Hi BunFriends,
I need some advice / opinions please!
I fostered a gorgeous little 1yo lop eared “intact” tortie bunny at the end of January called Bowie. She had been a little neglected and left in a cage (at least it was inside) for long periods without a lot of love.
She also arrived with an eye in a terrible state that will most likely be removed at the end of this month. I spent Feb and the first 2 weeks of March taking her to pretty much all the top bunny within 90mins of NY to see if there was a way to save her eye. Together with the foster organisation we decided it would be better to have the eye operation performed before her neuter as the eye is very sensitive and can tip her into pain easily. The last two weeks of March I went to Australia to see family with my daughter…. (we had to delay our Xmas trip as our darling Rosie bunny died suddenly).
Despite all this, Bowie was the MOST LOVING and affectionate little bunny. always hopping on our bed and nudging for love and cuddles…. she was a MAJOR cuddler! So relaxed and happy. She was a little humpy as she does need to get neutered, but we managed to get her to focus most of that “amorous activity” on a stuffed bunny toy 🙂
Whilst we were gone a vet tech from my local vets (not bunny specialists) stay at my house full-time to look after Bowie and our old kitty. When we returned, bunnies eye looked amazing… clear, uninfected (sadly the lens etc is blown inside so it does still need to be removed) and the best its looked since January. She was so excited to see us and we spent a joyous 36 hours reconnecting with our special little creature. But then suddenly, out of the blue, on our second morning back, bunny stopped pooping and would only eat a little fresh greens… and became very scared and antisocial and ran and hid under the bed and wouldn’t come out.
We took her to our very good bunny vets where they kept her for a further two nights, till she was eating and pooping a reasonable amount again. We were so excited to get her back. But she was still very scared and anti-social and hiding most of the time…. That little “bunny alarm” that would jump on the bed in the morning to wake my daughter for school has disappeared! We are heart broken! Other behaviours the include digging here and there (litter and hay and her bed linens).
The vets couldn’t tell us why her behaviour was so different, our vet tech sitter said she started displaying the digging a few days before we returned. I have read up a little about phantom pregnancies. And wonder perhaps if that is what it going on ? Or did she get upset that we were so bonded and then suddenly went to Australia for 2 weeks? Obviously she wasnt getting the emotional devotion and adoration from the sitter, that we shower her with, but medically she was really well taken care of. I did grill the sitter to make sure there had been no “incidents” that could have scared bunny.
Also I would be interested to hear, what others would recommend if they do feel that this is hormonal (she is now 14 months old so surely past being a teenager?) Do you think we should get her neutered before having her eye removed (which is a far bigger and more complicated surgery).
Any input or ideas would be greatly appreciated. We really love this little buns and just want her feeling secure and happy again.
Thanks so much for reading this LONG email !