Sick or Depressed?

Question
For the last few days, my 18 month old Flemish giant male has been acting strange.  He usually follows me everywhere and is always in my lap.  I was sick for a few days and since then he will barely come out of his cage.  He is eating and drinking normally and still loves his treats.  The first day or two he was still bouncing around but not jumping up to sit in my lap.  Now he just sticks his head out when you pass his cage and wants you to pet him right there.  Do you think he might be sick or depressed/moody?  Other than not leaving his cage except to go to his litter box, he seems fine.

Answer
Hi Cristy,

it could be a number of things.  Some of my suggestions may sound funny, but please know I am not trying to joke about this.

Rabbits are extremely good at picking up emotion/stress and non-verbal cues.  Also being creatures of routine/habit, he definitely knew something was wrong with you.

He may not be sure if he did anything to cause you to change the routine.  You can always talk to him and tell him it wasn't anything he did, reassure him it wasn't punishment or anything like that.

He may be feeling sad that you were ill and he couldn't do anything about it. Again you can assure him it wasn't his fault and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

He may be giving you space to completely recover.  You may need to re-enforce your own normal behavior to show him you are back to normal.  Like lie on the floor with him in your normal spots, chase him like normal, whatever you do that is part of your normal routine.  You may need to be a little extra happy for him to start feeling you want things to go back to the way they were before you were sick.

He may want you to make the first move, and actually show him it is okay for him to sit on your lap again.  

You being sick may have made him start to feel sick, if he has that close a bond to you.  Often stress from people in the family can affect rabbits in the family.  So he may have stressed himself a bit over you.  As long as his appetite is healthy and he is normally excited about food, and is eating well and peeing/pooping normally, he should be fine.

If it is close to his normal annual exam, you may want to consider taking him in a little ahead of schedule.  There is always the possibility he has an infection internally, but I suspect it is more the stress of the routine change and you being sick that affected him more than a physical medical problem.  The eating/drinking/loves treats is a big indicator that it's more a mental issue than a physical issue.

To help confirm this, you may want to think back if you have ever been this sick before with him, and what his reaction was to this at that time.  Further, if you've ever altered your routine with him this much before, think back to how long it took for him to adjust.  It could be a combo of both the routine change and you being ill.  It could have been doubly stressful for him.

I think the best thing you can do is spend more time around him and talk to him about your sickness, and how glad you are to be back to normal and just give him some extra attention and see if that helps.  

Please let me know how it turns out.  Write back anytime.

Lee