Stressed out rabbit – gut problems?

[Brambino]

Bramble has been acting quite odd recently. She is 6 months old and unspayed. She is scheduled for her op on the 29th.

She has been a lot more stressed than usual. She has been very jumpy, and needy. She is still eating (though maybe not quite as much hay) and pooping but her poops are on the small side. She has also developed a little runny eye. This is not unusual for her but generally relates to her stress levels. Recently she went nuts (like bezerk, which is super unusual for her) when I put her in her cage overnight so I’ve started leaving her out. She has also started to jump up at us to catch her, but not in a happy way, kind of in a stressed and desperate sort of way. She then proceeds to try and get as close to our shoulders/neck as possible. Her breathing seems very fast when she does this.

When she licks us her tongue feels quite hot. I presumed this was fairly normal but with her stress levels now i’m not so sure.

She is still binkying and zooming but seems to have these ‘episodes’ for half an hour to an hour a few times a day where she’s utterly freaked. I have no idea what to do or how to calm her down. Could it be hormones causing this? Nothing else has changed. Though I work during the day so I wouldn’t know if there were any unusual noises.

If she’s sick I will reschedule her spay but they seem more mental than physical problems….

Any and all ideas welcome!

[jerseygirl]

Could you have some unwelcome furry little visitors in the house?

[Brambino]

Hey JerseyGirl I dont know if you mean cats or baby buns lol.

We do actually have a cat flap from the old owners (though we don’t have a cat ourselves). Im fairly sure it’s switched to the shut position. We did this when we moved in but i will double check tonight. We haven’t seen any cats but there is a slim possibility. Could this cause her behavior?

If it’s baby buns you meant, then no. As far as i know she’s a very innocent bunny!

Thanks for responding I feel really awful for her as something has clearly got her stressed.

[jerseygirl]

I mean mice .
Even if under the floor, she might detect mice or rats. They can be attracted to the feed and hay.
Or if a neighbour is doing some renovating, they (pests) might go to next house if their habitat has been disturbed.

Maybe some other animal has come near the cat flap also?

All guesses of course!

[Brambino]

Oh I see! Lol

It’s possible, definitely. We’re in a fairly rural area with farms around. I might buy a humane trap and see if there are any critters lurking!!

Thanks for the suggestion

[jerseygirl]

She has also started to jump up at us to catch her, but not in a happy way, kind of in a stressed and desperate sort of way. She then proceeds to try and get as close to our shoulders/neck as possible. Her breathing seems very fast when she does this.

The only time mine have tried to climb into my arms (like asking to be picked up) was at the vet one time. I figured they were afraid of something they could smell. That is why I thought this may be the reason for Bramble doing this.

[Brambino]

Thank you! It would be kind of cute if she didn’t seem so terrified! I will grab a trap tomorrow and see if we have any unwanted pests!

Cheers

[Azerane]

The behaviour does sound like stress/fear behaviour and she’s going to you for help. Have you changed anything in her environment recently? Even the smallest thing like repositioning something on a shelf? That happened with Bandit once, something was in a different place and I guess it looked really different and scary and he was constantly trying to climb me and get away from it and escape his pen until I figured it out.

Since the fear is only in episodes, it is possible that it is mice or even a new sound from neighbours that only she can hear that’s freaking her out.

[Brambino]

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I think we have found the problem! Our neighbours cat has been stating through our patio doors on an evening! We haven’t seen him because the light reflects back in but Bramble obviously sensed he was there. We closed the curtains last night and today and she seems so much more chilled out. Maybe I should close them during the day too, I don’t know.

Thanks everyone

[Azerane]

So glad you found the solution I had neighbours cats that would do that too, such a pain. I felt bad chasing them off (because I love cats) but for the benefit of Bandit it had to be done. I liked having the curtains open during the day to let the light in.

[jerseygirl]

Oh lucky you spotted it and checked the cat flap!

Could you prop something in front of the lower half of the doors during the daytime? So you can have the curtains open.

[Author]

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