Hello,
I’m sure a lot of what I’m about to say has been mentioned in previous posts, but there’s a few things I wanted to address altogether and felt it wiser to just make a whole new post. I apologise in advance for my somewhat unnecessarily long post.
I have a mini lop, Theo, who celebrated his first birthday a few days ago. Previously we lived in a rented house and Theo was only let out his cage when I was around to supervise (which was a lot of the time), but since moving, he now has his own room and has been given completely free roam. The room is spacious with lots of levels and a windowsill for him to lie across and he seemed pretty content with his new space, however over the past week he’s been displaying quite destructive behaviour – he’s knocking things off shelves, sneaking under cabinets, chewing well hidden wires, throwing his food bowl around, and he just won’t seem to sit still with me. He’ll climb all over me and start chewing/tugging on my hair. Theo has already gone through the dreaded puberty – I’ve endured the humping, spraying and moody thumping. After his castration I litter trained him again, and he’s been so good ever since – but along with his recent destructive behaviour, he’s now pooing all over the place – in piles, and little droplets here and there. I cleaned out his litter tray in case it was his way of telling me it’s too full, only to discover he then wee’d on my cushion and one of the sheets lay on top of a surface for him. This behaviour is very unlike him, he’s usually a very relaxed, loving little guy, who loves nothing more than to lie next to me watching a film and shower me with licks. Has anyone else experienced a similar shift in behaviour unrelated to puberty?
To give you a bit of a backstory, Theo was diagnosed with Pasturella (snuffles) just 2 weeks after I bought him, and was on a course of medication for a month, but has been happy and healthy up until recently. Two weeks ago he started to get the snuffles again, and along with this had began shaking his head vigorously and scratching the backs and insides of his ears. I took him to the vets, and they gave him treatment for ear mites, despite there being no sign of ear mites? Needless to say it did nothing. I then got a repeat prescription of his medication (baytril) and he has been on that for the past 2 weeks to prevent any build up of bacteria inside him or spreading. Unfortunately Theo now dislikes being picked up, because he associates it with him medication, so I’ve started to mix it in with his food instead. Could it be a reaction to the medication that’s sending him crazy? Or do you think it may be something more severe and linked to his health as a whole?
Theo is very jerky recently, restless, and startles easily. He still loves food and is constantly eating, but he isn’t as quick to wolf down his nuggets like he used to.
I should also add that since moving we’ve had to change vets, and after the whole ear mites thing, I’m reluctant to pay to get any sort of help or advice from them – they just seem to not know the first thing about bunnies. The vet wouldn’t even let Theo sit on the table, she just gave him a quick check and shoved him back in his cage…. Horrible.
Anyway, I’m struggling to understand this complete shift in behaviour, and any advice or words of wisdom would be much appreciated!!