I think my rabbit is sick...

Question
I recently moved rom fl to va and brought my rabbit with me, he is a year and half and recently he has had a huge attitude change.  I am really worried, he is eating but he wont let me near him he just snorts at me and he wont let me take him on walks.  Here I have a dog and I think the dog frightened him on our last walk.  His urine is very cloudy but his stool is normal.  He used to have his own bedroom but now with the move I have to keep him in his cage.  I hope you can help me!  Thank you

Answer
Dear Kristina,

This is a very big change for him, and if this is the first time he's ever been exposed to a dog, then it's not hard to understand why he might be frightened and upset.  Is the dog a recent acquisition?  If so, bun might take some time to adjust.

My next question:  are you absolutely *sure* your bunny is male?  If the bunny is a female, then the behavior you describe would be consistent with a false pregnancy.  A bunny in this condition gets very snarky and unhappy for a couple of weeks, then "gives birth", tends her nest for a few days, and then forgets about it.  But this can lead to health problems, so it's definitely time to have her spayed if this is the problem.

It's also possible that he's ill or is suffering some pain that is making him cranky and unpleasant.  It's wise to check him all over for any signs of injury, check his scent gland pockets to make sure there's nothing impacted there, and have a good rabbit vet look at his molars to be sure there are no painful spurs.

I've also heard of a rabbit with a bad case of itchy mites become ferocious very suddenly.  Treatment with Revolution (DO NOT use Frontline on a rabbit! It can be deadly!) solved the problem in a couple of days.

I hope this gets you started with a few ideas.  You might need the help of a good rabbit vet, and  you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps!

Dana