hair pulling

Question
I have a male rabbit that is nuetered (about 4months ago)and all of a sudden he is pulling out his hair. He is pulling it out from under his neck and now is starting on his back. Is this a normal thing or what? Help my daughter is panicking.

Answer
Hi Tina,

please tell your daughter not to panick or stress out about this.  Rabbits can pick up on our stress and all it will do is make him more nervous and jumpy.

Unfortunately your email doesn't really give me any information as to what the cause of his hair pulling may be.  It could be for a number of things.

First, it could be because of fleas, ticks or mites (infestation).  This would require going to the vet and having the vet determine the cause and prescribing a solution.

Second, he could be self-mutilating himself by excessive hair pulling.  Often this type of behavior surfaces because the animal feels bored and/or neglected.  If you are spending less time with him lately, your routines have changed and he's getting less attention than he is used to, or maybe he's been moved to a lower-profile location in the house, or even if a new baby is in the house and he gets less time, this could be the reason.  The solution is to make sure you give him more time to reassure him he's loved.

If you don't believe it's self-mutilation, I would take him to your regular rabbit vet as soon as physically possible for diagnosis and treatment.

Lee