My Bunny Has Been Biting Out Her Hair For 2 Months

Question
My female bunny has been biting the hair out of her chin for about 2 months now. When she first started doing it, we looked up the strange behavior online and concluded that it was most likely a false pregnancy. (Our bunny is kept indoors all the time, and has no access to other bunnies.) After a little while we noticed that she had pulled out the hair so much that there was a big red gash left over, not blood, but you could see her skin underneath was irritated. For a little while she stopped, but then a couple of weeks ago she started again, and now the gash is about an inch and a half wide, and she drew blood from herself yesterday. What could be causing this? She isn't collecting the fur she pulls out, she just pulls and tosses it aside, so I know she is not building a nest. I have been hesitating to take her to our vet because we have had bunnies in the past and almost every trip to our vet ended in a death of our bunny at the time. It is clear that the vet close to us is not familiar with the care of bunnies. Is there anything I can do for my bunny?

Thank You for taking this into consideration.

Stephanie

Answer
Dear Stephanie,

If your bunny is not spayed, then it is very likely that she is pulling fur due to a false pregnancy.  She should be spayed for her health and longevity, but not by a vet who is unfamiliar with rabbits.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If there isn't a link to a good rabbit vet in your area there, please write back with your general locality, and I'll try to help with a referral.

It's also possible that your bunny is drooling, and that this is causing the skin under her chin to become irritated and raw, making her pull out the fur in an effort to get some relief.  Drooling is almost invariably caused by molar problems, and most commonly by molar spurs.  You can read more about this here:

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

You'll need a good rabbit vet who knows how to do a deep oral exam to find any molar spurs and file them.  This can cause more serious health problems (as can being left unspayed), so please try to find a good bunny vet ASAP.  Please also read more about the 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