change in behaviour/character

we have a 4 year old neutered male bunny who lives indoors with us. his set up is that he has a room to himself approx 8 x 8ft with a select 150cm cage with his bedding, litter tray etc.

he has always been a very friendly bunny who likes a cuddle on the sofa, but since we went away for a few days in november he has not shown as much interest in us as he used to. he went into boarding but was kept indoors as he is here.

last weekend we had to rearrange his room, which actually ended up giving him more room to run around, but he is now really sad and even starting to be a little aggresive towards me.

although we have had our bunny for 3.5 years we are still learning lots about bunnies and we try our very best to keep him safe and well.

are rabbits very sensitive to change? could we have upset him even more by moving his room around?

and should he not have come round a bit since we went away in november?

I think it could be combination of all the changes but, significant change in behaviour like this should really warrant a vet check up to eliminate pain or discomfort. Often rabbits will hide their pain (as a prey animal) and therefore it may be shown in behavioural terms first. I would get a vet check done and if all is well think about getting a little bun for company and maybe moving him outdoors for the warmer months for fresh air if at all possible.

thanks for your advice, i will get him checked over at the vets. moving him outside is not an option for us to keep him as we live in a top floor flat and the guy downstairs has 2 dogs that roam the garden (

little p's mum said:

thanks for your advice, i will get him checked over at the vets. moving him outside is not an option for us to keep him as we live in a top floor flat and the guy downstairs has 2 dogs that roam the garden (

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Oh crikey no don't risk that then, yep I would just to be on the safe side and check teeth and if he needs nails done etc get them done. Does he have lots of toys like toilet roll tubes filled with hay and a treat ball etc? You may need to go back to basics and sit in with him while you hand feed his greens, have you considered a wife bun at all? There are lots of little neutered ladies I am sure who would love a nice husbun and forever home? It would probably help for him to have company of one of his own kind, he may be a bit bored, were there other rabbits at the holiday place?

VickiP said:

Oh crikey no don't risk that then, yep I would just to be on the safe side and check teeth and if he needs nails done etc get them done. Does he have lots of toys like toilet roll tubes filled with hay and a treat ball etc? You may need to go back to basics and sit in with him while you hand feed his greens, have you considered a wife bun at all? There are lots of little neutered ladies I am sure who would love a nice husbun and forever home? It would probably help for him to have company of one of his own kind, he may be a bit bored, were there other rabbits at the holiday place?

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well we've been to the vet tonight and after a full check over nothing physically wrong that could be seen. had p's nails trimmed as we do every 6-8 weeks. vet said he might just be getting a bit grumpy as he ages. we will keep an eye on him as we always do as we do love him loads.

he has loads of toys, treats and chews, he still seems intent on chewing everything he is not meant to. we never tell him off though, i couldn't.

as for a lady bun, we have considered it but the vet suggested as he has livd quite happily until now without one she didn't feel it would be the answer, although it might be, it'd be a case of trying, which i understand could be just as stressful for him.

whilst in boarding the house do have guinea pigs which they said he showed alot of interest in through their cage bars while he was out, but i think alot of that was down to the different hay they had that he could get to from their outside hay rack!!

while he was there last year they had another indoor bun boarding, who was a little lady, but apparantly he showed absolutely no interest in her lol

i guess i am just going to keep an eye on him for the moment, but definitely will try the back to basics idea, sitting in with him if he won't come through to us

thanks

A lady bun will help!!! A neutered, vacc'ed ladybun!!!

Oh gosh! :roll::lol: Here we go with the ladybun - you've got everyone thinking now!
But seriously it may just be a mix of him getting older and getting abit more independant. Pie did the exact same. she seemed to hit 9 months old and went off and did her own thing (much to my horror! )