Did my rabbit have a fit?

Question
I have an approx 7month old male grey Liondhead rabbit (called 'Twitch') we bought him from the local pet store at 8 weeks old.

He has regulary sneezed in the cage, sometimes 5 minutes on and off, sometimes never in hours, but normally at least once a day, we have tried to see if this is now to shavings/hay-type in the hutch but, so far are undecided.

Two days ago he went through a frenzy of madly darting back and forth and then a frenzy of throwing himself around almost cartwheel style on our grass lawn. We have now also noticed that when he sneezes he appears to have a tempory squeaking noise as he breathes.

I have recently introduced him to a harness/lead meaning I can taking him for walks round the garden and not lose him, he at first resisted me putting the lead on, trying with his paws to pull it off, and wriggling backwards out etc  and even trying to chew the harness, this only lasted a day and now his is quite content to let me put it on and seems to enjoy the freedom of walking around outside of his play run area.

He is daily watered, fed and held, he is cleaned out weekly. He stayed with friends on a local farm about 1 month ago for 3 weeks, when we picked him up he'd started gnawing the wood of his cage, my dad repaired and painted the cage and this seems to have mostly ended the gnawing.

Do you think his frenzy was a fit? What should we do with him, he appears normal since aside from the occassional sneezing/squeaky breathing.

Erica Holden
Suffolk
England

Answer
Dear Erica,

It sounds more like the "fit" was a wild bunny dance of joy we call the "binky."  He can't do that on a harness, but if you were able to turn  him loose in a safe, fenced yard with room to run, you'd no doubt see it again.  

I do NOT recommend leashes or harnesses for bunnies.  One small "spook" from an overhead bird, a dog in the distance, or other scary thing, and your bunny could suffer serious injury from being choked, tangled, or jerked in the wrong way by the leads.  Leashes and harnesses are for dogs, not rabbits.  They are just NOT safe for rabbits, and I wish I did not know about all the terrible injuries rabbits have suffered from them.

Better is a safe, fenced yard where he can run free under your supervision, as long as the area hasn't been treated with pesticides, fertilizers, and wild animals have not been defecating and urinating there (parasites!).  You'll be able to enjoy his binkies as he revels in his freedom, as rabbits love to do.

Hope this helps!  :)

Dana