Help! What is she doing?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

freaksgeeks

Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
, ,
Our bun, Maisy, keeps chewing on her bedding,all of a sudden she starts moving her neck and head up and down and wethought she was choking. We gota peice of bedding out of hermouth and she seemed fine, but then she starting moving her head again.Is this serious or does she just have something stuck on her teeth? Itsbeen like 10 minutes now, so I doubt shes choking?
 
She may be performing "nestingbehaviors". Does will sometimes pat the "nest" with theirpaws, or she may be simulating a doe lining the nest with bedding.

Pam
 
Is that what they're doing when they move theirfront paws really fast in front of them? My girls do that allthe time. Ally calls it "boxing".

Sorry to jump in on your post, Freaksgeeks.


 
We're using carefresh, its like burnt paper, I think thats what the package said.
 
Hi Freaksgeeks,

If she's chewing the bedding, I'd remove it. You don't want to end up with a blockage at some point down the road.

-Carolyn
 
And I don't think shes nesting, she does that all the time anyway. She's never done this before.
 
Carolyn wrote:
Hi Freaksgeeks,

If she's chewing the bedding, I'd remove it. You don't want to end up with a blockage at some point down the road.

-Carolyn
Your right, but at the moment I'm just worried that there is something else wrong?
 
I think she's okay now. She started rubbing hermouth with her paw, and then she started licking herself. She's layingdown now, so I think shes okay. I don't know what happened. What kindof bedding should I get now? Shes chewed the first two we tried.
 
Carolyn wrote:
Hi Freaksgeeks,

If she's chewing the bedding, I'd remove it. You don't want to end up with a blockage at some point down the road.

-Carolyn
I actually avoided using paper products for bedding because I was worried that my buns might eat it.

I use hay for bedding. Its available, safe, and clean (my buns arelitter trained so they don't soil their bedding). STraw is a goodoption, too.
 
Keep an eye on her Freaksgeeks. What a scare you've had.

I give my 'chewers' straw mats (grass hay mats) that you can get at aPetco or pet supply store. They enjoy laying on it and ifthey want to chew, they can without any harm done. It's toorisky to give her a bedding if she's going to ingest fiber.It could cause a blockage that would only be able to be cured through avery expensive surgery with no guarantees that it will work.Material doesn't break down and their systems are so delicate, I won'ttake the chance with mine that like to chew on their bedding.She's better off without at this point - that's my take on it.

-Carolyn


 
freaksgeeks wrote:
We're using carefresh, its like burnt paper, I think thatswhat the package said.
Carefresh is recycled newspaper. It's totally digestible, butI wouldn't suggest letting her dine on it too often. Basilwent through a period of eating her litter, I was using recyclednewspaper litter at that time, she didn't have any ill effects from it,and she ate a lot!! My vet said to use toilet paper with myrats because it's moredigestible. My buns gettowels, but I'm lucky, none of them chew those.

Jen
 
pamnock wrote:
Shemay be performing "nesting behaviors". Does will sometimespat the "nest" with their paws, or she may be simulating a doe liningthe nest with bedding.

Pam
LOL...Benji (our only buck) has nesting instincts and will do this, too.

He does it with his blankie. First he wrestles with it, then he digslike crazy at it, and then he stops and very gently pats it down withhis front paws, and then lays down on it.

~Jim
 
Thanks so much for your help. After I wrote, wetried holding her to see if there was anything around her mouth, butshe never likes to be held so she squirmed herself off. She ran underthe rocking chair and wouldn't come out. She kept biting anyone thatcame near her and then she started thumping and honking at us. We lefther alone for a minute so she would come out, and she finally did. Butthen she started chewing carpet, and she just seemed nervous.We found a couple clumps of fur in her cage, which we have never seenbefore. My sister thinks that shes biting her underside, and then itgets caught in her mouth. We called the vet, she said she really didn'tknow what it was, but it sounded like anxiety. But the more we watchedher, the more odd she got. She just wasn't herself. We called the vetagain and asked if we could bring her in, but they said they had 2emergencies coming in and they were just too booked. We called anotheranimal hospital and then said to bring her in. My sister just left withher, so I don't know whats going on now.

She hasn't been spayed yet, we were looking into different vets to doit, she's been going through mating frustration, tearing up her cageevery night and biting us if shes in a bad mood, but nothing this weirdbefore.


 
freaksgeeks wrote:
My sister thinks that shes biting herunderside, and then it gets caught in her mouth.


The does will pullfur and actually hold it inside theirmouths. I don't believe it's getting caught in her mouth.

Pam
 
Whew, turns out everything was okay. The vetthought she might have had a parasite, but they did lab work on herstool and everything was fine. He thinks that Maisy is having someanxiety, and that she just really waiting to breed. We're going to gether spayed. Thanks again for all your help!

edit: I added a picture of her in the picture thread.
 
Carolyn wrote:
Keep an eye on her Freaksgeeks. What a scare you've had.

I give my 'chewers' straw mats (grass hay mats) that you can get at aPetco or pet supply store. They enjoy laying on it and ifthey want to chew, they can without any harm done. It's toorisky to give her a bedding if she's going to ingest fiber.It could cause a blockage that would only be able to be cured through avery expensive surgery with no guarantees that it will work.Material doesn't break down and their systems are so delicate, I won'ttake the chance with mine that like to chew on their bedding.She's better off without at this point - that's my take on it.

-Carolyn


I went and got a couple of those straw mats and the buns Thank you,Carolyn. ;) They LOVE to chew on AND throw theirnew mats. ;)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top