Acting up with temp cold ears

[Brad T]

I’m really not sure what to make of all this, but Scout has been acting up a lot in the last day. Spilling the water bowl, scratching at the cage door constantly, and trying to flip the litter box. That was until I got in there and grabbed my little buddy and held him for about a half-hour and he seemed to love it more than usual. He just sat there letting me pet him, which I of course loved, and afterwards, he was well behaved. Btw, out of the two of them, Scout had attached himself to me immediately when we got them and Knight to Steph.

Well tonight, I just woke up at 5am to a constant thumping about every 15 sec or so, and so I checked on them and it stopped, but then not a few minutes later, starts up again. So I go to get Scout (the one thumping), and although he acts like he’s hiding, he doesn’t put up any sort of a fight, but the thing that I’m really wandering about is that his ears were very cold. We sat there together for a few minuts and I massaged his ears and now he’s behaving himself just fine.

I know that he ate dinner just fine, I even hand fed them a few leaves and there’s no way Knight could eat it all by himself. Though neither really got out and ran at all when we had the cage open, but that’s not too unusual since it started getting colder here (plus it was a very dark, rainy day so we sort of understood the feeling).

So I guess I’m asking what all this could mean? I’ll obviously keep a close eye on them and look for any signs, but are there some signs that I should really look out for? Searching HRS’s site come up with nothing, but that very cold or hot ears with other signs could mean fever. So of course that worries me.

Edit: Just checked on him and now of course his ears are warm like usual. I’m so confused. Am I just overreacting?

 

[jerseygirl]

Am I just overreacting?

No, I don’t think. It’s good to monitor these changes in behaviour. It may be our only clue to something being up sometimes.

They regulate their temperature alot with their ears. So they can change alot but it’s a good idea to know what is normal for your rabbit(s). Though the ears aren’t the best guage of internal body temp.  When they are really cold and the rabbit is acting “off” it could be a response to pain and going into shock. I’ve had both mine act the way you described when they’ve had some discomfort. It’s also one of the few times I’ve been able to hold them and massage the abdomen without them fighting it. Also they’ve done the thump when feeling off but that hasn’t happened often.

It’s good Scouts ears feel warmer again. Is he moving around normally too? Grooming himself, nibbling at food, using litterbox & generally doing normal bunny things etc?

[Brad T]

Thank you for the reply. Thankfully he ate his breakfast just fine and has been acting normally since early this morning, and his ears have felt normal as well. I really can’t figure out what happened, but he seems fine now. It was at 73 and now is 75 so I doubt it was that.

I think that a lot of his odd behavior was that he wanted attention and I guess he has me trained to check on him when they make a lot of noise. heh I’ve been around more often lately since I’m currently an “unscheduled employee” , and he’s our trooper in that for the most part if he’s close, we can just gently reach down and pet him as much as we want (he goes into pancake mode and grinds his teeth). Though more lately, he’s wanted to be held and go into the office (unexplored territory). Of course, he’s not allowed to leave my lap due to wires, but he has fun looking around and sniffing.

Knight would get the same treatment, but his other nickname is fuss-bucket and that should tell you enough

[jerseygirl]

heh heh.

Yes, I just read over the first (bratty?) behaviours you mentioned and thought attention seeking or making his own fun? He could be acting a little different due to the extra stimulation hes getting with you being there more often. Who really knows sometimes.

Main thing is it’s good he seems his normal self now.

[Isabelle]

Dutchess likes to move her ‘furniture’ sometimes, for no reason, perhaps just boredom or attention seeking, but sometimes she does it because she wants something, for example a cleaned litterbox or cage. She’s getting pretty regular about reminding me every Thursday her cage needs to be cleaned by making it messy ^_^ I was a bit alarmed when I felt her ears cold the first time, but I posted here and found out that bunnies ears get cooler when they sleep, and since then I notice that her ears do get cooler while she sleeps, and warm up after she’s awake 5-10 minutes later.

You know your bunny best, so if he seems off, keep a lookout for something.

[Brad T]

That’s good to know about the sleep thing. I hadn’t noticed before, and I’ll be sure to watch for it now. Thanks.

I swear that I had searched before posting. Maybe I just didn’t use the right terms.

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