# Unhygenic dwarf



## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Okay I'll give a little background on this rabbit, then tell the problem and my only idea of what to do and if anyone else has had this experience or problem, Please give me some suggestions or advice.

I purchased an 8 week old REW Pedigreed Netherland Dwarf doe about 2 months ago(she's now 4 months)from a reputable ARBA breeder. About a month ago I noticed she was urinating all over the inside of her backlegs when she peed, but not cleaning herself:hair:hair.With that came the sticky residue(it reminded me of only what I'd seen in the bucks when they were trying to "fling the stuff with their back legs to mark territory). I waited a couple of weeks to see if she'd start being more "hygenic",but no! Mind she was bred to have almost non-exsistant legs:hysterical:.

So I started rinsing her off every couple of days, just the back bottom half. Now mosquitos are vicous here, I live in what used to be swamp land before they logged it(somebody forgot to tell the mosquitos that it isn't anymore and to leave) and the mosquitos are very attracted to the old urine smell.
So now the doe is chewing the mosquitos off of the inside of her back legs and her skin is exposed(I've saw this process from the mosquito landing till her chewing). No she doesn't have fur, ear mites,etc. all newbies are preventitive treated upon arrival.

So I've tried washing,but the urine is so sticky and dense it wasn't coming off. So after rinsing, I started to put a thin layer ofTriple Anti. on it to keep the mosquitos from aggravating it and hopefully encourage her to clean.
Still she's not cleaning and getting worse.Yesterday I went to TSC & petco, they don't carry a shampoo for buns. Knowing that it's sensitive skin & rabbits are supposed to groom like cats, I bought an all natural, sensitive skin shampoo for kittens and I'm going to wash her thouroughly and apply Triple A.

What do you do with a rabbit, that won't clean itself? Usually I wouldn't worry with it(this means that I don't keep or deal with rabbits that have issues with the basics of life and are showing no sign of improvement upon maturing). The reason I'm going the extra mile with this rabbit is my 4 yr old has claimed this rabbit & loves it. I have never seen a rabbit in 32 yrs. that is this calm or agreeable and will play for hours with a child.She is so mellow, that at first I thought she was mentally retarded.

Help! Any other things I can do???


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## BigM (Mar 22, 2008)

redneckswife said:


> at first I thought she was mentally retarded.


:hysterical:


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## Wildfire_Jewel (Nov 5, 2006)

So you have urine guards on the cages? I have one doe who cannot be in a cage with urine guards - she backs _right_ up to it and the urine splashed onto her.....


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

No, no urine guards, she just sits(kinda on the back of her tail bone-instead of having her stuff pointed straight down with her feet on the cage floor) when she pees and her legs are short and closely inset.She kinda sits like a person alot(kinda balled in a circle)I've saw it just run off the inside of her legs. It's hard to explain without seeing.

Any ideas on treating her without culling her?


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## ChocolateMouse (Jul 31, 2013)

I've experienced a mini lop buck that doesn't groom. He gets urine on his legs and leaves it there, and doesn't clean his feet and they mat up... The inside of his legs, it's like looking at a skinned bunny sometimes. I just take a damp paper towel to his legs 2X's a week and remove his excess foot fur while I'm at it.


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## Wildfire_Jewel (Nov 5, 2006)

Is her "parts" formed correctly? I have had one mini rex born that we could not even tell the sex on because the parts were not formed right (I suspect it was a buck with a very extreme case of split penis). The bun could not pee without it getting on itself. The way you describe the bun - I wonder if the rear is just not formed correctly and if that is the case, you are going to be bathing it a lot for your little one unless you cull it. You may run into sore hocks as well due to how it sits :/


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## HayBabies (Feb 27, 2013)

Maybe she has a lower back, hip or hock problem. Rabbits kind of push their hind end up when they urinate. Check to see if she can stretch and bend her back legs correctly. Also check the movement in the hip joint and flexibility of the spine. Being a Netherland might add to the possibility of deformity due to the dwarf gene. Hope this helps..


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

It's interesting you mention this Wildfire, I was noticing yesterday-her parts are definitely girl, however,you are right-her stuff is not normal(normal placement, size,recession,etc.):grump:.I bet this is contributing to the issue.

I'm going keep bathing for awhile and see if any of this improves upon her aging...or shifts to more correct "placement"as she ages.I doubt it will and if it doesn't, well then....I guess I'll have to decide:awh:.

When I bought out another rabbitry, a lionhead buck that was 5 weeks old came along with his mom.I've noticed lately that he does indeed have the split penis:hair which I'd never seen before in person. I was gonna keep him as a breeder, now my daughter's friend is gonna take him as a pet.I informed him of the issue, but I don't know if the split penis will cause even more issues or bad quality of life for this animal. I've never dealt with the split penis in a rabbit....


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Haybabies, I checked just now and the hip-joint movement is not great, it seems like she is distressed and agitated with me messing with it.Like it's painful...I don't know why I didn't notice before.

:doh::badmood::hair

Great...the one rabbit with issues out of the huge herd and the kid bonded with it. 

I guess I only have myself to blame, that I didn't examine more thoroughly earlier. But I didn't really thoroughly re-examine her until I started noticing the problems as she has been maturing.

Thanks everybody for the advice.


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## HayBabies (Feb 27, 2013)

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your bunnies.

I would contact the breeder you got her from and tell them of the problem. Maybe they will trade you another bunny. They may not be aware they are breeding that kind of problem unless they keep a few babies from that mating.

If you think it is be a hip problem. It might be a injury from being handled or dropped. Might heal up on it's own. Then again it might not..

Hope it all works out for you..


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## JonM (Oct 23, 2009)

you might want to look into urinary tract problems ie calcium, read somewhere that one of the signs is stained rear legs. Might be something to check out


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## KnowOneSpecial (Sep 12, 2010)

I got as far as the title and thought you were talking about someone's husband....


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

KnowOneSpecial said:


> I got as far as the title and thought you were talking about someone's husband....


Really?Really?
Whose Snow Whites?ound:


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