Pulling fur and attacking cat!

[Elle <3]

My bunny started attacking my cat tonight, I had to drag her away from my poor kitty who was so good and didn’t bite back, just tried to run away from her naughty bun sister. She’s now pulling out her own fur! The only thing that has changed is I’ve gone back to using Timothy hay rather than pasture hay. She’s made a nest burrow thing in the hay and is now pulling her own fur out from all over her body and putting some in the hay nest. She’s also thumping like a crazy bunny. There’s no chance she could be pregnant as she’s never been around other bunnies. My poor cat she keeps really hurting her. I’m also worried she may actually be eating her own fur. What can I do please help?!

[jerseygirl]

Sounds like she’s having a phantom pregnancy. You just have to let it run it’s course. If she has built a nest, then it should only last another day or two. In the meantime, best keep her and kitty separated.
How old is your bunny? Have you considered have her spayed?

[Skitty]

Sometimes buns think they’re pregnant when they aren’t. As jerseygirl said, it’s probably what people refer to as a phantom pregnancy. This can last from about a day to about a month (and that’s REEEEEALLY pushing it) She’s basically being defensive to protect her “babies” and building a nest out of her own fur is completely normal. She’ll mostly remove some fur from her dewlap (the fatty chest lump) and sides and it’ll grow back soon. Just keep her away from drafts in the meantime. She’ll start to get along with the cat soon but she’ll consider it dangerous until she realizes that it poses no threat to her babies since she’s not having any.

[Elle <3]

Thank you both, sorry I haven’t replied but it put my mind at ease to know it was somewhat normal behavior for bunnies. She built a lovely soft little nest and then like a day later she was over it and destroyed the whole thing by digging in it for hay to eat lol. Bunny and kitty are besties again.

[Author]

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