Poopy baby butt 5 1/2 weeks.

[squidpop]

One of my 5 1/2 week old rabbits has a poopy butt, the other 5 are fine. I would describe it as-- she has soft or loose stools and it sticks together and becomes a big blob around her butt - slightly stinky when I clean it off. She had it yesterday, I cleaned a big blob off her little but 3 times. This morning she had no more poo blobs on her butt, but this afternoon its happening again. She seems normal otherwise, still eating. The mother passed a several loose stools yesterday but it was followed by firm normal round poos.

I have imodium but am afraid to use it. I have pedialyte should I give her some in a syringe? I've been feeding them hay and oats and just a little bit of pellets this morning. Yesterday I squirted a bit of Benebac in her mouth- but now I've run out.

 

[Secuono]

Not sure, I just clean them up and they don't get it again. Is there a spot in the cage that she could be sitting on causing it to stick to her and not just fall away?
Can you wash her butt and then stay to watch her poop? Rabbits poop all the time, a berry at a time.

 

[squidpop]

I think its a little looser than a berry- and more sticky.

 

[ladysown]

just wash and clip. that's all you need to do. No meds. Just wash it, clip all the hair away down there. IF she has a bit of rawness due to irritation you can put ONE drop of penicillin on it to promote healing or .. I've even applied a wet tea bag to it. Clears up in no time and bunny is just fine.

She's just a young bun learning to keep herself clean. Clipping the hair back helps.

Make sure you sell her (even if the nicest of the litter). DO NOT keep her back for breeding purposes.

 

[squidpop]

It seems better now. Well, she hasn't had it again. Awww she was the one I was planning to keep. But maybe I should just keep one of the black ones- she will sell really fast because she's a light color, but noone buys the black babies- but they are the prettiest ones.

 

[AnnClaire]

I disagree with Ladysown about not keeping her. As was said, she is a young bunny learning how to groom. You can help her out by clipping her fur If this persists after the fur grows back, re-evaluate her then.

 

[ladysown]

yes, she is learning BUT if you keep her, you are perpetuating the problem. If she's slow to pick up on keeping herself clean the chances are REALLY high that her offspring will be too.

I've learned...I like easy care rabbits that I don't need to fuss with.

I used to keep them if I liked them.... then got LITTERS full of slow to learn/keep themselves clean kits. What a fuss and bother having to clip all the butts clean.

Now...I get the odd one, the occasional group...but rarely a whole litter.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I have to agree with Ladysown on this one... I do believe that cleanliness in rabbits is heritable. I just culled a young(ish) doe because her tail and genital region were soiled.

The majority of my rabbits will not soil their "bunnybuckets", or their hay if it is on the cage floor, nor do my rabbits spray urine excessively. I cannot take credit for this since my herd has always been clean in their habits... I can only conclude that the breeder had been selecting against those "dirty" traits in the years developing the herd.

If dietary influences can be ruled out as the cause, I personally would not use the rabbit in my breeding program. However, if you have a limited pool of rabbits to work with, and the individual has outstanding characteristics in other areas, you may wish to breed her and keep kits that don't express the negative traits.

As is always the case, you must make your decision based on the gene pool you have to work with and weigh the pros and cons of keeping or culling rabbits for your breeding program.

 

[MaggieJ]

For future reference, Squidpop, there are several plants whose leaves will help stop poopy butt. Both common and narrow leaf plantain and shepherd's purse are excellent and safe. Also the leaves of blackberry, raspberry or strawberry. Did a Google search and apparently all these grow in New Zealand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago
http://weeds.massey.ac.nz/weeds.asp?pid=65
http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/capsellaburspast.htm

 

[squidpop]

I have some blackberry in my backyard so did give her that. She is fine now. I can see what Ladysown is saying, something a little not right about her even if its not the slow to groom thing could be a weakness in her GI system. To me she was having something a little worse than a grooming problem- like she ate something wrong or system not working right. The poo didn't have a texture to them like grapes it was mushier and a lot of it - more than in the photo. It really could be that she ate something weird in the hay because my hay has a lot of different plants in it - like something that has little seeds and broad leaves - I just looked up weeds on the internet and it looks like Dock- Anyway, The mom had some mushy poo too around the same time makes me think they ate something.<br /><br />__________ Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:01 am __________<br /><br />I just looked up Dock and yep, there's some dock in the hay and i can see the seed clusters and dock is not supposed to be good. Will have to check hay from now on.

 

[MaggieJ]

Dock seeds can be a problem. Young leaves can be fed in moderation before the seeds develop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumex_crispus

 

[squidpop]

Poopy butt baby is fine now-- one interesting thing is-- 6 days ago when I posted she was the smalles of the 4 girls by 50 gms now she is 50 gms larger than them-- after her tummy settled she must got much fatter.

 

[AmysMacdog]

Thats fantastic! So glad she's better and growing so well!