Help! What to do?

[Friday_Witch]

Hi everybody,

My bunny is almost 8 y.o. She has a thymoma & sebacious adenitus, had a radiation therapy last summer, eveything seemed well. 3 days ago she started showing a very weird panic response when I walk by (could be as far as few meters away). She runs in her playpen with an extreme panic and hits herself against walls pretty badly, she even made one of her paws bleed because she was so crazy running. She let me pet her and she show no agression if I get chance approach her. But most of the times I just walk by and she go crazy hitting herself like a bird in a cage. I wrote an email to our vet and will see what she will say. But may be anyone ever dealed with a similar issue?

 

[JBun]

You may want to have the vet check her eyes. It's possible she could be experiencing some vision loss that is causing the panic episodes. Something you can try is to start talking to your bun as you approach her, to see if that helps. Also make sure the vet checks her ears in case it is hearing related instead, and you could see if she is responding to sound as well by using familiar sounds to her and checking her response to them.

 

[Friday_Witch]

You may want to have the vet check her eyes. It's possible she could be experiencing some vision loss that is causing the panic episodes. Something you can try is to start talking to your bun as you approach her, to see if that helps. Also make sure the vet checks her ears in case it is hearing related instead, and you could see if she is responding to sound as well by using familiar sounds to her and checking her response to them.

She hears the noise from food bag, so I asume her hearing is ok. Also, she is calm on my hands and might enjoy petting but she goes into panick run as soon as I put her on floor.

May be some issue with brain? She seems so normal besides this running, she clean herself, she eats, she likes petting.

 

[Friday_Witch]

You may want to have the vet check her eyes. It's possible she could be experiencing some vision loss that is causing the panic episodes. Something you can try is to start talking to your bun as you approach her, to see if that helps. Also make sure the vet checks her ears in case it is hearing related instead, and you could see if she is responding to sound as well by using familiar sounds to her and checking her response to them.

She seems like she still has her vision and all her panic episodes are related to me walking by (no panic when I am petting her). Might the partial visual loss cause it? I don't know what to think, she hurts herself to blood. :cry4:

 

[Azerane]

I agree that it could be her vision going. When you approach the sound of footsteps could be scary because she doesn't know where you're approaching from. Then she panicked and ran in to the wall of her cage because she couldn't see it. When you're cuddling her she feels secure, but when you put her down the floor she is in the middle of space with nothing to tell her where she is so she panics then as well.

 

[Friday_Witch]

I agree that it could be her vision going. When you approach the sound of footsteps could be scary because she doesn't know where you're approaching from. Then she panicked and ran in to the wall of her cage because she couldn't see it. When you're cuddling her she feels secure, but when you put her down the floor she is in the middle of space with nothing to tell her where she is so she panics then as well.

Wow, seems like very reasonable explanation. It's quit strange she developed it pretty rapid (last 3-4 days). I really love my bunny and I hope it's not something life threatening, especially given that she had so much stress with radiation already

 

[JBun]

Could you maybe add some padding to the inside perimeter of her pen, to protect her if she freaks out again? Maybe something like baby crib padding? Also adding a bunch of boxes she can hide in may help her feel more secure.

Something neurological is certainly possible as well.

 

[Friday_Witch]

Could you maybe add some padding to the inside perimeter of her pen, to protect her if she freaks out again? Maybe something like baby crib padding? Also adding a bunch of boxes she can hide in may help her feel more secure.

Something neurological is certainly possible as well.

I've already hanged blankets inside playpen, I also just tried to test her vision. She doesn't blink if I move my finger to her eye (but I use to clean her eyes last year and she is accustomed with me touching her eyes). But when I try to put flash light on the eyes she closes them. She also could definitely see a week ago when she was chasing a willow branch. I'll go to vet Friday. She plays with her toys in cage, I removed one of the hanging toys and she just was shaking the ring like "where is my toy". I don't know if she do it based on her olfaction. She hurted her paws today and avoiding stopping on it

 

[Friday_Witch]

If prof will allow me to skip class i'll take her to vet today. Do you think she could have broken her paw? She doesn't step on it, BUT she plays with hanging toys right now...

 

[Friday_Witch]

ps I don't think it's vision. I pulled out a cashew nut of a bag - she hears the noise and got exited. I move a hand toward her and she stretches her neck trying to reach my hand (in the right direction). I also placed a tunnel in a different part of a playpen - she walks straight to the tunnel.
She is fine when I am on the floor, as soon as I stand up she panics. I am already considering a crazy theories like someone braked in and scared her or I have some dissociative identity disorder and scared her without remembering it. She seems to be afraid of me standing or walking to a level when she runs into things and makes herself bleed. My bunny already had enough.

She is on medications for sebaceous adenitis, may be neurological side effect?

 

[JBun]

If she won't put weight on her foot, it is possible she injured it. It could be a broken toe or may just be a sprain.

I really can't say, but maybe your vet can give you an idea what may be causing this, and if her foot is injured, you definitely should have it looked at.

 

[Friday_Witch]

We went to a vet today. They said eyes seems ok (though pupils contraction is little slow). So they say that most likely it's a brain issue. Can be tumor, might be a parasite in brain, so we need a CT. Will call about it on morning to Manhattan Amc (our vet doesn't have ct). They also gave us some gabaergic medicine, and med for parasite (because idk when I will schedule ct so we will give her the medication so it doesn't get worse.

Funny thing bunny was way more calm at vet office than in her cage.

 

[Azerane]

I'm sorry to hear that it's neurological. Hopefully you can get things sorted out, keep us posted.