Bunny Eating Fur Under Chin

[PorridgeBear]

Hi Everyone,

We have a male minilop, 1.5 years old who is a house bunny and is out in the living room free to roam between 1800 and 2300 every day and lots at the weekend. We give him attention thoughout the evening by getting on the floor and massaging him, scratching his head, and he gets taken out for some sprinting in the long hallway for a bit. He always has hay and pellets and has spinach for dinner too and porridge for breakfast. 

He is generally a very happy bunny, jumps up on the sofa a lot, loves attention and has attitude

Recently however he has been doing a very odd thing. He starts by licking his front left leg and at some point grabs his hair and stands himself up whilst having his fur in his mouth so that he pulls it out. He then proceeds to eat this fur.

I’ve read a lot about female rabbits doing this to build nests but he is male, was neutered and is eating it. 

I have looked for flea dust but can’t really see anything, all looks pretty white and clean. He also gets a fair amount of attention.

He recently moulted but has slowed down. He didn’t do this when he was moulting lots as you might think, he is doing it now when he is moulting not so much.

He doesn’t do it constantly but maybe once or twice an hour during his preening. Is this just a part of normal preening? Never seen this before.

Very puzzled and generally concerned as I don’t want him needing a stomach operation to remove matted fur. 

Thanks

[Deleted User]

this is generally referred to as ‘wool eating’ and is not limited to angora breeds only. Does he get unlimited hay and eats it too? Some rabbits eat their fur due to a lack in fiber or as a vice, but yours doesn’t seem to have a boredom problem so my suggestion would be to get him eating more hay.

[Elrohwen]

My male bun does this all the time. It’s so funny when he almost falls over backwards. Lol. I’m pretty sure he’s just grooming – sometimes they get veggie juice and stuff down their chests and need to clean it off somehow, but it’s an awkward area for them to reach. As long as he’s not pulling out chunks of fur, I wouldn’t worry about it.

eta: I missed the part about him pulling out chunks and eating it. Is he missing tufts of hair there? As I said, grooming there can be perfectly normal, but if he’s plucking himself bald it could be wool eating as Petzy mentioned.

[PorridgeBear]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes he does eat his hay. I wouldn’t say he eats tons of it though – how much is a reasonable amount!?

And no, he has not pulled it out to the extent he is bald. He has quite a bushy beard under his neck – maybe he’s fed up with it as it warms up?

[Deleted User]

well, if he has all the hay he wants available to him I’d say it’s enough. He might have picked up a form of overgrooming as a habit.

[KatnipCrzy]

I am wondering if a diet variety could help- what do you mean by giving porridge?  Grain products are not great for bunnies to eat.  And you mentioned his greens as spinach- a variety would be much, much better.  Maybe you can distract him from doing this with something else that intersts him more- a good variety of veggies.  Maybe he is missing something in his diet that prompts this odd behavior- but if he is pulling and eating his fur it could turn into a serious behavior problem where he self mutilates and pulls all the hair out.  Plus bunnies digestive systems can typically handle normal amounts of fur- but if he is eating a fair amount of fur- as you know- he could very well develop a large hairball that will not pass.  Have you consulted your vet on this?  This could be diet related, behavior or medical.

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