Self Mutilating?

[cirrustwi]

Ok, so I know you aren't supposed to playfavorites, but Sage is my favorite bunny. He came to me at adifficult time and just has the best personality. I love himto death, and now I feel like a terrible, unobservant mother.I just went in to tell the buns goodnight and give them some extra oats(had to after that poor hungry bunny and I'm going to baby them thenext couple of days to soften the blow of a new bun on Sunday), anywaySage came out of his cage like he always does to sit on thetop. I was giving him a pet and noticed his ear was lookingjagged at the end. (He is a lop.) I looked at itand it seems like it was chewed, but it is all healed -- no scabs oranything raw. I have no idea when this happened orhow. He hasn't been hanging out with the girls because Icaught him trying to mate with Daisy (he has always been so wellmannered LOL), so he hasn't been out where they could chew onhim. Maybe Daisy could reach him through the cage bars, butshe absolutely adores him. I don't think it has been therethe entire time I've had him, but maybe it has.

I feel awful. I don't know if I missed it and should considermyself lucky it didn't get infected or if it was there when I got himand I never noticed before. I wanted to blame my ferrets, butthey aren't out together and I watch everyone very closely when theyare out and about, so I can't blame them.

Do bunnies self-mutilate? If so, does anyone know why or whatI should do? It looks fine, but I don't know what to do if itcontinues.

Thanks,

Jen

 

[Buck Jones]

I've never read of self-mutilation other than inincidents involving scratching one's self 'til bleeding andsuch. Certainly have not experienced it.

Perhaps, some of our breeder members might have more anecdotal experiences to share regarding the topic.

Buck

 

[pamnock]

Self mutilation is not unusual in rabbits andI've posted onthe subjecta couple times on thisboard. Fur chewing (barbering)being one of the most commonform of self mutilation. A few of the cases I'veseen have included ear chewing, chewing the side open and a buck whochewed his testicles open and devoured his rear foot completely to thebone.

Here's a previous post I made on the subject:

You'll find that the tendency toward self mutilationcan behereditary, so I don't advise using those animals for breeding.

A collar can be put on her until the ear heals, and I'd fill the cagewith hay until the ears heal. After that, I'dtapeback the ears, re-taping them daily to be sure she hasgood circulation in the ears.

In some cases, the animal will mutilate itself so badly that it has tobe put down -- however, I have seenother cases spontaneouslycease as mysteriously as they started.

Pam

 

[showrabbits]

Hi,

I am having trouble with one of mygirls right now chewing onher ear. It is pretty comon for english lops to do it. The leadingcause is if the ear got wet and frost bit or started stinging so theychew on them. This gal though wont stop chewing and I have to keep theear taped up and with bitter apple sprayed on it tokeep herfrom chewing on it. I wouldnt blame yourself the ears gettattered all the time and I think that the edges are realy fragilebecause alot of times you see what you are noticing. Most the time ithappends in the nest box or rather when the babies start to leave thenest because they are all pretty clumbsy and step on their ears alotcausing them to become tattered. It probably did happen before you gothim because it sounds like it is a older injury. If you show him justwatch out for white spots wich are a dq. Also it is a dq if itnoticably attracts from the appearence of the ear.

 

[Lissa]

cirrustwi wrote:

Maybe Daisy could reach him through the cage bars, but sheabsolutely adores him. I don't think it has been there theentire time I've had him, but maybe it has.

You should pull Daisy's cage away from Sage's cage. See ifthat solves the problem. Otherwise, listen to Pam.I've heard of bored and stressed out bunnies being self destructive,but that isn't that common either.

 

[BunnyMom]

Poco chewed most of her own tail off. She hadfallen and broken it in a spot which was healing. We had gone out oneday and when we came back her tail was GONE up to the point of thefirst injury.

I took her to the vet. I gave her baytril orally and put silversulfadine cream on the scab until it healed. She's fine now. The vetthinks the first injury was probably irritating her, causing her tobite at her tail.

You may want to have your vet look at Sage's ear just in case. Maybe there was something irritating his ear when he bit it.

 

[sandhills_rabbits]

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunny's ear! I'mglad that it appears to be healed, though. I havent ever had anyexperience with a rabbit self-mutilating itself, but we do have a 7week old bunny named Cupcake that is a obsessive-compulsive 'barber'.Whenever my daughter or I hold cupcake and are'nt careful with how weare wearing our hair, Cupcake will literally chew off big chunks of ourhair. We dont even realize she's doing it until we hear these horribly"chomp chomp" sounds, and then see big locks of hair that have beenchewed off of our heads.