WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT A DIRTY BOTTOM?

if your rabbit has a dirty bottom, with bits of sticky poo on it, you need to take it to the vet. This is sometimes called sticky bum syndrome! If the usual daytime droppings are still dry, this sticky poo is not diarrhoea. It is the special droppings called cecotrophs which are EATEN by healthy rabbits. Yes, nature has designed the rabbit to eat its special droppings. They turn round and take each dropping as it comes out of their back passage. The cecotrophs usually appear four hours after a meal, and are mostly done around about noon or lunchtime.
A rabbit with a dirty bottom is not eating its cecotrophs, as it should. There is a danger that it will get fly strike. There are several possible reasons for why this may be happening.

• Your rabbit is too fat to reach her bottom. Your rabbit needs to diet and eat mainly hay and grass. A vet can prescribe diet rabbit food and give you advice. You must also give her a run and fun things to do so she can become more active. Bored rabbits may overeat and put on weight (Gunn-Dore 1997). There is a say to check if he is too fat here. Read:  What should I feed my rabbit?
• He has arthritis or is in pain so he cannot reach his bottom because of pain. Back pain and spinal problems are often linked to osteoporosis caused by small cages, lack of exercise, aging or sometimes genetic inheritance. Rabbits with flat faces find it more difficult to bend down to reach the cecotrophs.  Your rabbit needs veterinary treatment, the correct diet, and a lifestyle with more space and activity. If your rabbit is elderly read: How should I care for my elderly rabbit?
• Your rabbit has teeth problems and therefore cannot eat her hay properly. When she tries to eat the caecotrophs, her tongue hurts and it’s hard for her to lick them into her mouth (Van Caelenberg et al., 2008). Your vet should check her teeth. Read: What are the signs of tooth trouble?
• Your rabbit is eating too rich a diet and therefore is too full up to eat his cecotrophs. He needs much more fibre in hay and grass. Start reducing the amount of rabbit mix or pellets that you give him day by day until you are only giving only a small amount each morning.  Give plenty of good sweet hay.
• Your rabbit has worms. These can be picked up from wild greens. In this case the ordinary droppings, which are usually very dry, will come out as diarrhoea.

 

To see how rabbit poo improves after a proper diet by looking at the photograph on the right.  Read What should I feed my rabbit on this website and for more information go to http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Rabbit_poop

On the right is a chart from Lagolearn (www.lagolearn.com) showing the differences between healthy and unhealthy rabbit poo. Click on it for more detail.

REFERENCES

Gunn-Fore, D., (1997), ‘Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Rabbits,’ in ed Reinhardt, V., Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals, Eighth Edition, 46-54. Available at: www.awionline.org/pubs/cq/five.pdf. Accessed February 12 2013.

Van Caelenberg, A., De Rycke, L. , Hermans, K., Verhaert,L., van Bree, H. & Gielen, I, (2008), ‘Diagnosis of dental problems in pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)’, Vlaams Diergeneeskundig Tijdschrift, 77, 386-394.