Bunny with mysterious backstory!

[A & CB]

Hi! I’m trying to piece together my newly adopted bunny’s backstory via his physical quirks/injuries (floppy ear, missing tail, and slight limp?)

I’m new to all of this (the forum and having a house bunny) and was wondering if anyone had ideas. I’ve read books and looked online, but I haven’t been able to find information about these specific things. We have his well bunny vet appointment scheduled (and hopefully find out more info from the exotics vet) but it is a month away!

He is a Cinnamon Rabbit and is healthy and happy. His previous owner found him outside in the suburbs (in NY) this January. She took him in and searched in case he was someone’s lost bunny, but didn’t find anything. She didn’t get a chance to take him to the vet so he is presumably unfixed. No clue how old he is, but she said he grew a bit after she found him.  He is incredibly socialized and very comfortable around people, including kids. I’ve had him for about 3 weeks now and I’m trying to put it all together.

One floppy ear: One of his ears is floppy, although the other looks and acts normally. There is a bump at the base and a bump halfway up–almost like it was broken and healed wrong. He can’t make that ear stand up, so maybe the muscle got severed or paralyzed? Because of this his functional ear has a larger muscle at the base and actually sits more in the center, so he looks a bit like a unicorn. He doesn’t seem to be in pain, he will purr when we pet him and doesn’t stop when we touch his floppy ear. It seems like he isn’t lop eared because both ears aren’t the same and he’s not a lop eared breed?

Missing tail? I can’t seem to find this online: do Cinnamon Rabbits have tiny tails? Are there ever bunnies without tails naturally? He has no visible tail, just one tiny white strip of fur on his tush that maybe was the underside (the bottoms of his feet are white). But no tail! If you really feel down there, it almost feels like a tiny nub, but he squirms away when we try to get a good feel. My mom was thinking he must have had it surgically amputated, maybe from the same time he injured his ear.

Limp? We cant decide if he has a slight limp on his front leg or not. He runs and jumps fine but it seems like his gait is just a bit off. However, since his ears are so asymmetrical it might just be the illusion from him being all crooked.

To me it seems like he got into some scuffle or was injured escaping some enclosure. I really have no idea if he started out domesticated or if he was born feral. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about this! Thanks for reading!

And hopefully my forum etiquette is ok–I’m new 🙂

[LBJ10]

It’s hard to say what actually happened. I can’t see the photo in your avatar very well. Assuming that he is a Cinnamon, then it’s possible he is an escaped meat rabbit so his living conditions may have been poor. His tail, for example, could have been caught on something when he was young. As for his ear, mishandling (i.e. being picked up by the ears) can easily cause an injury like that.

It sounds like he is happy now. He is lucky that you were able to adopt him.

[A & CB]

I tried to post the photo here,  hopefully it worked!

Oh my gosh I never considered that he could be anything besides and escaped pet or feral… that is horrific 🙁

I am very happy he is safe with us!

[A & CB]

i h

Here he is!

[DanaNM]

He is very handsome!

It does sound like perhaps he had some injury either while out on his own or in his previous conditions. Since he is friendly he could have been a pet that was abandoned. Has he had a check up with the vet since you’ve gotten him?

. . . 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.  

[A & CB]

Thank you, we think he is very handsome too!

I’ve only had him for 3 weeks and I called the exotic vets around me and they all are booked about 2 months out for the first visit. So he is going to the vet in about a month, but it is so hard to wait! I want to make sure he is doing okay.

[DanaNM]

ahh yeah, it can be so hard to book that initial appointment!

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

Yes, very handsome. Cinnamon rabbits are kept as pets too. Another possible explanation is rough handling by children. It isn’t unusual for people to keep rabbits outdoors, sometimes in not-so-great conditions.

[A & CB]

Rough handling by children could be it. It is interesting because the woman who found him had kids and dogs, but he was always this way so it would have happened before then.

He is also remarkably calm around kids. My 4 year old nephew visited and got his noisy train set out. I was expecting CB to go hide but he was calm and curious, sniffed every piece of train track, and even hopped into the bin. It is hard to imagine that he is so calm now, especially around kids, but potentially had a traumatic past.

[LBJ10]

It really depends on personality. Some rabbits can be surprisingly forgiving.

[Azerane]

Cinnamon is very cute 🙂 There’s so many things that could have happened in regards to his injuries. It sometimes happens that a mother rabbit will chew off some of her kits limbs, perhaps a leg, ear, or even a tail. I think this usually happens due to the doe being stressed or inexperienced.

The ear could also be an injury, certainly a possibility with the lumps, however half lopped rabbits are very common, especially in mixed breed rabbits. Some have partial or full control over the lopped ear, others have no control. But the vet will be able to assess that better whether it’s due to old injury or not.

[A & CB]

It’s wild that mother rabbits can do that. I would imagine this happens with feral rabbits and maybe with domesticated in bad conditions? If only he could tell me what happened himself!

And thanks to everyone who responded!!! I’ll update after we have our well bunny visit 🙂

 

[A & CB]

Update-he went to the vet!

The vet said his ears are genetic-he’s a helicopter! I asked about the little cartilage bump on the floppy ear and he said it’s unrelated nothing to worry about.

He is missing his tail though. She couldn’t get a good look without sedating him (he’s skittish about being lifted in any way). She said it felt smooth, ie no scar tissue or anything, but can’t be sure. Could be surgically removed or eaten off as a baby, etc.

He was neutered! Maybe his tail had an injury and they did the tail surgery and neutering at the same time? I don’t think we’ll ever find out for sure… if only CB could talk.

Otherwise he’s healthy! We also got the first dose of the RHD vaccine Friday.

