is my bunny sick or pregnant?

[MariaG]

 

I'm not sure where else to write this because I'm new to this site, anyways a month ago i bought a 3 year old female rabbit from a friend and I keep her outside. She has a cage but is allowed out of it in a fenced in area from 7am to 9pm everyday so she only uses her cage at night time. About 26 days ago she got lose and was roaming around my backyard and my neighbours backyards. I noticed another bunny near her and finally caught her and put her back in her cage but she was out all day long. Yesterday she developed a dewlap. It wasn't there the day before but when I woke up to let her roam around outside for the day she had it. Today when I went to let her out her dewlap is gone, but now there's a huge kind of like abscess under her neck and near her shoulders and front paws. She's eating and pooping but I know there's something wrong. She keeps laying down and doesn't want to play. Could she be pregnant? Or could this be a tumor? The closest vet is 3 hours away in toronto and I can't really find anyone to take me there right now, but im really concered and i dont want anything to happen to her

[LBJ10]

You’re in Canada? What type of bunny was this that you saw? Cottontails cannot breed with domestic (European) rabbits. They are a different Genus and the chromosomes don’t match up. Your rabbit should be spayed anyway though. At her age, she is at a greater risk for reproductive cancers.
You say you are keeping her outdoors? Why not bring her inside? It would be much safer for her and she would be happier. Is she unsupervised running around in the backyard? This is very dangerous because something see her as a prey item and snatch her. Any outside time should be supervised. As for the abscess, could she have been bitten and it became infected. Could the “dewlap” have been an infection, swelling, or fluid buildup? I wonder this since you said there is now an abscess there. Is there another vet that is closer? Even if they aren’t rabbit savvy, perhaps they could still assess the wound and consult the vet in Toronto over the phone.

[MariaG]

i will be bringing her inside to stay i just have to buy a new indoor cage this weekend because now that it is summer it can get really hot and i dont want her to over heat, the backyard has a fenced in area just for her right beside our house and it has a roof and such so she has shade and shes protected from other predators, im trying to see if she has been bitten or stung or something but everytime i go near her she runs away, sometimes she kicks her front paws but because theyre clearly hurting her, when she kicks its very weak

[Elrohwen]

It doesn’t sound like pregnancy at all – there wouldn’t be any lumps on the chest or neck area. I would definitely get her to a vet quickly. Abscesses can be common in rabbits and need a vet to treat

[LBJ10]

That’s true too. It is possible the abscess could be completely unrelated and it is a coincidence with the timing. It could be caused by a tooth or a number of other things.

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