Rabbit acting out of character

Question
I have a female flemish giant who is just a year old. Over the last few days she has started to show possible blood in urine (it looks pink) and has today started storing grass and her fur in her mouth. She is eating fine and active around the garden.

Answer
Dear Helen,

If the bunny is not spayed, she is likely showing signs of false pregnancy.  The behavior you describe, carrying grass in her mouth, is nest-building.  It will last a couple of days, and then subside.

The blood in the urine is not consistent with false pregnancy, however.  If it truly is blood (your vet can determine this with a test strip in the urine), the most likely source is the uterus, and if she is not pregnant, then this may mean she has a uterine adenocarcinoma (cancer) or hyperplasia (pre-cancer), which is very common in unspayed, unbred female rabbits.  Fortunately, spaying a bunny with this problem almost always provides a permanent cure; this type of cancer does not seem to metastasize very quickly.  But if she is bleeding, the spay should be done as soon as possible.

You can find a good vet to spay her here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

And read more about the health importance of spay/neuter here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/spay.html

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana