Gus, you act like you don’t know me!

[DocB]

Hi! I’m a first time bunny owner so I’m learning a little more every day when it comes to rabbit quirks. I need a little help understanding the latest issue, and I’m hoping you can help.

A little more than two weeks ago, I had my sweet bunny, Gus, neutered. The next day, he was his usual self: running, getting into various stuff, attacking carpet, licking my feet during work, etc. Then I went on vacation. I took him to a girl who does pet sitting. She said he ate his hay like crazy. I know they fed him quite a few carrots as well (more than I normally allow him to eat). She said he came out and stretched out on the floor for most of him time out, but didn’t eat much of his pellets. I didn’t think much about it because he was eating a lot of hay and carrots so I figured he wasn’t as hungry for pellets.

I picked him up and brought him home but he seems like a completely different rabbit. Honestly, he acts like he did when I first got him. He comes out of his cage and lays under or by my work desk (flopping down onto his side and stretching out so he’s not all balled up like I would expect him to be if he didn’t feel well) but doesn’t run around like he did. He doesn’t come over for loving like he did. He doesn’t go crazy for treats like he did. I can’t get him to go into his cage for treats like he did and he doesn’t go in there during the day like he used to. Today he was a little more friendly than yesterday, but is this normal? Any help you can offer on this is greatly appreciated!

[LBJ10]

Is he eating/peeing/pooping just fine?

Perhaps he is just upset with you for leaving. Bunnies can hold grudges for awhile after you have done something “awful”.

[DocB]

He is still eating and pooping. He’s not drinking as much water as he was before, but I’ve since turned on the airconditioning so it isn’t as hot in the house. He isn’t asking to come out of the cage either like he was before. However, once he’s out, he doesn’t want to go back in. He used to run out of my office and play around in the rest of the house as soon as the door opened, but he’s just been hanging over by my desk (which was where he would hang out when I first got him). It’s bizarre.

[RightD]

Ours did/does the same thing… We would go on vacation and leave him with the sitter, and it would take him about a week to get back in the swing of his usual routine when he got home.

The good news is that this seems to diminish over time. It only seems to take him a day or two now.

Good Luck,

– RightD

[JustineT]

The first time we left Willow at home and went on vacation for a few days (my parents looked after her), we came back and she shunned us for a week and a half. The worst thing that ever happened though was when we didn’t even leave the house – we were cleaning all day long and Willow saw us not spending time with her. That evening, we tried to stroke her and give her treats but she refused every treat, went straight to her cage and flopped repeatedly saying “I’m happy without you.” She barely hopped around too. I thought something was wrong because she was refusing her treats and not moving around but then we left the treat in her cage, left to go to bed, and when we came back into the room, she was happily hopping about her cage and her treat was gone. She saw us and went back to acting miserable.

Basically, if he’s still eating his food, drinking, and going to the bathroom normally, he’s fine. He’s just giving you a hard time because you left and he wants you to feel bad about it. Our bunny drinks a ton of water some weeks and not nearly as much other weeks. As long as you still see him drinking once in a while, I’m sure he’s fine.

As RightD said, it does get better overtime. My husband and I were in New Zealand for three weeks recently (we’ve had Willow for a year and a half now) and when we came back, she didn’t shun us much at all. She shunned my husband a bit (because he’s the one who works), but after a day or two, she was normal with him too.

[DocB]

Well, I guess that’s what it was. Yesterday he was back to being his normal self. Bizarre! Thanks everyone for giving me an idea of the normalcy of this.

[Author]

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