splayed legs

[Kathyb]

 Tell me about splayed legs and rabbits.  My daughter has two neutered male rabbits, about six months old.  They are littermates.  They were together before neuter, they fought, were neutered and separated.   They are together again.  Zero aggression.   They are in my daughter’s room. with the mats that you can buy at sam’s that interlock like puzzle pieces on the floor over my daughter’s carpet and they have been on those mats since we got them.  No issue until we put them back together.   Now it seems that one of the bunnies sort of slides his backend.   He sometimes runs from the other bunny even though the other bunny is not being aggressive at all and his back end looks like he cannot get traction.   He looks fine when he goes outside to run.  Should we be concerned?

[bpash89]

I’m a little confused. Are the bunnies bonded now? If he’s trying to run away from the other then it seems like they aren’t, unless this was while they were playing or something. Does he always “slide” like this or does it only happen once in awhile? The only problem he has is on this puzzle piece mat and nowhere else? Have you considered changing the flooring for them? He might just be having trouble getting good traction on the mat. What is the reason to cover up the carpet? Not litter trained yet? Chewers?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Splayed legs is a condition more commonly seen in very young rabbits. And it affects the front legs more commonly where they can’t really get up. I’m not concerned that your rabbit has splayed legs. If anything he just doesn’t get great traction on the mats. If they are doing good on the mats and no one is chewing on them and you don’t want to spend more money on new flooring, throw a rug where he can get off the mat sometimes. My buns have tile in their cage but I provide a rug so they can hang out on the rug and not slide around on the tile. They love to lounge and sleep on the tile as its cooling them but like to eat, groom, and play on the rug because it offers traction.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Also, if he is only doing it sometimes when in his pen it may have nothing to do with traction. If he is only doing it when running from the bunny even though the bunny is not pursuing him or even making a motion towards him, the your bun could also be kicking his back feet at him.

My bun kicks his back feet at me when hopping away because I did something he didnt like. (Pet him, sprayed him with a water gun and so forth…)

[Author]

Messages