General Question about my rabbit..

[HyperRabbit01]

First of all, if this thread is in the wrong place, I'm sorry! Lol I didn't know where to post this thread. So anyway, I've had my rabbit for about..2-3 years and some change.
Lately I've noticed that he's been acting a little weird, now hay/water is available 24/7 and I go easy on the pellets, recently switched him from the treats hes addicted to, to the oxbow papaya tablets (he loves them anyway).

But from time to time out of nowhere, he starts peeing everywhere (and he's litter trained), refuses to eat any food/hay/ anything till like an hour or 2 later he starts eating/drinking/pooping as if nothing happened and it's happened before even if he has eaten throughout the day he'd just randomly out of nowhere start acting like this.

Now I have no idea what to do about him because I don't hear any gurgling noise coming from his stomach, and like I mentioned above, his eating habits are fine, #1 and #2 is fine, he's never spent more than 6 hours without eating/drinking/going #1 and #2 (thank god).

But yeah, whenever this happens to him is a really scary experience for me lol forgive me for the long paragraph.. any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Imbrium]

Welcome to RO! I'm sorry he's got you worried - I'm a paranoid bunny-momma myself, so I totally understand being concerned about anything odd that you can't explain! Unfortunately, I can't think of anything specific that would cause that behavior ><

Not eating, drinking and/or pooping sounds like the start of GI stasis, but having it resolve itself within an hour or two rules that out. Is it possible he's just full when he shuns food? The other night, I got all paranoid over nothing because Gazzles (who is normally a little piggy!) was steadfastly refusing to eat her favorite thing in the ENTIRE WORLD - a cherry-infused Craisin - while I had her out. She's never shunned Craisins before, so it got me really worried! It turned out that she must've just been totally stuffed from pigging out on leafy greens shortly before that, as I watched her like a hawk after putting them back in their pen and less than half an hour later, she was snarfing down pellets.

As for peeing outside the box, that can indicate a medical issue (like a UTI, bladder sludge, something like that)... however, the intermittent nature of it doesn't totally line up with that thought, which makes me suspect the issue is a behavioral one.

I've got some questions that might help rule things in or out...
~ Is this something that has always happened from time to time (but is now happening more often), or did it *never* happen until recently?
~ Is he neutered? [If not, hormones could potentially cause weird mood swings/behavioral shifts.]
~ Have there been any changes in his life lately? For example, a new human or animal (of any species) in the house, a significant change in your schedule (like getting a new job or changing what shift you work, starting back to school, etc.), a sudden increase or decrease in visitors to your home (friends or relatives coming over, that sort of thing)... [Most rabbits are big on routine and predictability, so it's possible a rabbit might act out when something changes.]

While it's certainly not a "rush your bunny to the vet" situation, it definitely wouldn't hurt to get him in for a check-up when you've got a chance and talk to the vet about the weird behavior. I recommend inquiring about having a urinalysis done to rule out any bladder issues - I got one done on both my girls at one point because Gaz drank so much more water than Nala (and Gaz ate a lot more leafy green veggies); it was very inexpensive ($30 range at my San Antonio vet) and it was really reassuring to find out I was just being paranoid! For what it's worth, I was actually able to get the urinalyses done without having to also get (and pay for) a regular exam (granted, my vet had seen them in the previous month or two for check-ups) - I dropped them off in the morning so the vet techs could wait for them to pee, then picked them up in the afternoon. Even if something seems like it's probably behavioral, it never hurts to rule out medical causes first .

 

[HyperRabbit01]

Imbrium, thank you so much for your response! And Yes, he is neutered. This behavior has happened a couple times before and it eventually resolved itself with tummy rubs (he loves those) and some comfort.

Whenever I put him on my bed, he just starts digging around and hopping all over the place as if he had nothing wrong with him. So I think it might be a moment where he's so full that he doesn't want to be bothered (he eats tons of hay all day and his occasional cilantro/carrot tops). As for changes in his life, not really.. I mean my godmother did visit the other day and she's a total stranger to him, so I think that may be another factor because he's used to everyone in the house.

