Irritated bunny or sick bunny?

[Dwarf Sparrow]

I’ll try to make this as clear as I can.

I’ll note that Merida’s little box habits are usually **impeccable.** When we adopted her, the Humane Society said they hadn’t had such a tidy rabbit in a long time, and she rarely poo’s outside her litter box unless I’ve done something silly like move it or try to clean it when she needed to use it. Occasionally she’ll leave one or two just outside the litter box, but I throw them back in and don’t really count that as an accident.

 

Last Thursday (August 1st), my boyfriend and I rearranged the living room because we needed the tv closer to an outlet, blah blah blah. Since we brought her home in February, Merida has always been in one corner of the living room. I’ve added to her original hutch (x-pen & NIC tower), but never really rearranged the setup. Unfortunately, the TV needed to go where Merida was, so her setup went where the couch used to be, and the couch/TV went where she used to be. I also made the mistake of changing around the setup IN her hutch (in a well-meaning attempt to give her more shade from the indirect light coming from the SE window).

Well. She was furious. Poo’d everywhere in her setup but her litterbox. Held her pee until she got her evening exercise and ran down to the hallway litterbox, still faithfully in its corner, and pee’d there. I changed her hutch’s internal setup back to the way it was. She poo’d everywhere in her setup for a second day, for good measure. Even left a hefty pile just outside her hallway litterbox, which is out of character for her.

The last 2 days or so she finally seemed to be accepting the new spot, but still didn’t seem to be peeing in her hutch litterbox as much as she used to. This morning when I came to check on her, there were poo’s around her pen again (though also in her litter box) and she seemed to have some urine on the pads of her hind feet. When I checked closer, I saw that her fleece blanket was soiled (urine), and it wasn’t just her hind feet that were dirty: it was also the genital area that was still wet with pee. I tried wiping her down with a warm damp cloth, and she was surprisingly calm (lethargic??) about the whole procedure. She’s also sitting in her cage right now, trembling occasionally. I don’t think it’s too cold, though I guess the residual urine (in the spots she wouldn’t let me get) and warm water would be contributing. (The room was ~71 degrees when I noticed her, now it’s 73 degrees- I keep a little themometer on the floor just outside the pen, so I know exactly what the temp is for her.)

 

Basically, my question is: could she still be throwing a tantrum about the new living setup, even though it’s been almost a week? Or does it sound like she might be sick? Should I continue to watch her for a while, or just take her to the vet now?

I’m kind of worried she might have given herself an infection if she was holding her bathroom business out of a mix of anger and fastidiousness.

[jerseygirl]

Wow! She certainly let you know she wasn’t happy!
Out if curiousity, did she do this when you first brought her home from the HS?

My guess is its still behavioural but certainly keep watch. Would she do better with her box placed where her blanket is? Or adding a second box to her setup?

It might take her a while to orientate to the new position in the room. Hopefully she’ll settle & mark less.

[Dwarf Sparrow]

jerseygirl- No, she never did this when we first brought her home, which surprised and delighted me. (I can be a little “ocd” with keeping things clean, so having an “ocd” rabbit made me happy lol- the hay scattered around her pen doesn’t bother me)

I noticed her mouth working as I was finishing the previous post; she was grinding her teeth. I called her vet office and spoke to someone in the emergency clinic (her vet was out of the office); she said to make sure Merida was eating and to bring her in if the tooth grinding continued. After I hung up I got Merida to take a few sips of water, and she ate a piece of kale for me. She’s voluntarily come out of her hutch a few times, cleaned herself where I wasn’t able to get, eaten a cecal, and I just saw her eating timothy pellets, so I’m not too worried about GI stasis right now.
But she’s still tooth grinding occasionally -.-

[LittlePuffyTail]

How is Merida today?

Certainly sounds like you have a Diva who is not shy about showing her displeasure!

[Dwarf Sparrow]

She seems to be back to normal, thankfully. But now she feels like it’s her job to chew on all the moulding -which isn’t usually a past time of hers- and she wiggles her tail at me when I say “no!” and shoo her away from it! I have a feeling she’s not done being a diva over this haha

[LittlePuffyTail]

My diva (Olivia) also does the tail wiggle. She’s very defiant and bratty!

[Dwarf Sparrow]

She’s a diva with me, but then the veterinary staff says she “sooo good!” – I made an appointment with her vet for this morning because I saw her do the tooth grinding again yesterday evening. She got the all clear; her vet thinks she had a mini GI issue due to stress, possibly resulting from the furniture rearrangement, and exasperated by the fact that she’s a flighty dwarf. So I guess she was both irritated and borderline sick (?)

(I think I’ve successfully bribed her royal highness with a piece of kale and some oat hay into not being TOO angry with me over this morning’s indignities- I can pet her head and get bunny kisses, but if I try to pet her body she hops away and does flicky feet haha)

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