Fur pulling?! (Turner's syndrome bunny) (Randy?)

[bagginslover]

My 4 year old female mini lop has suddenly started pulling her fur out! At first I thought it might be her very loving partner over grooming her, but I have just witnessed her actually grabbing the fur in her teeth and pulling it! She also seems to be eating it as there in no fur in the bedding at all. Her skin is lovely and smooth, no signs of any parasites at all. She is pulling it from along her sides and around the back, but not on top, her belly hair still isn't long enough to tell if she ir doing it there as Shehave a spay operation about 3 months ago, but was found to have no womb (no idea if it's relevent, but thought it worth noting) she has never had any other health issues in the 2 1/2 years I have had her (she was a rescue).

 

[Maureen Las]

It sounds as if it could be a false pregnancy;
are you sure that she is not hiding the hair somewhere else ?

if she is eating it I have never heard of this :?

We have encountered several female rabbits at our shelter that went for spays and apparently had had it done previously

 

[aurora369]

I remember when SAS had Sekura, that she has a big false pregnancy and stuffed her mouth so full of hair she almost choked herself.

I remember a couple of other bunnies doing that as well.

Check her mouth and make sure she doesn't have a big build up of hair in her mouth.

If this is a false pregnancy, it should pass very quickly.

Make sure she's eating lots of hay to help push through the fur she is eating.

If this goes on for more than a couple of days, I would take her in to a vet to make sure she's healthy and doesn't have any skin conditions.

-Dawn

 

[bagginslover]

She has been doing it for a couple of weeks now, still pooping fine etc. I think a vet trip might be in order.

 

[tonyshuman]

A few bunnies that are spayed can still have false pregnancies, but it's rare. Are you sure that the vet didn't find a uterus because she was born without one, or it was removed? It's possible he couldn't find it--it's very rare for them to be born without one (especially since with the fur pulling it sounds like her hormones may be intact, ie she may still have ovaries). It's also possible that if she was spayed they left the ovaries by accident (or design), and just took the uterus. It's also possible that the vet just couldn't find it.

I would ask the vet to do an ultrasound of her abdomen.

 

[bagginslover]

They did tests etc, she has Turners Syndrome, and so was born without reproductive organs.
If it is a false pregnancy (her hutch mate is stil too young to neuter) will it just pass or do I need to do something for her?

 

[tonyshuman]

Wow that is interesting.

If it is a false pregnancy it will just pass. However, in Turner's a lot of the normal hormones are reduced so it would be rare for her to have a false pregnancy. However, Turner's isn't always characterized by a total lack of reproductive organs--they're just underdeveloped. It's possible that she has ovaries, but no uterus.

Our Infirmary guru Randy may have experience with this. I'll try to get his attention to the thread.

 

[bagginslover]

Thank you! Thanks for updating the title too

 

[Pipp]

The normal false pregnancy behaviour only lasts short periods and you should see a nest.

This sounds wrong. :?

But given her history, maybe it is hormonal?

I'd start taking notes, it may be behavioral or mechanical -- stress, sensitivities, parasites, some ailment maybe Randy or Pam can shed some light on...

My older mini-lop just started 'nesting' again, but it seems to be tied in to her slaves rearranging her housing without permission. She goes on a tear -- literally - shredding paper, picking up hay and plucking hair. But she does build a nest and she's over it in a day or two.

Sekura was quite old when she almost choked on her nesting hair, would have thought her hormones were long dormant, but they weren't.

Is there any stress in her life? Anything change?

(And are you're sure there's no nest?)


sas :dunno

 

[bagginslover]

The only change is Freds urges! My male Fred has recently figured out what his parts are for, and is using them (as I said before, he is still to young to neuter, and I don't have space to seperate them, not that i want to).
There is definatly no nest, and no hair in the bedding either, I have checked thoroughly.
Most confusing!!

 

[tonyshuman]

That is confusing. Perhaps it indicates that she has some of her hormonal systems intact, but not all? The reason is that rabbits are induced ovulators. They don't ovulate until they have mated with a male. If Fred is mating with her, some of the hormonal signals may be occuring, if she has part of her reproductive tract, and this leads to part of the nest-building behavior.

It sounds like a question for the behavioral neuroendocrinologists to me!! Sorry if I get a bit geeked out, that's what I study, but not in rabbits. I don't know what the exact roles of the hormones of pregnancy are in rabbits, and when they act/where they act, so I can't help with this question as well.

An additional possibility is that she's upset and is self-mutilating. It happens occasionally in rabbits. Perhaps Fred is making her literally tear her hair out in frustration!

 

[Pipp]

I'd suggest giving her some canned pumpkin daily if you think she's eating the hair, it can help nip any GI slowdowns in the bud.

And having a new boy around is most likely the cause of whatever it is -- hormones, stress, oddness!


sas :clover:

 

[bagginslover]

Canned pumpkin? I'll have a look but it's not something I have seen here (I'm in the UK) is there anything else that will work if I can't get the pumpkin??

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts so far, I had no idea Fudge was such a complcated girl!!

 

[tonyshuman]

It's not usually available in the UK. It's also hard to find the pumpkins to make yourself. Sorry!