I have a male indoor rabbit. All of a sudden, he has stopped using his litter box, is going to the bathroom everywhere in his cage, and lying in it. His hind-end is so matted that his hair is falling out. I give him baths about once a week, but it's not helping.

Has he been neutered?

Have you taken him to your vet yet?

No, my vet doesn't really do rabbits and I don't know of another one in the area. He's eating and drinking normaly it's just this not so neat anymore thing. People tell me that 4/5 is pretty old for a rabbit. He's spoiled rotten. Lives inside in a three story cage. When we got him he was suppose to be a mini-a mini elephant maybe, a mini rabbit not!

I've emailed a rabbit expert I know, so hope to have some help for you soon.

From the bunny lady --

This is definitely not a sexual maturity issue if he's already 5 years old, and he's always been potty trained.

Has she changed his food recently, or added anything new to his diet? Has anyone new (pets included) been introduced to the household? Has anything new been introduced to his cage?

If he's eating and drinking then he's not physically sick, at least not on deaths door. It sounds to me like he's stressed about something. It could also be an allergy to something.

Sadly that's only a guess. She really does need to find a rabbit vet, and I agree with her, she can't just go to her regular vet with this, she has to find a bunny vet.

I would tell her not to bath him weekly. That will only make things worse. I realize he has a dirty bum, but cleaning the cage twice a day should keep him from getting too dirty. Cleaning off whatever he gets into with a warm wet sponge and then brushing him daily, is much better then weekly baths. The excessive bathing is not good for his skin, and that's likely why he's losing fur.

Also, 5 years is not even middle age for most breeds. Rabbits can live to 12 years of age if they're spayed or neutered and well cared for. This is not an old age issue.

No has was not neutered. This morning I I am going to call the vet again (probably get the same "i don't really do rabbits" but I noticed this morning he's not pooping. It seems to be coming out looking like clear, bubbly snot! He stinks big time. He's still eating and drinking. The only thing different I have done latley is got him a new food dish that attaches to the side of his cage because I was tired of him dragging his old one around and dumping his food every were. Now he just seems to sit in front of the food dish making this giant smelly mess of himself and his cage. I won't even pick him up without a towel because he has made such a mess of himself.

I had the same problem with my bun. 1st you want to clean his bum area. Do not bathe him. Take some corn starch and gently work it into his fur using your fingers (I wore latex gloves on my hand... you can feel the mess better than with thick rubber gloves) just using the corn starch and your fingers will start to get some of the messy from his bum but you will want to use a very fine tooth comb also to help work it out... very gently. I used a flea comb. You will need to repeat the process many times to get everything out... but it will come out and the odor will be gone. I also made an appt with a vet that deals with exotic animals. He couldn't take me for almost a week. In the meantime my bun only pooped mucus then didn't poop anything at all for days. I was so worried. I went to Petco and bought a 4 pack of Bene Bak for bunnies (it's a good bacteria that helps their digestive system) Cost around $6. Give dosage as per the back of packaging. After only one dose of it Licorice started pooping again (pellets but very small and oddly shaped) 2-3 days later his bathroom habits were completely normal and his poopy pellets were back to normal shape and size. I canceled my vet appt.
Now I am in no way a vet or even a bunny expert but I have had bunnies for the past 15 years, but please don't take what I have said as Gospel. But it is worth a try while your waiting to get into the vet. It will not hurt your bun in any way trying this. You are just feeding him good bacteria which all buns need. Your bun could possibly have GI stasis that is basically an infection. If your bun happens to stop eating you need to buy a food called Critical Care it's in a gold pouch. Most normal pet stores don't carry this so you will have to search on the web to find a store near you that carries it. At this point you may need to use a syringe to force feed him it and also with water if he's not drinking. If this happens you MUST get your bun to the vet. Without proper antibiotics a bun can die from GI Stasis.
I hope this info helps and your bun gets better. 1 more thing, do not take your bun to your regular dog and cat vet... most of them are not trained in how to deal with bunnies. You may not get any results for your bun and just wasting money. Go online and search for exotic pet vet and put your zip code in. It will bring up results with the vets closest to you. You may have to drive further than you wanted, but if your like me... You will do anything for your animals. Good luck! Carrie