You may wonder why your white rabbit suddenly has a yellow stain on its fur and bottom. Various reasons can cause yellow stains in rabbits. But how can we clean urine stains from my rabbit’s fur? What are the ways to prevent yellow stains? To know the answers, let us get into the article.
Rabbits have yellow stains on their feet and bottom due to urine staining, which can be removed with cornstarch flour powder by gently rubbing it onto the fur. If the stain is heavy and smelly, it may require a wet bath, whereas if the stains are not too heavy, you can clean it with a dry bath.
This article discusses how we can eliminate urine stains on a rabbit’s bottom and fur. Also, how can we prevent a rabbit from urine stains? Let’s find it out.
Contents
Why does my rabbit have yellow stains on its back?
Usually, rabbits have yellow stains on their back due to their urine staining.
Rabbits drink a lot of water, especially in summer, producing a lot of urine, which causes yellow stains or urine-stained fur.
However, your rabbit can also get yellow stains if it cannot properly produce or clean urine from its back. As a result, if they do this behavior frequently, the feet pads, bottom, and the inside of a rabbit’s hind legs start to become yellow.
Also, some rabbits, especially young rabbits, sit on litter boxes after producing their urine, due to which the pads of the feet become slightly yellowish.
Yellow stains can occur in rabbits because of some kinds of reasons.
What are the reasons behind my rabbit’s yellow stains on its back?
Rabbits are hygienic animals. They groom themselves regularly to stay healthy and clean.
But, sometimes yellow feet of a rabbit can be a cause of concern if the bottom becomes damp, yellow, smelly, or matted or causes urine scalding, which appears like the wet, red, raw skin of a rabbit caused by the wet fur of urine.
Many problems can cause this condition. Here are some reasons behind the yellow stains of a rabbit on its back:
- Dental problem: Your rabbit cannot groom itself properly due to dental issues, which may result in a dirty bottom. It could be painful, difficult, or even sometimes impossible for them.
- Arthritis: If your rabbit has arthritis, it would be challenging for them to groom themselves because this condition of joints is very painful. Also, it can be more painful if a rabbit tries to move around, and due to this suffering, they are prone to sit on their poo or pee, which causes dirty bottom.
- Diarrhea: If your rabbit has diarrhea, its bottom may remain dirty or yellowish, especially if they are not well to groom itself.
- Obesity: Rabbits who are overweight have difficulty cleaning themselves and prefer to move around less and sit in dirty bedding.
- Urine problems: Your rabbit can have urine leakage and develop urine scalds around its bottom if they have urine problems such as bladder stones or an infection.
- Unsuitable Environment: If the living environment of your rabbit is dirty or untidy, they may struggle to clean and dry themselves.
Your rabbit can get flystrike and infected skin if its bottom remains dirty and matted, which also causes urine scalds. Fortunately, there are some methods to get rid of urine stains from a rabbit’s fur.
How to get rid of urine stains from my rabbit’s fur?
A healthy rabbit does not require any bath because they can clean themselves. But wet or urine-soaked fur may cause skin problems like urine scalds if they can’t.
However, most rabbits get afraid of water, which may cause the risk of injuries that your rabbit may attempt while washing its fur.
Wet bath
Rabbits that do not move properly or are arthritic, unable to groom themselves, may require bathing to clean their urine stains.
If your rabbit develops a sore and smelly butt, also known as urine scaling, or has too heavy urine stains, it may require a wet bath to keep the flystrike away.
So, here are some steps to clean your rabbit urine-soaked fur with a wet bath.
- Get a small litter box and put the towel in the bottom of the box.
- Fill the lukewarm water 2 or 3 inches.
- Add rabbit shampoo around a tablespoon in warm water (not more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit). Or if the urine stain is not too heavy, you can only use warm water.
- To do the wet bath effectively, you may require another person to hold your rabbit to make them a few centimeters above the water.
- After this, ensure one person gently holds the rabbit and another gently rubs the urine stain area by squishing the shampoo mix or normal warm water.
- If your rabbit tolerates it, you can put its back legs in the water. Also, try to do this washing process fast so your rabbit does not get cold.
- After cleaning with shampoo mix, take a cup of water and rinse off the shampoo mixture from your rabbit.
- Once you ensure no shampoo is left on your rabbit fur, grab a soft microfibre towel and gently rub it on their body to dry them.
This procedure could be tricky, but you must do it quickly and gently so your rabbit does not get cold.
Instead, let your vet wash your rabbit at first, and then you can repeat the same steps at home.
Also, if you use shampoo for your rabbit, make sure you use specified rabbit shampoo. Daily human shampoo can be harsh and harmful to your rabbit skin.
Therefore, ask your vet for the recommended rabbit shampoo or appropriate formula.
