Dave is pulling his hair out :(

[mulledwhine]

Our new bunny is pulling his hair out

We had breeding rabbits for years as children, and only ever saw this behaviour with the females when they were about to kit, non of the males ever did it!!!

He not making himself bald, could it be that he is stressed, just getting the smell of his stinky old hair out, or just making his new home feel like home?

I am at a loss

He seemed to have settled well, but today seems very unhappy

 

[suestowford]

He's only just arrived hasn't he? I expect it could be stress-related, hair pulling does often seem to be that. Not sure what you'd do about it though.

 

[mulledwhine]

It is strange , I thought it may be our dog , who is a working gun dog, and is interested, but not to the point if bothering him!

The strangest thing is I put a carrot in his run about an hour ago, I have just let the dog out for a wee, she had a sniff, Dave perked up and started eating his carrot!!!

So clearly not the dog, or maybe he is just like every other animal I have ever had, he is just plain odd

 

[Archiepoo]

what kind of set up has he come from ? if hes never been alone before maybe hes feeling a bit insecure, or if his hutch is a different height off the floor -it could be anything!

 

[mulledwhine]

He has come with his own hutch ( filthy stinky pit, but he now has fresh bedding), and he was also kept on his own .

 

[Archiepoo]

aw poor buns glad your got him out of that situation-its such a shame when small pets get neglected . maybe if he had no bedding before hes got in the habit of fur pulling to get a bit of a bed

 

[mulledwhine]

That had crossed my mind, it is deffinatly a nesting type of pulling hair

I don't blame his old owner though, she is elderly and came into ill health this year, so my sister knowing that mini wanted a rabbit ( and me being a soft touch for a hard luck story) asked me if I wanted him.

I though we were making progress, and today was the first full day in his run, but got very stressed out at being held, even though he was fine yesterday.

I am thinking that he probably had a poor diet, his face is already filling out, and his bunny double chin is deffinatly filling out , so I think he was maybe just weak and now better able to react against ' danger''

What do you all think? What that ring true?

Never had a rescue bunny as all ours were home bred

 

[Nudibranch]

There's no chance he could be a she? He definitely has boy bits? I'm just thinking with the hair pulling and "double chin" - have never known a male to have a dewlap!

ETS when I was a kid I had a female rabbit who lived - alone - in a shed and run. One day I went to clean her out and found a nest of gorgeous baby brown bunnies! Dad must have been a wild rabbit but I have no idea to this day how he got into and out of the run unseen.

 

[chattygoneon3]

Don't want to sound patronising but are you sure Dave is not actually Davina.I noticed you said he was a rescue ,perhaps they have given you the wrong information.

 

[catxx]

I would get your vet to check him over and double check he is really a he! Hermaphrodite bunnies seem to be well documented these days (BYBing probably did that).

Maybe also get the vet to check him for fur mites. They will be difficult to spot on dark fur.

 

[mulledwhine]

We were told he was a girl, but when I turned he/she over there are defiantly hmm peanuts !!!!

Hermaphrodite would maybe make sense.

I thought the double chin odd, as non of our breeding males had that , but there are deffinatly boy bits

I will get a double check when he/she goes to the vet for jabs.

Thanks all