Fur Plucking

[Frenchvanillacoffee]

Hello! A couple days ago my bunny, Cookie, began plucking her fur. She started plucking the fur from her dewlap and is now plucking from her sides. There’s fur covering her cage, but she seems to be moving most of it to a particular corner. She also threw hay around her cage. I’m wondering if she’s having a fake pregnancy. But she doesn’t seem to be making an organized nest. I have another bunny, a female, and they’re both unspayed. Cookie’s been acting a little different. A couple weeks ago she punctured the area above my lip (I went in for a bunny kiss) which surprised me since she’s rarely aggressive. She’s also not eating as much hay as she normally does, but is eating pellets and vegetables; she’s pooping regularly too. I’m worried something could be wrong, but I hope it’s nothing serious.

And with the fur, she seems to be matting it together in her mouth. Making fur balls. Some mixed with hay.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Thank you!

[Azerane]

It certainly sounds like she could be having a false pregnancy. While nest making is common, and unexperienced doe may simply pull and collect fur without any real nest-making purpose. Plucking is not particularly common in rabbits otherwise, I would say she’ll go back to normal, just give her a bit of time.

[Bam]

I agree with Azerane, it sounds exactly like a false pregnancy. Rabbits are induced ovulators and can spontaneously ovulate and then go into a pseudo-pregnancy. They always resolve on their own, but you can help her by giving her a “nest-box” that she can make into a nest for the kits that will never come (unless she’s met a male bunny a couple of weeks ago. Then she could actually be pregnant of course.) The nest-box can be just a cardboard box or sth very simple like that, it’s just a dummy.

This is not uncommon in intact does. Really the best thing for her long-term health is to get her spayed, esp if she has recurrent pseudo-pregnancies. How old is she?

[jerseygirl]

How certain are you that the other rabbit is female? Do the 2 interact?

[Author]

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