Dry bath
Another way to get rid of yellow urine stains from your rabbit’s bottom is a dry bath.
If your rabbit can not tolerate water or a wet bath, and its urine stains are not too heavy on its fur, you can clean it with a dry bath.
However, most rabbits can tolerate dry baths only if you do it carefully and gently.
- Gently put your rabbit in a comfortable position and put the rabbit in a belly-up posture. Also, ensure that your rabbit’s neck, back, and feet have a soft, padded surface.
- Take corn starch powder or baby care powder and apply it on urine-stained fur. Do not use talc powder, as it has scents and chemicals that can be harmful and causes nasal or skin irritations.
- Gently rub the corn starch powder into targeted areas (urine-stained areas) on the feet and inside the bottom.
- After this, you can gently comb the powdered fur with the help of a flea comb. Again, make sure you do not pull it too hard.
- Once the powder coats and helps pickups the urine, you may pat and stroke the fur to remove excess powder from your rabbit’s body.
- When you ensure no more powder is left behind, you can put your rabbit in the cage, clean out its litter box, and remove the falling material from the dry bath.
How to prevent a rabbit from getting yellow stains?
After cleaning your rabbit’s yellow bottom, you may wonder to prevent them from getting urine stains or dirty bottom.
Fortunately, grooming your rabbit can help to prevent dirty bottoms, urine stains, or scalds.
So, here are some ways to prevent your rabbit from getting yellow stains or dirty bottoms:
Regular grooming
To prevent urine stains, ensure to regularly groom your rabbit if they can’t do it alone. Keeping your rabbit clean often will not only develop bonds but also prevent yellow stains and urine scalds.
For that, you can set up a cleaning schedule daily and weekly, which includes regular brushing with a soft comb, checking its tail area, and trimming its nails when necessary.
Check the bottom regularly.
Regularly check the bottom of your rabbit, whether they have health issues.
Your rabbit can get defecation and urination problems, including skin irritation, matted fur with feces, hair loss, wet fur, or skin.
Always clean the bottom of your rabbit to remove matted fur; for that, you can use safe wet wipes if necessary.
Suitable cage
Rabbits are hygienic animals. They always try to clean themselves or need a little help. Therefore, They always require a clean cage.
To maintain a comfortable and clean cage for your rabbit, you may require a daily and weekly routine to keep its home mold-free and in good shape.
Proper diet
The staple diet of a rabbit should include at least 85% hay, 5% fresh pellets, 5% fresh fruits, and 5% fresh vegetable or green leaves.
A high amount of calcium in your rabbit’s diet can cause urinary problems, whereas if it has too much protein or carbohydrates, it will lead to digestive issues.
Also, if your rabbit is overweight, then it may not be able to groom itself or not even reach its bottom to eat feces. Therefore, a proper diet is essential for your rabbit to stay healthy.
Regular checkups
Whether your rabbit is suffering from health problems or not, it is essential to take them to the vet for regular health checkups. Even a healthy rabbit requires a health checkup once a year.
Also, looking out for your rabbit to identify the signs of the unitary tract, teeth, and kidney problems is essential.
Do rabbit fur change color?
Rabbits change their fur color frequently over throughout the year. A small rabbit may also change color several times before reaching adulthood.
This condition is caused by molting and adjusting to the changing seasons.
However, if your white rabbit turns yellow, it is because of urine staining. In addition, when your rabbit cannot groom itself due to some condition or health problem, it may cause its bottom and feet to be yellowish.
Also read: How To Clean Rabbit Urine Stains?
Conclusion:
- Rabbits have yellow stains due to their urine.
- The urine stains remain on their back because they can not groom themselves properly due to some conditions or health problems.
- A dry bath can clean rabbits’ yellow stains if the urine-soaked fur is not too heavy.
- Your rabbit may require a wet bath if the stain is heavy and if they can tolerate it.
- Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent yellow stains from your rabbit.
- The color of rabbits’ fur changes due to molting and adjusting to the changing seasons.
FAQ
How to clean urine stains from the floor?
You can remove the urine stains of a rabbit from the floor with the help of white vinegar or a solution of diluted white vinegar.
For the diluted white vinegar formula, add 1 cup water and 1 cup pure white vinegar in a spray bottle. After this, spray the solution on the stained floor.
However, if the floor stain is dry, wait 5 to 10 min after spaying and soak it with a towel or cloth. Also, if you have a tough stain, after the vinegar solution, you can add baking soda to the floor stain for extra cleaning.
How to clean urine stains from the cage?
To clean the urine stains from the cage, you can wipe your rabbit’s cage with hot water by using white vinegar to remove urine deposits.
Also, if your rabbit cage is small, you can wash and rinse it off with hot water in the bathtub or with the hose pipe.
Reference: frontiers, NCBI