Update on Aussie Mini Cashmere!! + Advice Please :)

Well... after trying out several very cool names for my rabbit over the weekend I have finally settled on .... Bunny :lol: Yes, I know, not very original, but if I'm honest, that's probably what I'll call him all the time anyway!

Bunny had an up and down weekend. Had four strangers (to him) in the house for drinks on Friday night and he was ultra curious and friendly. Very cute thing we have noticed is that he only raises one ear - gives him a very quirky look!

Took him to the vet yesterday as the stress of the move brought on a bad case of the snuffles (pasturella) - on anti-biotics for two weeks. On the plus side of his health, his droppings have dried out and are easy to pick up and clear away.

One thing I could use advice for... he has started trying to eat my hands and feet!! He does bunny kisses all the time, but he has started to very intensely lick my hands and feet and then tries to pull some away with his teeth. If I close my hand into a fist, he tries to dig at it to get me to open it up. I've had him on hay only for two days - introducing pellets from today - so I wonder if this is a mineral craving?? Also - he didn't eat his cecotrope droppings this morning - should I be worried?

How old is Bunny? Some bunnies have an issue with eating their cecotrophs when they are young. Other times, it could mean the diet is too high in protein. What kind of hay are you feeding him?

Also, all diet changes should be made slowly, and it sounds like you are aware of that which is great. What was Bunny's diet before and what are you changing it to? What is the brand of pellets that you're using?

Also, have you recently handled his food when you touch him? He might smell food on your and is trying to eat it! If my buns nip me, I make a high pitched squeal sound, so they know that they are hurting me. It's like saying "ow!" but in bunny language.

Bunny is 8 weeks old. It's the first time I've noticed the cecotrope droppings, so I presume he's been eating them other nights. I'm just feeding him a pasture hay at the moment, not lucerne (?). I've got Oxbow 15/23 pellets, for baby rabbits - a couple of vets have recommended it.

I'm not sure what he was eating before, which is why i switched to hay only and gradually introducing the new feed. The breeder is a uni student only breeding pets - she didn't even know what snuffles were! (I had to take Buns to the vet yesterday to get some antibiotics for pasturella - I've told the breeder her stock is infected as he started showing symptoms as soon as I got him home). She told me he was on a generic green pellet. His urine was very milky when I got him home, so it may have been a guinea pig/ rabbit mix that was higher in vitamin c and calcium than he needed.

Have tried the high pitched squeal - he lifted his ear up the first two times I did it, then just ignored it once he figured out it didn't mean anything bad for him!! :? So after that I would gently put my hand on his head and push down a little to tell him who is boss, then herd him away from me. I might pick up a mineral lick on the way home and see how he goes with that.