Rabbit acting strange

[Lucky Star]

First off, I will be taking him to our usual vet tomorrow to ensure that he has no medical issues.

Also, both of the rabbits are fixed so I know that that isn’t the issue.

Ok, so here is what is going on:

Cinnabun has been acting very odd recently. He is still eating, drinking, playing, etc, but his behavior is now changed (I can’t tell about pooing because I have two rabbits, but it appears to be their normal amount). It is almost like he is having intense mood swings. He will be eating like he hasn’t eaten in days and is super happy and making little piggy noises, then ten minutes later he is lying against the back wall of his room completely frozen. He won’t eat anything I try to get him to eat when he is in this state, and he doesn’t seem to actually see or smell any food I give to him when he is doing this. When I try to pick him up or pet him he stays in the same position. It is like someone hit a PAUSE button on his life. Then within 5 or so minutes, it is like someone hit a PLAY button and he is back to his normal self, eating and wanting to come play with his brother and me. 

Other aspects of his behavior are also changed. Mainly, his taste in food is different. He used to love eating spring lettuce mixes, but now he won’t touch anything that isn’t pure romaine leaves. He also now only eats the leafy parts of the lettuce and will leave the stem parts on the floor. This wasn’t the case in the past. He used to eat the entire piece with an intense love, but now it is like he is delicately picking at it to ensure that he only eats the outside of the leaf. 

My thoughts for what this could be attributed to are:

1) Cinnabun has an serious sweet tooth. He might be waiting until I leave to eat with his usual pattern because while I am watching him he knows that there is the possibility of treats. This could also explain the frozen state as he has faked illness (and even his own death) before in order to get a treat. It scared me when he would do something like this so I would go and cut up all kinds of fruit to see if I could get him to eat anything. Then, as soon as he got the fruit he wanted, he acted completely normally the rest of the day. 

2) We have been having some very big storms and tornados where I live. Could this be changing his behavior to this extent? I know that the storm messed with his brother on Friday because you could tell his brother was spooked all day but fine whenever there wasn’t a storm (he was thumping over and over and over again during the storm, while he usually never thumps. I think he was trying to scare away the storm). However, Cinnabun has been acting strangely all the time, not just during the stormy parts of the day. Could it still be affecting him when it is just stormy weather and not necessarily a storm happening right at this minute?

I checked Cinnabun all over last night to see if anything seemed painful to him. His tummy seemed fine, his teeth looked fine, his face wasn’t hurting when I rubbed him, he didn’t have any bumps or anything that I could find. 

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this? I would love to hear from anyone who has had this kind of thing happen before and especially how they fixed it so that their rabbit acted normal again. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

You know your rabbit best and any change in behaviour can indicate a problem, especially since bunnies hide their illnesses so well.

There is no way for us to say what could be wrong with him (but I’m hoping it’s very minor!). Your vet will check him out thoroughly.

The change in food preferences makes me think it could be a dental issue (which can cause pain and may also explain the sudden lethargy). To see the back molars, which are usually the culprit, your vet will need an otoscope and may have to sedate him to get a good look.

Please let us know how your vet visit goes. Good luck!

[Author]

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