[LONG TEXT AHEAD]
My rabbit, Branco, has ALWAYS been an extremely active rabbit for years. Following, circling and playing around with everyone, running around someone's feet, nonstop licking, laying next to people's feet and more.
Until one day (yesterday), he abruptly stopped and wouldn't even go outside his cage. He's the happiest when he sees me but he didn't EVEN pay attention to me, I freaking panicked. He loves attention more than anything and suddenly he's hiding from everyone. He ate less, pooped less (small poop), we thought maybe he wasn't happy with the diet, because we kinda changed his diet too quick and wasn't happy with the food we gave him. He didn't even eat his favorite food. Maybe we gave him too much carrots, maybe he was sick. Either way, he only laid in his cage, came out once and stayed in the same corner in a hunched position. He only licked when we put our finger near him, he didn't follow anyone, really stayed in one position and ignored everyone.
I see everywhere that hunched up posture in rabbits, usually means they're in pain etc. The thing is, he has always been doing this position for years since little, and never resulted in any problems, even after we take him to the vets. My first question is, does this posture mean different and depends in many rabbits? Do rabbits express pain differently from other rabbits?
Now the second day (today), he became a tiny bit more social. Came to me and started licking me, following me a bit more often but still stayed in his corner every now and then, in this ball position. We bought one of his favorite pellets and he ate! I was happy at that moment.
Another weird behavior I noted is, he keeps running behind me but when I stop and go to pet him, he runs away. Literally every single time. I go to one direction, he starts licking my foot then he runs away. As if he wants to get close to me but isn't sure? That's so weird because he never did that and just 2 days ago he wouldn't even leave my feet. He's in his ball position and when he sees me walking up the stairs, he quickly runs up to me before I can take one step but when I go to touch him he's already running away. Every single time.
I know this is a lot to read and all, if you don't want to respond it's fine but if you have any explanation towards these behaviors, I'd be extremly grateful. Tomorrow its gonna be another day so I'll update if anyone may see this and is curious. Ask questions if you'd like, thank you
My rabbit, Branco, has ALWAYS been an extremely active rabbit for years. Following, circling and playing around with everyone, running around someone's feet, nonstop licking, laying next to people's feet and more.
Until one day (yesterday), he abruptly stopped and wouldn't even go outside his cage. He's the happiest when he sees me but he didn't EVEN pay attention to me, I freaking panicked. He loves attention more than anything and suddenly he's hiding from everyone. He ate less, pooped less (small poop), we thought maybe he wasn't happy with the diet, because we kinda changed his diet too quick and wasn't happy with the food we gave him. He didn't even eat his favorite food. Maybe we gave him too much carrots, maybe he was sick. Either way, he only laid in his cage, came out once and stayed in the same corner in a hunched position. He only licked when we put our finger near him, he didn't follow anyone, really stayed in one position and ignored everyone.
I see everywhere that hunched up posture in rabbits, usually means they're in pain etc. The thing is, he has always been doing this position for years since little, and never resulted in any problems, even after we take him to the vets. My first question is, does this posture mean different and depends in many rabbits? Do rabbits express pain differently from other rabbits?
Now the second day (today), he became a tiny bit more social. Came to me and started licking me, following me a bit more often but still stayed in his corner every now and then, in this ball position. We bought one of his favorite pellets and he ate! I was happy at that moment.
Another weird behavior I noted is, he keeps running behind me but when I stop and go to pet him, he runs away. Literally every single time. I go to one direction, he starts licking my foot then he runs away. As if he wants to get close to me but isn't sure? That's so weird because he never did that and just 2 days ago he wouldn't even leave my feet. He's in his ball position and when he sees me walking up the stairs, he quickly runs up to me before I can take one step but when I go to touch him he's already running away. Every single time.
I know this is a lot to read and all, if you don't want to respond it's fine but if you have any explanation towards these behaviors, I'd be extremly grateful. Tomorrow its gonna be another day so I'll update if anyone may see this and is curious. Ask questions if you'd like, thank you
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