Over grooming bunny?

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Fiona Leathers — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:04:27 GMT

Sometimes rabbits overgroom and pluck hair if their diet is deficient in fibre or they have dental pain. Have his teeth been checked? He could be sore in the area that he's plucking too, so maybe back/neck pain or similar

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Shelly vn — Sat, 08 May 2010 09:35:59 GMT

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Hopefully now he's castrated it might settle down abit. He's got a butser collar on and is quite happy with it on. I will check with the owner about his diet, not too sure how much hay he's getting. Vicky - thanks for the behaviourist recommendation, i didn't know there was such a thing as a rabbit behaviourist! The owner is quite keen to try everything, so she might be up for that!

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Vicky RVN — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:13:00 GMT

Don't forget buster collars on buns isn't good for long, with them not being able to eat their caecotrophs! I would suggest them speaking to a behaviourist. We have always used Anne McBride, she's very clued up on rabbit behaviour. She wrote the book "Why does my rabbit?". If you can get hold of her she's worth a chat to

Re: Over grooming bunny?

ruth.e.morris — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:17:07 GMT

Hiya!

I'd be inclined to say behaviour and hormone frustration. I've heard that ceva are making a rabbit diffuser like DAP and feliway.

Maybe you could contact them and see if you could trial one out if the rumours are true?

Good Luck!

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Carrie Apps RVN A1 CertExVN GradDipVN CSQP — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:29:20 GMT

The rabbit we saw was a referral she was female, un neutered and about 8 months old. She had been overgrooming her dew lap and her hind legs for so long that by the time we saw her she had open infected wounds in the areas. They were debrided and sutured and samples sent for histo and c & s. It came back as panniculitis, ulcerated dermatits and pasturella, so put on NSAIDs and abx and a nice buster collar :) The wounds healed, the hair was just left to grow back so the collar was taken off, but as soon as the collar was take off she did the same thing again. Stitched up again, waited for the wounds to heal, then speyed her - making sure the buster collar stayed on until the fur had grown back completely! She has been fine ever since being speyed, (touch wood), but the poor bunny had the buster collar on for months!

Hopefully he will be fine now he has been castrated. But does he have enough hay in the diet? I know some rabbits overgroom if they don't have enough fibre.

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Carrie Apps RVN A1 CertExVN GradDipVN CSQP — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:28:50 GMT

Hello! I've had a bunny that did the same sort of thing, but she did it on her abdomen and dewlap and ended up with great big holes in her that needed suturing (because the owner let her get away with doing in for so long before she brought her in *sigh*). I can't remember what we did or what the diagnosis was, but we eventually fixed her! I will have a look at her case records tomorrow and see if I can pass anything on.

Re: Over grooming bunny?

Nicola Smith — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:41:58 GMT

If his skin is clear would definitely think behavioural. Does he gets exercise - I know you meanton toys but I think many do better with a good run. Any females close by that could have been making him frustrated (as his hormones wont be out of his system yet), and even so if they are in heat could be stressing him?