Sweetheart turns aggressive in owners absence??

[VivatLupus]

Hey all.

Let me start off by telling you about my baby back home. He’s a New Zealand White, with the most affectionate, loving personality I, and anyone else, has ever seen in a rabbit. He loves to follow people, to lay near them, nudge them for affection etc.
His recent vet visit was early August for a cloudy eye. They didn’t know what to think of it, as there was no eye scratch that became visible when it was dyed, but they gave me his eye cream, and everything went well. During this vet visit, I also had them take his blood and stool since it was about time anyway. He also got his teeth checked. He was cleared all over.
Now, September 9th I left for college. He is in the care of my parents/family, who already care for the other rabbit at home, and know how to do all the small details. Since I left, Valentino has become aggressive. In the four years i’ve had him, he’s nipped me twice. Since i’ve left, he’s full blown biting people, leaving bruises on their legs multiple times. I don’t understand what’s wrong with him.
They gave him my entire room, so I don’t know if it could be territorial that now he has much more space to protect. Even when he only had his cage, he was never territorial.
He is litterbox trained, free-fed hay, and gets 1 cup of pellets daily. He is not neutered. My vet told me because it isn’t an immediate concern, not to worry about (we don’t know how old he is, anyway. Has to be more than four. He was a stray we found 4 years ago.)
If it was testosterone related, i’d think it would’ve come up by now.
My heart is so broken. He has been drooling a bit and I got prescribed ointment for his drool-burn on his chin. I wonder if he needs a more thorough dental exam when I get back home in November.
He also has always had a weird thin area on his back of fur since I got him. The vet, and some online research, says it’s common, but lately it’s been getting bigger and becoming more bald. The vet wasn’t concerned by it. Could this all be age related?

You might have to copy and paste these photos into your browser. The one of him laying down was in 2012, when he was younger. I think there is a difference in his appearance today, along with his patch.

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[Kitty]

I don’t know much about rabbit behaviour as I have my first rabbit only for months now, but I would say that if hes behaviour changed after you left and before he was happy and cuddly and after you left him he is grumpy and bites a lot probably he MISSES YOU ? Do rabbits miss people if they got used to them?

Other than that, I got always good advise to have them rabbits spayed that it will prevent cancer and their behaviour will be nice and calm… so….

[Bam]

A bunny that suddenly turns aggressive indicates pain to me. It is an observadum and I’d say physical pain is the most likely explanation. Do you see any kind of dandruff-like little skin-flakes on the balding patch on his back? If they get cheyletiella mites (common fur mites) in a place where they can’t reach to scratch, it can be very frustrating for them.The spot where the patch is on your pic is consistent with cheyletiella mites, they often occur right there. 

Hormone related behaviors can start late in a bunny’s life, I know this because my first bunny was an adult when I got him and did not display any hormonal behavior until a full year later when he suddenly started courting my dog. He became like a teen-ager, pee- and poop-marked, circled the dog and wouldn’t let her alone. (But no aggression.) It does seem unlikely as an explanation for your bunny’s aggression though.

[VivatLupus]

That’s crazy! I looked up the mites and they can cause rashes in people as well. Two years ago I broke out in a mysterious rash over my hands that was only cured with a body cream for a form of mites. I had no idea it could’ve been from Valentino, because he didn’t display these symptoms then (except for the thin hair.)
I’ll have to see how expensive a skin scraping is. If it’s too much, I may just go right into the Ivermectin treatment and see if there’s improvement. Does this mean the dog/cat need treatment as well, despite there being no symptoms?
In the December of 2013 he fell anemic and had to see a vet for iron supplements. I’d wonder if this recurred,leading to weak immune system, leading to mites.. but his blood results came back normal recently..
He has a solid white coat and i’ve never seen dander or the black specs displayed in the photos that came up. The bald patch shows short hair trying to grow back but it never gets far.

[Bam]

If you can get Revolution (Selamectin, sold as Stronghold in Europe), it’s bunny safe and can be given empirically, i e if you suspect mites. Not all scrapings/tape tests show mites even when there is an infestation. Ivermectin will of course work too. Whatever you choose, do not use Fipronil (Frontline, Effipro etc). It can be lethal for bunnies.

Cheyletiella mites can affect other household pets as well. They should be treated but if they’re in close contact with your bun, don’t use fipronil (Frontline) on them either.

These mites are extremely common in rabbits, they often carry them from baby-hood and as you say, a dip in the immune-system may give the mites the opportunity to multiply so the infestation becomes manifest. It would be “great” if this is what’s causing your bunny’s aggression, since it really is very easy to cure. But since he has some drooling problems, you should look into having his molars properly checked by a good vet. It can be difficult to see the molars without anesthetizing the bunny first. If there’s discharge from eyes etc you may need an x-ray to see the roots, but if it’s “just” drooling and the molars have spurs, you generally try first with a burr to see if the problem goes away. I have one bunny that needs molar-burrs, that too is very common in house bunnies.

[Author]

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