I’m happy that the only injury he has is his tail and that it doesn’t seem to affect him. The vet was shocked to learn he easily jumps over the 3ft wire fence we had (I had to bunny proof the whole living room after he learned that trick!) He is a prolific climber and jumps all over the furniture.

Thank you for listening! I really appreciate the binky bunny community!

 

[LBJ10]

Thank you for the update! He was already neutered? Wow, that’s surprising since you found him outside. People who take to time and expense to neuter their bunny generally don’t “set them free” or dump them outside. I wonder what could have happened that he ended up as a stray. The missing tail is also very interesting. Yes, it could have been bitten when he was very young and a vet opted to just remove the remainder.

The helicopter ear means he isn’t purebred. He must have some lop in him. Probably a larger lop, like a French lop.

[Azerane]

He’s a very beautiful rabbit. Just as a quick thought, because he’s already neutered did the vet check him for a microchip as a precaution?

[A & CB]

I asked the vet about the microchip- because I can’t bear the thought of someone out there missing their beloved bunny. She said her machine is older and wouldn’t work well for this, but also that people rarely chip bunnies. She thinks he might have been “released” or escaped a backyard. Her advice was to take him to a shelter and they could check for a chip, but she wasn’t really optimistic. She said people unfortunately “release” rabbits all the time, and she said he’s lucky he has my family now!
I was thinking I can call some local shelters and ask once his RHD vaccine is fully in his system. But not sure it’s worth it, as the woman who found him did a lot of reaching out (online posts, fliers, etc) and got no response :/

Some other cute stuff—

He certainly made himself at home in my apartment! His new thing is following me into the bathroom and going at the same time as me. I had to put a litter box behind the toilet otherwise he would pee on the floor/towels and leave scattered poops! He is very determined to conquer the bathroom territory and adds one poop every time he is able to get inside 😂

We also got him those dog puzzles that you hide treats inside. He figured out the first one immediately and we had to get the more challenging one that has more components. We feed him pellets this way and it’s really cute to watch him toss the puzzle pieces with his mouth, dig with his paws, and when he is very impatient, he flips the whole tray!

I also “collaborate” with him to make play structures. I take big Amazon boxes and cut holes into them for hay towers, tunnels, and dig boxes. Then he nibbles them into the shape he wants 😂

Thanks again for listening!

 

 

 

 

[Jinx and Jude]

He’s very adorable, and is a gorgeous color..sounds like he is very happy now which is the most important thing, I think he could definitly have lop in him cause Jinx 1 of my bunnies is part Lionhead and Lop and his ears helicopter all the time, he sounds like he’s a survivor..your lucky you can get the vaccine for RHD, around where I am it’s not a big enough problem so you can’t get it yet I wanted it for Jinx and Jude to be safe..anyway he seems like he’s finally found his forever home with you.

[Rit]

He is so beautiful! He looks good and healthy! maybe he is lost and luckily he got a new home and well looked after by you.

Did the vet said how old he is?

You have a done a good job!

[A & CB]

Thank you so much! We are not sure of his age, they guessed between 1-2 years in that vet visit, making him maybe 2+ years old now. Or perhaps older!

[A & CB]

Thank you all for the kind comments and ideas. I do have an update to his story– (sorry for the delay in response!!)

We switched vets to one closer and more highly regarded in terms of rabbit care, and in our annual visit today we got quite a shock!

Turns out CB is NOT neutered… he just has undescended testicles (called cryptorchidism).

This vet scanned him for a microchip and there was none. As I mentioned before, he’s got the unicorn ear and is missing a tail, and now also has some genital abnormalities (his penis is pointier and also it seems the undescended testicles are smaller than expected for his size). Poor guy was poked and prodded for quite a while in his visit today in front of a full room of people (me, my mother, the vet, vet tech, and an observing student). At one point they even brought in a resident rabbit to compare genitals, so my poor Seebs was inspected in front of both another vet tech and another rabbit. Good thing rabbits don’t have shame! lol

We (nor the previous vet) never noticed he wasn’t neutered because he had absolutely zero behavioral issues associated with unfixed male hormones and he does seem to have like, empty scrotal sacs. He’s such a gentle bun and is so well behaved… I think he just didn’t produce so much of the hormones that cause the tricky puberty behavior.

I did have to schedule surgery for the cryptorchidism and also to make sure he doesn’t also have any ovaries inside. It’s more like a spaying in that sense than neutering, and I’m a bit worried since this is our first time having any kind of procedure.

Anyway, the takeaway is that my mystery bun probably has the same story of any bun rescued from the streets, (no chip, not neutered, etc..) it just took us some time to figure that out since he’s got so many genetic quirks (undescended testes, no tail, and one floppy ear). But now that he’s got a family he’s a happy and otherwise healthy lil guy!

Thanks for reading and responding to my story… I appreciate this community so much!

[Bam]

I know of one bunny that had undescended testes, but who could still be bonded to a (spayed) girl bunny. In his case, the vets didnt want to do surgery. This bun (Podge) lived happily with his bunwife for several years. He was a shelter bun that nobody wanted to adopt bc he couldnt be neutered. Then our member Gina.Jenny came along and adopted him and gave him a bunderful life 🥰

It’s not uncommon for buns to have congenital reproductive organ peculiarities, as you know. CB was very lucky to be found by you!

[A & CB]

Aww, it’s a shame it took a while for Podge to be adopted but I’m so glad to hear he found a family and bunwife!  My family jokes that we won the lottery with CB since he’s such an easy bun and seemingly litter box trained himself, etc., I think this is due to him not having raging hormones. So really cryptorchid buns should be highly sought after! 😂

Thanks so much for the responses and all the kind words 🙂

 

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