Chomper’s behavior is a complete 360 HELP!!!! (pics. contain a bit of blood)

[bunnyjames]

 I dont know if some of you still remember but a few weeks back I posted on how Chomper’s cecal production had changed and he wasnt ingesting the cecals. I think I might take him to a different vet since the vet keeps telling me his fine. But something tells me the vet is wrong. His behavior has completely changed!!! the behavioral change started about a week ago, he seems more agressive, less tolerant of others around him, and today for the first time ever bit me SUPER HARD. His never been territorial, NEVER, i have ALWAYS stuck my hand in his cage to pet him or grab him and today when I stuck my hand in his cage to grab him he bit my arm HARD, so hard that I took my hand out of the cage and he was hanging from my arm I literally cried it hurt sooooooooooooooooo badly!!!!! I dont know what might be wrong? can his bahavioral change be due to him feeling sick, maybe? His super aggressive to the point where I dont let him out of his cage in fear that he might bite Luna, even though he loves her to death and has NEVER EVER bit her or even nipped at her. I think I cried more over the emotional pain of my lil Chomper biting me in such an aggressive manner than over the physical pain.  He now seems to only want to be laying down and has even become aggressive towards Zoe. Why has he done a complete 360 behavioral wise?!!!

 

 

 

 

 

This was a few hours later my friend took me to urgent care to get it checked out since it got really swollen, it got the size of a golf ball by the time we got to urgent care.

[Michelle&Lolli]

Sounds like something is going on health-wise as they don’t generally change their behavior THAT much. I would get him to a vet as soon as you are able to. And obviously a different one. Good luck! And hopefully your arm is ok.

[Miles and Me]

Apparently Chomper is living up to his name! I agree that it might be a health concern. I wouldn’t be surprised if the behavior change is a related neurological side effect. Good luck! That looks so painful!

[Helenor]

That bite looks so terrible! I’m sorry you had to go through something like this. I hope you are alright now.

Definitely take him to a different vet for a second opinion. You know when your bunny isn’t acting right. I hope you find out what’s wrong soon.

Know this, Chomper probably didn’t mean to hurt you. He’s probably just sick and reacting the only way he knows how.

[BinkyBunny]

OYE!! That hurts to just look at. I would cry too. Alot of people don’t realize rabbit bites can be VERY VERY painful. (i’m not talking about the nips — those hurt too, but a real blood sinking bite—is a killer!) I think much more painful than a bad cat bite. When I was doing transport for a rescue, I was taking a bunny out of Animal Care and Control to deliver it to a rescue and one of the officers there asked if I would handle the bunny because she said out of all the bites she has ever gotten (dog and cat) she never wants to get bit by a rabbit again. It feels like the worst twisty pinch and knife cut all at once, and because of the razor sharp incisors, the cut can bleed profusely. So I am so sorry, Moz! Ouch!

I agree, since this is abnormal for him (THANK GOODNESS), then he is probably dealing with pain and/or discomfort. Does it seem to happen only when you reach in the cage or ??

[bunnyjames]

He just seems to be aggravated by anyone trying to touch him. He seems to want to be alone. He bit Zoe 2 days ago on her ear drew some blood from her ear, now Zoe doesn’t want anything to do with him. And yes bunny bites hurt badly!!!!! I have to go back on mon. to doc. to make sure everything is okay, since its pretty swollen they are scared it might have gotten infected, and since i’m pregnant doctor doesn’t want to give me any antibiotics. So they just cleansed the wound site and put some topical creams to see if that helps. He doesn’t seem to be in pain though just right now I took him out of the cage again and had him in my arms (I was SUPER cautious) and he just stayed still. Last night he tried bitting me when he jumped up onto my bed, for no reason just ran up and tried bitting my hand. My husband says its probably my growing belly that is throwing him off, and doesnt recognize me ;( I highly doubt that though cuz Zoe recognizes me just fine. :I or maybe routine change that is causing this chaos in him even the cecal production???

[LoveChaCha]

Maybe he does not like when you put your hand in his cage? Even my sweet Chacha will charge at me if I do that… so I distract her while I do my thing.

[BinkyBunny]

I doubt it is your shape, but I wonder if any hormonal changes in you create a “new” scent to him. hmmmm. I wonder if any members, who were pregnant at one time, noticed a difference in how their animals reacted to them?

But you also said that he seeems to be aggravated by anyone…so that does take me back down the road of thinking something could be wrong. There was another member on here, can’t remember her/his name but the members bunny was acting aggressive and her doctor took xrays and found an issue with one of the limbs (something about previous pin pushing up on the knee.

If your bunny jumped up on the bed then maybe something and then bit you, I wonder if something if something was hurting him as he jumped up. His leg, a hip or ????

I would seek out another vet or if you still trust your vet, just let them know that something has definitely changed and what do they suggest?

[Tate]

Yup, that was Velvateen’s X-ray, BB!
How old is Chomper? Is he neutered?
You will want to take him to the vet definitely- both for a full body exam to check and see if there’s something causing him pain OR if he needs to still be neutered.
The vet may have to do a few X-rays. It’s almost impossible to tell if something is causing a rabbit pain with just the vet feeling him. When Velvateen went in last week, the vet did an examination on him and said that he didn’t appear to be in any pain… And then they did X-rays and found that he was probably in severe pain.
As for not eating his cecals- the vet should have told you to cut down on pellets and veggies- not completely out though. My other rabbit Fievel had the same issue and all tests came back normal. He now eats probably about 95-98% hay, veggies on a very rare occasion, and a few pellets (literally maybe 10 to 15 pellets) a day.
No matter what, you need to take him to a vet this upcoming week. Waiting to take him in will not be good. :/

