hello I am new to this group, I adopted a bunny on July 16th I have educated myself lots before purchasing her as my first pet bunny, her name is pumpkin and she has been overly grooming herself I attached a pic of her spots she licks and bites, she is only 13 weeks an indoor bunny, acts normal, only concern is her drinking more, she binkies all the time, she roams the house we have no other pets it’s a very clean home. Is she moulting? Or should I be concerned?
13 week lop bunny
- Thread starter Alybrooke
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Might be some moulting but you need a vet check to rule out mites or bacteria ASAP. Very cute too.
Any sign of dandruff, flea dirt, or scaly or crusty skin? Does the fur look chewed short, or does it just look thinned out? Do you see her actually biting excessively at her skin and at that spot? Any excessive scratching? Any other chew/fur loss spots?
What's the exact diet you're feeding her(type and amount of pellets, hay amount eaten in a day related to your rabbits body size, and the quality of the hay-eg. soft leafy, mix of leaf and stem, mostly stems; and any additional foods and amounts)? About how many ounces would you say she drinks in a day, and what is her approx. weight? When you feel along her back and hindquarters, do the bones of the spine and hips feel well fleshed and roundish, or do they feel very sharp and boney?
What's the exact diet you're feeding her(type and amount of pellets, hay amount eaten in a day related to your rabbits body size, and the quality of the hay-eg. soft leafy, mix of leaf and stem, mostly stems; and any additional foods and amounts)? About how many ounces would you say she drinks in a day, and what is her approx. weight? When you feel along her back and hindquarters, do the bones of the spine and hips feel well fleshed and roundish, or do they feel very sharp and boney?
No dandruff, or scaly skin, she looks normal those spots are growing back now, she would like bite and pull her fur and it would be like a dry crunchy area but only on her foot, she has never done it so low it shows her skin. her body feels well fleshed her nape area is bony but her body and spine and hips are all well fleshed and chubby. we feed her pellets almost 1 cup a day, a carrot and some spinach in the morning 1 mini baby carrot and 3 pieces of spinach when we get home from work we give her a blueberry and before bed a blueberry and 1 carrot we give her a strawberry twice a week when she is good! she drinks lots of water not sure on ounces but she drinks her bowl fool. she eats hay a lot but she likes her pellets more I just leave tons out for her so it’s hard to tell exactly how much is eaten. But I have toys with hay in them and the hay is empty. she grabs her ear a lot and will lick it, she’s very energetic but also very calm and sometimes hormonal. Pumpkin is very much addicted to her pellets I do think she should eat more hay. any advice on anything? she’s my first bunny so I’m all ears.
She's probably getting more pellets than she needs. You could try reducing pellets some. When I had my babies, I fed twice a day(12 hours apart) and enough pellets to last 8 hours, then the last 4 hours til the next pellet feeding, my baby buns would eat grass hay. I found this is the balance that worked best, to provide enough nutrients for growth, and enough hay consumption to keep their digestion moving well(good size fecal balls) and prevent mushy cecotropes from developing. A pile of grass hay the size of their body, per day, is generally what's the recommended minimum amount for rabbits.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/hay.html
So for your bun, you could try 3/4 cup split into two feedings, and see if that gets her eating hay better. You just don't want to reduce pellets too much at first, only to find out she's losing weight because she isn't actually eating the hay well. So a gradual reduction of pellets, monitor and ensure good hay eating, and once to twice weekly weight checks and check of body condition(not feeling boney) to make sure good growth is still happening, and no unhealthy weight loss.
With the fur chewing, she doesn't look stressed to me, but if it seems like she is acting stressed by being in a new home, that could cause some odd behavior like fur chewing. It may also be due to some stomach upset or pain, like gas pain, from something she's eating. Or possibly from slow gut motility from a lack of fiber, from not eating enough hay.
Usually stomach upset will cause a lack of appetite and other signs of pain, but it's possible for rabbits to manifest discomfort differently than would be usual, and fur chewing at a spot near the belly, could be a sign of this. Fur chewing can also occur from insufficient nutients and protein in the diet, but since you're feeding pellets, they are basically bunny vitamins, so this seems the least likely cause for your rabbits fur chewing.
It could also just be that she got something stuck in her fur and decided she needed to remove it by chewing it out.
https://companion-animals.extension.org/rabbit-behavioral-problems-barbering/
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/hay.html
So for your bun, you could try 3/4 cup split into two feedings, and see if that gets her eating hay better. You just don't want to reduce pellets too much at first, only to find out she's losing weight because she isn't actually eating the hay well. So a gradual reduction of pellets, monitor and ensure good hay eating, and once to twice weekly weight checks and check of body condition(not feeling boney) to make sure good growth is still happening, and no unhealthy weight loss.
With the fur chewing, she doesn't look stressed to me, but if it seems like she is acting stressed by being in a new home, that could cause some odd behavior like fur chewing. It may also be due to some stomach upset or pain, like gas pain, from something she's eating. Or possibly from slow gut motility from a lack of fiber, from not eating enough hay.
Usually stomach upset will cause a lack of appetite and other signs of pain, but it's possible for rabbits to manifest discomfort differently than would be usual, and fur chewing at a spot near the belly, could be a sign of this. Fur chewing can also occur from insufficient nutients and protein in the diet, but since you're feeding pellets, they are basically bunny vitamins, so this seems the least likely cause for your rabbits fur chewing.
It could also just be that she got something stuck in her fur and decided she needed to remove it by chewing it out.
https://companion-animals.extension.org/rabbit-behavioral-problems-barbering/
