New cage…

[Postman]

I just bought a bigger cage (living world deluxe habitat – XL) for our bunny. He is acting differently, scratching the bottom of the cage with his nails. He never did that in his old cage. Any ideas why?

[Starla]

He is probably just digging, it’s a natural thing that rabbits do. My rabbit didn’t dig when I first got her but now she digs all the time. I would recommend giving your rabbit see things to dig. Try out different materials. I use washcloths/towels/etc. but some rabbits start to eat them which isn’t so good. You could try a newspaper to start with (safe for rabbits). The only thing a rabbit may do in a new cage just because it’s a new cage is marking their territory. Which digging is not doing so.

[curiiouscat]

My rabbit used to dig in his old cage, and I was advised that it may be the rabbit trying to burrow out of the space because it’s too small. I moved him into a larger enclosure and the digging has reduced a lot. He’s still a digger because he just loves digging, but I find that his digging is now “fun” digging and not frantic digging like it was before. It may be a good idea to attach an X-pen to that habitat to give your bun a bit more space.

[Jessica]

My girl didn’t dig when I first brought her home, but then at about 12 weeks she started to dig a blanket if I was sitting with it. I’ve now made a few tied fleece blankets and put them where she was digging. She now only digs her blankets

[Postman]

This new cage is a lot bigger than the older one. My daughter called me today at work and told me he is now bleeding because his nail came off. Im worried now because I already gave away the old cage.

[Postman]

Here is the picture

[Starla]

Nails bleeding should not be from digging, I would contact a vet tomorrow or soon as possible if that is the case. I also recoomend buying styptic powder, which clots blood/nails when bleeding.
I have made the mistake a few months ago where I was cutting my rabbits nails and while i was going to cut she jumped and I cut too far on her nail. She bleed everywhere on the floor and my shirt and I was scared to death. I put the styptic powder on and it didn’t seem to help. We brought her to the animal ER and it stopped bleeding when we got there (from the styptic powder, it actually helped but I didn’t give it time). However, as soon as the vet was telling us that my rabbit was fine, my sassy rabbit kicked and made her nail bleed again.
If it becomes a continues thing, I would talk to your vet about solutions. When the accident happened with my rabbit, the vet told me to keep her in her cage and not let her in her play pen. (i have a smaller cage that she sleeps in and a playpen she goes in during the day, this is changing soon because I bought her a 3 story abode condo on petwerks).
From the picture that I just got to work, the blood looks in a strange place and not from her nail. I could be wrong, but the picture looks like the rabbit cut its self in accident in a different place. However, the bleeding doesn’t look as bad as it was when I cut my rabbits nail to short. (which was horrible and I still feel bad about it)
I forgot to mention, when I cut my rabbits nail too short (in accident) the worst scenario would of been to put her under anesthesia and remove the nail. Luckily, this DIDN’T happen. But before we brought my rabbit to the animal ER, this is what they said could of happened. So if the nail did come off, it may not be as bad?? I can’t say I’m sure. I was happy that my rabbit ended up being ok and are animal ER didn’t charge us anything for them stopping the extra bleeding. Hope I helped the slightest bit. Good Luck!!

[Postman]

Update — So when I got home, my daughter explained to me that his nail completely came off. She saved it to show me. She thinks it was when he jumped on top of the sofa. If this is the case, the only thing I can think happen is his nail poked into the sofa and when he moved, it ripped off.

Maybe all the digging some how made his nail loose.

I really dont know how this happened.

[Starla]

In that case, is the rabbit acting differently? Or showing signs of pain in it’s paw? Either way I recommend bring your rabbit to the vet for advice on how to treat the foot that lost the claw. One thing that is concerning is the risk for infection or the wound to reopen.
One way you may be able to avoid this from happening is to trim the rabbits claws monthly. Look it before attempting because there is a certain way to do. If you do happen to cut the nail too short while trimming the nails, use the styptic power I recommended. I don’t know if I recommend trimming your rabbits nails at this exact moment because it may add on stress that your rabbit is most likely experiencing from the loss of its nail. I don’t think digging could of loosened a nail, but I can’t say I know for sure. Sounds scary!! Wishing your rabbit a nice recovery and hope it helped!!

[Postman]

He is not as active at the moment and not moving around as quickly and you can tell he is favoring the foot. We did put the powder on the wound.

I just need to find a vet around my way that knows enough about bunnies.

Thanks for all the advice. It is greatly appreciated!!

[Starla]

Look up exotic vets, and even some animal ER’s take rabbits when their specialist is in!! I went the animal ER when the rabbit doctor wasn’t in and they were able to tell me if my rabbit was ok but if my rabbit wasn’t, they would of called in the doctor who specialized in rabbits. Obviously don’t let a doctor not specialized in rabbits give your rabbit medication or any specific treatment but most vets (especially animal ER) can tell you if your rabbits paw is ok or not (rabbits paws are similar to other animals, like cats). Also, many vets who don’t treat rabbits, know of vets that do take rabbits!! Call around for both scenarios!! I have no idea where you are but at the Suncoast of Florida (west coast/mid area), I thought there no rabbit vets in my area but after my scary visit to the animal ER I found out about a bunch of vets that actually do take rabbits. So my advice is to call around, if they take rabbits, list prices and compare from there. Also, no problem!! Your situation sounds scary, glad if I helped at all !!

[jerseygirl]

I fixed the image for you, Postman.

It looks like injured nail is the dewclaw. One of my past rabbits lost his dewclaw once. I was clipping his nails and just as I pressed down on the clipper, he wrenched his leg away and the nail tore right off. I felt awful and it bled quite a bit, but he took it all in his stride. It just ended up being a nub there.

You may or may not see the nail grow back. Just keep and eye on it and do get him checked out if he is favouring the leg, incase he has some sort of sprain.

What age is your rabbit?  Could the digging behaviour be related to age?  

[Postman]

@jerseygirl – he’s 5 months.

The reason I thought it was because of the new cage is because he started this digging as soon as we put him in it. Almost as if he wanted to get out.

[jerseygirl]

Does he do it if you cover the base in something? I wonder if the colour of the cage base has anything to do with it. Is it quite a different shade to the original cage?

Rabbits supposedly don’t see colour the way we do but they can (apparently) differentiate between some, and light and dark. Ive read stories on here before where a rabbit shows a preference for a particular colour. If I recall, there was one that prefered pink and refused to lie on identical blanket or use litterbox if in a different colour…

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Jessica on 12/16/2016 12:22 PM

My girl didn’t dig when I first brought her home, but then at about 12 weeks she started to dig a blanket if I was sitting with it. I’ve now made a few tied fleece blankets and put them where she was digging. She now only digs her blankets

Im curious about the tied fleece blankets. What are these?

[Postman]

The bottom of the old cage was green. The new one is gray.

Im starting to think he’s used to his old cage. I have 2 water bottles in the new one. The old one on one side and the new bottle that came with the cage on the other side. I’ve noticed a few times he went up to the new bottle, smelled it, and then walk over to old bottle and start drinking.

[Author]

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