Other Behavior Questions Rabbit

Question
Hello,
our bunny is now litter trained but now we have another problem. You see, we have a french lop, and sometimes when we get up in the morning she bit off some of her own hairs. As if their bothering her at her face, she has this collar-like fur around her nek, and from there she tried to remove hair. Is it because she's bothered by the hairs? Or is our bunny in stress?? The hair is like a small pile, or small piles. Not just a few but like a small pile of hair. I hope to hear from you soon! Thanks alot! Kind regards, Zsuzsika van Dijk  

Answer
Dear Zsuzsika,

If your bunny is not spayed, then she may be having a false pregnancy.  At the culmination of the false pregnancy, she will pull fur from her sides, chest and neck to line her nest, which she will usually build with stuffing from pillows, hay, anything soft she can find.

The cycle will end in a couple of days, but will usually repeat itself over and over until she is spayed.  This surgery is important for her health, as unspayed females have a very high risk of uterine cancer (even if the ovaries are removed and the uterus left behind; best to do a complete ovariohysterectomy, though this is not always done in Europe).  Please find an experienced rabbit vet here for a consultation about the spay:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and read more about this here:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

Hope this helps.

Dana