Bunny choosing not to eat?

[Chelirah]

One of our boys has taken to hiding in our spare room for up to 24 hours at a time. He has no food, drink or litter tray up there, but doesn’t go to he toilet at all while up there. He only goes downstairs when we chase him down, and then he heads straight for the food and water bottle. It doesn’t seem to be affecting his health (we had a gut stasis episode last year and, apart from choosing not to eat, there are no signs of that). We have deliberately not given him any food or drink in there so he has to come downstairs, but he seems to be choosing not to! Any advice would be welcome. Is this really abnormal/worrying?

[Wick & Fable]

I would give him access to food and water in that room for now, until you can pinpoint the cause of this. It could be moving from that room is very stressful, so opting to not is very bad for a rabbit. If a rabbit goes a while without eating hay, it can become very ill, potentially causing GI stasis again for him. Some more information would be helpful to pinpoint the cause.

1) Any changes coinciding with this?
2) How long has this been happening for?
3) How old is he and your other rabbit?
4) Are either of your rabbits fixed? If so, how long?
5) How is the rabbit in questions poop and pee? How do they look and how frequent do they occur now?
6) What is his diet? What foods are he giving?
7) How much does he weigh?

8) How long have you had him and your other rabbit?
9) How often do you spend time with him?
10) It sounds like he’s free roam? What’s the cage or lack of cage situation for your rabbits?

The more information, the better.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[sarahthegemini]

Is there something (new?) that could be scaring him and making him feel like he has to hide?

I really wouldn’t let him go without food or water. If he’s scared, he’s not going to come out to the ‘proper’ place to eat and drink so you need to provide food and water in his safe spot. It might just be temporary until you can figure out why he’s hiding and can rectify it. He has gotten lucky so far tbh to not have gotten seriously ill. But he might not get lucky again and may very well end up developing gi trouble.

[Chelirah]

We have had him (Merry) and his brother (Pippin) for about 14 months now. They came to us from the animal shelter when they were five months old and we had them neutered soon after. He has been doing this for a few months but I can’t think of any change that has happened. We don’t have any other animals in the house, and my husband and I are out all day at work, so I am not sure what would be scaring him in to not coming out. When we are out they have the run of the dining room (they have a large double decker hutch in there, but we are struggling to find a litter tray solution that works with it so they just have the whole room with their litter tray in the corner). When we are home they have access to all areas, though his brother refuses to leave the dining room.
We feed them science selecive pellets and lots of hay with ocasional small amounts of fresh veg. He is a little overweight, though he is also a huge bunny (!) and we are working on that after advice from our vet, cutting down their fresh veg and pellets a lot. His poop size and rate seems normal. When he isnt hidden away he goes regularly as far as we can tell, but he doesn’t go at all when upstairs. Ocasionally we are finding skid marks, though this has reduced with the altered diet. We spend time with them in the evenings, and Merry is actually the friendlier of the two, he will accept a bit of love, Pippin freaks out at any and all human contact, though will eat food from your hand.
I am worried about Pippin too, as he tends to avoid eating whilst Merry is upstairs. He will happily fight over a brussel sprout when they are together but ignores them when he is on his own!They were both vhecked out by the vet recently who had no concerns, but psychologically I don’t think they are quite right. They had a rough start being abandoned with their whole family in the woods, so we have been gentle and patient with them, but I am now at a loss!

[Sirius&Luna]

Its awesome that they’re so free range, but perhaps it’s time to limit them just to the dining room for a bit, while you try and figure out what the problem is.

Are there hiding boxes and dark corners for them to escape to in there?

[Wick & Fable]

It is wonderful they are free-roam and have such a good amount of freedom/integration. I think limiting them to a room or smaller segment over the weekend, when you can monitor them, is wise though.

How are their relationship with each other? Once they were neutered, did you go through any bonding processes? Perhaps there’s some bullying or dominance issues, which is translating over to actual house territory (reluctance to go to/leave specific areas). It’s only a potential, but maybe Pippin is bullying, thus he only is interested in stealing brussel sprouts when he see’s it’s being offered to Merry. Merry may be more friendly because he is searching for comfort in humans, while Pippin is on guard due to his relationship dynamic with Merry. He may be squeamish around you and your husband because you are both so freely navigating what he has established with Merry as ‘his’ territory.

… Those are just my quabbles of what rabbits may be thinking. Anything like this seem like a possibility?

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

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