[bunnyjames]

Brittany, I don’t think its a cage thing, I’ve always put my hand in there even moved stuff around while he is in there and NEVER seemed to have minded. None of my bunnies are territorial. NONE!! so you can see why this really hurts me emotionally.BB some friends I’ve talked to about this told me the same thing that maybe its the hormone change in me that might be throwing off his scent but not sure…… Ill be taking him to the vet on monday to make sure everything is fine. There has to be a reason why he has become so aggressive this is NOT normal for him. Tate ill will be asking the vet to do a full body X-ray to make sure his okay, thanks for the idea. By the way Chomper is neutered and is around 3yrs. old. and has always been a very mellow bun his a darling w/ my daughter and has always been super playful. So this really has me super concerned.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

It could be your scent changing, I know dogs can tell when someone is pregnant. Why don’t you take a shirt you sleep in or something and put it in his pen or cage with him, so he can get used to it?

[Tate]

Poor bun. Yeah I would say that if he’s neutered, he must be hurting somewhere. I highly recommend that they do an X-ray, just because rabbits are so good at hiding illness and injury. Poor little guy! Sending healing vibes your way!

[Bumblebunny]

If you are looking for a second opinion, the Bunny Bunch SPCR often talks about a vet in Pasadena who is a rabbit specialist. If I ever needed a second opinion, I probably would go to her rather than the rabbit vets on the westside. I know she has published articles about rabbits

[bunnyjames]

Oh bumblebunny it would be great if you could let me know the name of the vet!!!!! I would so greatly appreciate that! Just a quick update, I took Chomper to the vet again his vet actually called me this afternoon to check-up on him and I told her what happened. She asked me to take him in to urgent care since she was working at the urgent care clinic today so I did. she did a full body X-ray and seems everything is fine. she did some pressure point on him and he didn’t even do a foot flick. She wants me to take him back on Thursday but at this point I’m willing to take him to another vet and get second opinion. The vet did speculate that this behavioral change and over cecal production may be due to stress of his routine and environment being changed. But it really wont hurt to get a 2nd opinion right?

[Bumblebunny]

I am not sure we are supposed to name vets so I tried sending you a message by clicking on the envelope under the picture. If that did not work you can go the L.A. County vet referral list at Bunnybunch S.P.C.R.

[jerseygirl]

Hi Moz,
I read back over the thread about the cecal over production and a lot of what you said about him sounds like he possibly has some molar troubles. Picky eating, not big hay eater, not big groomer… I’d be pushing they check his molars pretty thoroughly. Also, perhaps some mobility problem? Like he can’t reach around comfortably to eat his cecals and leaves them if they’ve touched the floor. Some bunnies ignore them then.
Either way, teeth or mobility issues can cause pain and then aggression. So 2nd opinion if your not having luck with your vet is a good idea.
Poor Chomper! I’m used to hearing of his sweetness so something must be bothering him. {{{Chomper}}}

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I agree-this is all a big change for him. This is not new bunny settling in or going through the teenage years and I think it’s very likely it could be a reaction to being ill or in pain. Many animals react with aggession when hurt. First thing you do when assisting an injured animal is muzzle them to protect yourself-so I very much agree with your gut instinct that something is wrong and that this bite indicates this. And it never hurts to get a second or third opinion anyways.
I’ve been bit like that-bunnies in the shelter-actually several times by one in fact. My wrists looked like I cut myself-it was awful and the pain from a bunny bite is ohhhh I don’t want to recall. Yours looks so painful-but yeah it’s the emotional hurt too that sucks

[bunnyjames]

so quick up-date turns out Chomper had a “minor” molar spur. It was trimmed down( i think thats what you call the process) but vet still finds it weird that chomper isnt ingesting his cecals so he will be running some test. He lost 2lbs, so something else is going on beside the molar spur. Chomper has NEVER been a big hay eater so the vet said that might be why Chomper got that spur. This is all VERY stressful. Zoe seems to be missing Chomper, she frequently visits Chomper’s cage but his just not up for playing. Have a question since he hasn’t been ingesting his cecals, they tend to smear in the cage and now his bum is dirty and very smelly. Can i bathe him?

[bunnyjames]

I’m asking if I can bathe him since he isn’t grooming himself. He just wont do it.

[Bumblebunny]

I know there are some posts somewhere on the site about how to do a butt bath in a small amount of water or you can try to hold him so water runs over that area only. The idea is to get as little of the bunny wet as possible and still get him clean; also it is very important to get him as dry as possible after the cleaning. There have been suggestions about using a wet towel and trying to clean them with that. I hope the vet can figure out the problem soon.  ( I believe the vet I told you about is a dental specialist, but was recommended by the rescues for all matters)

If you search ‘butt bath’ in the forums it will give you a number of suggestions on how to give one.

[Michelle&Lolli]

You can use plain corn starch to give him a dry bath and brush out the poop. I’ve never done that so I don’t know how well it works.

You can bathe him with water. When I bathed Lolli for her poopy butt, I filled up the sink with 2-3 inches of warm water and soaked her butt for about 5 minutes. The poop usually just came off with some gentle pulling. For parts that wouldn’t, I just used round tipped grooming shears to clip them out.

Another option which would be less stressful is to use a wet wash cloth to clean him up. Since apparently he’s not feeling good, this is probably the first thing to try.

[Michelle&Lolli]

(((Hugs for you all)))) I hope the vet can figure out what’s wrong! Zoe wants her Chomper back!!

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I would fill the sink with like, 1/2 in of lukewarm water and set him in it, working out the poop with your hands. I don’t know if thats the proper way to do it, but before I trimmed Samsons bum hair, I had to do that because it was so gross.

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