Breed/communication

Question
Hello!

I have a bunny that is only about three months old (dec 7).  She is very sweet and everyone loves her.  Latley she has been demonstrating some behavior that i have never seen her do and i was wondering if you could help me figure out waht she is trying to say.

She recently is now overturning her food bowl.  she moves it into the middle of her cage and over turns it.  She does this when it is empty or has pellets in it.  She normally eats the pellets so i dont know if she is saying she does not want them.  When greens are in the bowl she does not do this.  And this is a very new act.  Also, she has a litter pan in her cage. When i first got her she would sleep in the pan and go to the bathroom in other areas.  finally i got her potty trained and for over a month she had been using it.  Now recently with the bowl tipping, she is now sleeping in her litter pan and going to the bathroom in the cage area.

Also, i was wondering what breed she is.  I took her to a pet store and they think she is a dwarf mix.  She is very small with loppy ears that sometimes stand up partially.  She is white with dark eyes and grey ears and grey markings on her.


thanks !
Katie  

Answer
Does she have toys and time out of the cage to play? Bored rabbits will often tip over their dishes and throw them around as toys. Also, if you are putting things other than pellets in her dish, she may be turning the dish over to see if anything more tasty is under the pellets. Many rabbits learn the bad habit of digging in the dish or dumping the dish this way. It is usually best to provide pellets in one dish and other, more tasty foods in another. Since she has already developed this habit, I would suggest getting a heavy crock that she cannot tip over to put the pellets in and just use the current dish for other foods.

As for the litter box, she may just find it more comfortable. Try offering her a box with some hay in it to sleep in. You may have to re-litterbox train her, but this should help with the problem in the long run.

As for the breed, that can be very difficult to determine. Many pet rabbits are mixed breed, and since most breeds do not have a huge difference in basic genetics between them, the crosses can look very generic. Things like a special coat or colour can easily be cancelled out when a rabbit is cross bred. Colour usually has very little meaning as far as determining breed because many breeds come in a wide variety of colours.

However, you did give me a very crucial clue. You mentioned her ears were lopped and she is very small. In the USA, there are currently 7 breeds of lop earred rabbits. Only 5 are showable, but 2 others exist and are bred by several breeders. English Lops and French Lops are giant breeds, so they would not be what yours is. Mini Lops are smaller, but still medium-sized, so it is not likely she is a mini lop. American Fuzzy Lops can be quite small, but they have long hair, so if she is short-haired, she would not be that. Velveteen lops have very long (like nearly a foot-long) ears and a coat that is short and exceptionally soft like velvet. Mini Plush Lops can be very small, but they have the same fur type as velveteen lops.

So if she has normal fur, she is most likely a Holland Lop. These come in a very wide range of colours, and they are the smallest lop breed. Their maximum show weight is 4 pounds, and they can be much smaller than that.