spit wads big clumbs of her fur and hay, ok?

hi guys,

Beatrice is young bunny probably around "teenager years" but I don't really know her age, anyways, starting about a month ago she started "shedding" I don't know what it's really called and I don't see anyone spot she is pulling it off from, but it is much more soft and fluffy than her coat. it's almost like dryer lint in texture. anyways, now she's been making spit wads from her fur sheddings and her hay. to me, the clumps are pretty big in size.

is this normal for a doe of her age?

thanks for your thoughts!

Todd

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying. She's getting clumps of fur and hay together and making them soggy lumps? Or are they dry and just clumped together? When does pull fur for a nest they pull it from their stomach, so you probably wouldn't notice if that was the case. They use hay in the nest as well. Even if not pregnant, does can have what's called a phantom pregnancy, where they go through the motions of making a nest but aren't actually pregnant. Both intact and spayed does can have phantom pregnancies.

yep she's getting clumps of fur and hay together and making them into soggy lumps.

she's also throwing fur into her waterbowl and rooting through her litter box kicking it up into a "nest" of somesort, see pic. basically making a mess of her hutch.

she's not pregnant unless by immaculate conception.

She is either shedding OR she is going through a false pregnancy. If she is putting all her fur into one spot and digging and carrying hay around, she is experiencing a false pregnancy. You'll just have to let it play out.

if it continues I'll recommend that you look into breeding her as often times a real pregnancy will end the false pregnancy symptons OR you look into getting her neutered.

I do plan to have her spayed, just not the $ for it right now

she is pulling out lots of clumps of her fur, she has bald spots, and her tail looks like a stick with just little bits of fur.

is this normal or even somewhat normal?

No I don't think it is. I would take her to a rabbit savvy vet.

with tax season upon me and a couple of medical bills, my $ right now are low.

other thoughts of what I can do?

I feed her Timthy Hay, Sherwood pellets, and ocassionally a little carrot, apple, or a veggie leaf (kale, dandelion, carrot tops).

Her coat feels really nice except for the bare spots. and there's no dandruff looking stuff there, is there a way to tell if mites?

She shouldn't be pulling fur from her tail etc. That is unusual. Mites can cause dandruff, red skin and in the ears you can sometimes see crusty build up, but you usually need a skin scrape to positively ID.

What's the timber shavings that you're using the little tray? And what litter? Perhaps she has a skin irritation from something in her environment.

here's a pic of what I think to be her "completed nest", it's hard to tell in the picture but the pocket is about 3 inches deep and about 3 inches around. I've been giving her the dryer lint in hopes she'll stop pulling out her fur

the wood chips are 100% pine shavings

her litter has been of several different types/brands, and it's changed out once a week, with the pine shavings sprinkled atop the litter, there is also a littler pan beneath the floor of her hutch that has just litter. Is there a "preferred" type of littler or wood chips?

she is such a little lover sweetie and like snuggling

Just an fyi, cat litter is a big no no for rabbits. Is that what I'm seeing in your pic? It causes all kinds of issues, respiratory included. I use aspen shavings. Some people use care fresh or that recycled newspaper stuff, but kitty litter is a definite no no. Maybe others have some additional suggestions for litter?

Looks like a pretty good nest.

The wood shavings should be aspen, not pine or cedar as the phenols can cause respiratory and other issues. It's not so much a problem with solid lumps of pine timber used for construction, but with shavings and non prepared wood it's a problem (eg kiln dried pine is fine). As for the kitty litter, generally something natural is always best. Avoid clumping and scented litters at all costs. Most people here use either newspaper pellet litter, wood pellet litter, or something similar to carefresh.

no litter, no pine, will do....

could little little tiny tiny critters be living ling in litter and pine, even if I change it out once a week?

I want to create an environment that is healthy for her.

she went to the vet this morning....

Please let us know how it goes. I'm interested in knowing what is causing her behavior and I hope she's ok!

They checked her for everything under the sun, did scrapings, and found no fleas, no mites, no parasites, and no other stuff written in doctor's lingo.

They also found that all of her systems are working as designed.

Their diagnosis is that she is a sweet lovie bunny and that she is either in heat (which would be her first) or a false pregnancy. Either way there's really nothing they can do and it should pass. How long, idk?

They also recommended either pine pellets (I guess they've had all the phenols cooked out of them when processing them into pellets?) or newspaper pellets.

They too recommended that she gets spayed.

Ho long should I let her "false pregnancy" go on before I take down her nest?