House Rabbit Community and Store
-
Sign In
-
Forum
-
Store
- This Forum and Store have separate secure Sign Ins
-
OUR SITE IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO LOGIN YET. WE WILL ANNOUNCE WHEN READY. THE SITE MAY BE SLOW, SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.
BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.
Posted By bam on 1/23/2017 3:02 AM
Azerane, she’s so beautiful! I don’t know anything about birds, but has she been plucking out her neck feathers and now she’s letting them be more? That must mean she’s happy? Her food face is truly impressive =)
Thanks Bam 
Yes when we found her, her neck was actually feathered completely with dark grey fuzz (see image below, a few days after I brought her home). I assumed she’d plucked her main neck feathers in her previous home or after she escaped. After she came to us, over the period of a few months she plucked out most of the grey fuzz to be left with bare skin which was often red and sore looking when she’d recently been plucking. Since she already had a plucking issue it wasn’t terribly surprising but I had been hoping to avoid it since it’s harder to reverse. Plucking is usually associated with boredom, but also loneliness, stress, hormonal issues with no outlet etc. Since she came to us starved and dehydrated, then was stressed by our presence, and it took us a while to establish a routine, get her diet figured out, get her used to us, be able to let her out of her cage or reach into her cage etc. I wasn’t terribly surprised when I noticed it happening. The problem with plucking is that the feathers growing back in are irritating and itchy which is when it can easily become habit, rather than just out of boredom etc. Add on to that the fact that if feathers are plucked enough from the same area, the follicle can become damaged preventing feather regrowth.
Long story short, I’ve been trying really hard to fill her cage with toys and fresh branches with leaves, rearrange it reasonably often, let her out of her cage as often as possible and give her stimulation to prevent as much plucking as possible. The quicker we get on top of it, the easier it will be to stop her from doing it. Fortunately, if you compare the two images of her, you can see that she hasn’t extended her range of plucking (those red feathers at the top of her breast are still there), which is a positive. And I hope I’m not getting excited about her seemingly reduced plucking too soon, but I’m hopeful
Also, Bam is gorgeous 
