, and a few greens or a carrot as an odd treat. My buns free range though so their diet is 90% grass.

Are the two boys brothers then? It can be quite tricky to bond trios. I have a trio, two sisters (tango and sooty) and another girl (coco) from a different litter. The sisters are def closer than the single girl, and Tango is the dominant of the group, and still chases Coco sometimes to assert her dominance. It would have been easier to get a single male to bond with her, but it might work, like bunnyspoiler says, you do really need expert help - I'd be too scared to try it!