I will consider taking him in to the vet and performing the urinalysis to rule out any medical issues just to be safe than sorry (given that it's not so expensive hopefully! I'm in New York City, so vets tend to be really costly out here haha). Thank you again so much for your response because I was really at a loss for words as to explaining the reason behind this behavior.

 

[PaGal]

If his refusing to eat is resolved with tummy rubs then maybe it is possible he has some gas causing him some pain so he doesn't want to eat but will eat again once the gas has passed. Maybe not enough gas to cause GI stasis but enough to put him off food shortly.

When he doesn't use the litter box is the pee near the litter box? I ask because my guy is going on 2 years old. I got him at ten weeks old. It took him 3 days to be litter trained. Now and then though he will pee outside his litter box but it is always right next to the litter box. I believe with him it is simply that he does not always have his bottom far enough in the litter box so when he pees the urine winds up outside the litter box.

 

[Imbrium]

Between the quick/abrupt resolution and the fact that tummy rubs are working, I'm also inclined to suspect gas as the cause for oddities in his eating habits - bunnies don't handle gas very well and have trouble getting rid of it.

I recommend picking up a bottle of simethicone (any brand of infant gas drops, found in the baby section of any grocery store/Walmart-type store) - it's ridiculously safe for rabbits. Dosing is 1-2 cc every hour for 3h, then 1 cc every 3-8h as needed. It'll help settle his tummy and make sure the gas never manages to escalate to the point of causing stasis .

As for the pee, unless he's acting out because he doesn't feel good (which isn't something I've heard of happening before, but I wouldn't put it past a bunny!), it's probably unrelated to the gas.

 

[RobinHood823]

Is he neutered? If not, he could be marking his territory with urine. My buck used to do that all the time. As for the eating/drinking problem, that could also could be hormone-related. Hope this helps!

 

[JBun]

A UTI or bladder sludge is a possibility for the peeing accidents. Is there anything unusual about his pee- thick, pasty, different color than usual? Have you noticed if the pee accidents happen when he seems to have an upset stomach? There's a possibility the accidents could be happening due to pain and discomfort from an upset stomach. I agree that the temporary lack of appetite may be from gas. Does his poop look normal, any mushy or smaller than usual ones? What veggies do you feed and have you tried any different ones that might coincide with the times he doesn't want to eat?

ETA: When do you usually notice the lack of appetite happening?

 

[HyperRabbit01]

@PaGal: When he's behaving like I described, he tends to "break" his litter box habits and goes everywhere. He's a very clean rabbit though (actually so clean that whenever he goes, he even covers his business with bedding after he's done, haha). And yes, like everyone said it was probably trapped gas and I will definitely be picking up some Simethicone tomorrow morning (thank you, Imbrium)

@RobinHood823, Yes he's neutered.

@JBun: Not that I know of.. his urine is usually colored orange with some white on top sometimes (I heard that would be due to calcium in his system) and his poop is normal, sometimes he passes fur from grooming but not all the time because he has hay available at all times and I'm always brushing excess fur off. I occasionally feed him cilantro, carrot tops, and sometimes mint, nothing that would cause him to get gas and no I haven't tried any different ones (he can be picky sometimes) and the lack of appetite just happens randomly.. like lets say this past Saturday at around 6-7pm he was his normal usual self, eating, drinking, hopping around, etc then about a few hours later (11pm-12am) I turn around and see him sitting in a corner of his house as if he was scared of something so I go up to him and 'tickle him' with a piece of hay to get him to grab the piece and eat it and he just bites it in half and runs to the other side of the house to get away from me.. that's when I knew something was wrong because he never refuses hay or food. After I rub his tummy for a good hour and half or so (with breaks in between of course) he's back to his normal self as if nothing happened.

Overall, I do suspect that it's temporary discomfort from gas because whenever he's like this, he struggles to find a comfortable position and I will most definitely pick up some Simethicone tomorrow first thing. Thank you guys/ladies for all the input!!