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My rabbit is acting weird and passing reddish brown stools.

22 9:43:49

Question
Dear Sir/Madam,

My 4 year old female, Netherland dwarf rabbit, is acting odd. First she jumped out of the sink, covered in soap. Then she refused to be dried. Every time I picked her up, she'd jump out of my arms. I have also noticed her pebble stools are a reddish brown. I'm not sure what's going on with her. Normally her pebble stools are brown and she loves cuddles and being picked up. But tonight she is acting weird. She even jumped out of my mums arms too. I am really worried about her. She has a small ear infection that the vet is treating.

Any help you can give me, will be very greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Mikaela

Answer
Dear Mikaela,

Jumping out of the sink covered with soap and running away when you try to dry her is not "acting weird" for a rabbit.  It's survival instinct kicking in and making her want to get away from what she perceives as a dangerous situation.

A rabbit should never be bathed.  A sick bunny might need her bum cleaned up with a butt-bath, but a full-body bath is not necessary, and can be very dangerous.  I've known of rabbit who have died from the stress of a bath, and/or from the chill afterwards if they are not properly and thoroughly dried with a blow-dryer on "medium".  Best policy:  NEVER bathe your bunny.

She may be jumping out of your arms because she feels insecure and is not comfortable with your handling her.  This, too, is normal for a rabbit.  It is best to interact with a bunny *on the floor*, at her level. She is a prey animal, and being held and carried is so unnatural for her that she will take life-threatening measures to get away.  So far you've been lucky.  But jumps like this can cause serious injury.  Please don't insist carrying your bunny.  

Please read:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/shybun.html

for complete information on this.  

I cannot guess why her stools are reddish, but I hope it's not from blood and an internal injury.  Please find a good rabbit vet here:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

and have a full check done if she seems ill.  To know that, please read:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html


And for all the best, most accurate information on the care of your rabbit, please see:

http://www.rabbit.org

Dana