• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Is it bad to lay a rabbit on its back?

shelley

Mama Doe
I dont know anything about trancing but ive been laying Buster on his back to clean a wound under his chin from a recent operation, ive also been giving him meds too so ive been doing all together as quickly as i can as i thought he shouldnt be on his back too long. Anyway he's associated the yummy taste of metacam with being on his back so he now gets on my lap and pesters me to flip him over :roll::lol: Is it really bad for them to be on their backs? Buster likes it but i only put him on his back at meds time because i physically cant get to the wound if i dont...
 
don't know, sorry. someone was talking about terror and adrenaline (sp?) the other day. mine will be pretty quiet if they're just angled back a bit because they're used to having their botties checked and nails trimmed. :)
 
Oh yes the terrible bum check, i had to clean Lola's bum all the time when i first got her because she was so overweight she couldnt reach it! She hated it! But Buster seems to enjoy the fuss :roll:
 
hehe thats cute!

This is Buster at meds time

dn1vfl.jpg
 
Last edited:
hehe thats cute!

This is Buster at meds time :lol:

dn1vfl.jpg


Yep, that looks like a tranced rabbit.

It is a fear response, a sort of last resort in the hope a predator will leave you alone, playing dead. That is why he is so still. They look calm, but they aren't, it floods the body with the stess hormone.

It is very useful for vets etc to control a skittish rabbit when taking stitches out etc, I trance Annabelle so the vet can trim her fluffy bum in the summer, because if she moves he could cut the delicate skin there, but I wouldnt do it unnessessarily. I did allow it before I knew better though, the vet does it to clip nails.

You can tip a rabbit back without trancing it, its once they go past a certain point they trance. When doing bum checks or something similar I tip them back a little but not enough to trance them, then lean over. Or put them accross my body, holding them like a baby, again being careful not to trance them.

Some rabbits trance easier than others as well, Barney is either very hard to trance or doesnt trance properly.

A member on here did a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2ALp9fVh5s
 
But his eyes are open and he looks around, if it frightens him why does he lay on my lap waiting for me to turn him over at meds time? He never willing got onto my lap before he had his operation. What would his eyes look like when he is tranced? Open or closed? He looks completely normal, still moves his legs etc. I dont know much about trancing, sorry for all the questions! I just dont want to do it if it hurts him

PS i absolutly have to do this to clean his wound as i cant do it whilst he is standing as he wont stand still and i have to flush it out with hibiscrub
 
Last edited:
Yep, eyes are usually open when tranced, in my experience. Sometimes bunnies will not move at all, some will twitch their legs, some dont go as deep as others, some will 'wake up' from it and struggle. Like I said my Barney doesnt trance properly, so he will move when he is on his back, usually he will go mental trying to right himself, looks like he's having a fit, definately not playing dead, the vet learnt that the hard way, he also sprayed the room when he was doing it - all when he was meant to be tranced.

Have you tried bunny buritoing him and cradling him like a baby, then opening the bit of towel you need to clean him? Or getting a second person to help.
 
Yes i do normally wrap him in a towl and kind of sit him on his bum and prop him up with my legs, i dont normally have a second person around to help so i usually always do it on my own. I have to clean it twice a day and put manuka honey in it. Im still confused as to why he doesnt run off though, if i pick hum up to put him in his carrier he kicks out and struggles and i thought he'd be the same if he wasnt happy about being on his back. He looks around and happily licks the metacam from the syringe. I do normally have him a bit more upright than that but i was on the floor and he's quite heavey! I cant think of any other position that i could get him in that would mean that he'd not tranced and i can clean his wound properly?
 
Last edited:
Wrapping them completely in a towel is reported to be more stressful than "trancing" them. It has also been recorded that some bunnies actually enjoy being put on their backs and "tranced", I would say that Shelley's bunny enjoys it. They don't all get stressed by it.

A rabbit guru I once knew (she was the "Peter Gurney" of the rabbit world, do you think I can remember her name?! (due to illness, not convenience)) used to swear by it, where has the new information about it being bad for them come from? (not having a go, just genuinely interested)

I used to Trance Jasmin to trim her bottom hair, simply because she would NOT sit still any other way, it was too much of a risk to NOT do it. She would have had to have gone under GA otherwise. Which is ALWAYS best avoided.

I could do ANYTHING with Floppy though, he was such a star!
 
Depending on how easy he is to trance if you keep your knees up so he is kind of sitting upright on you whilst in a bunny burito? That may work. I've never had to clean a bum/tummy wound. I'm sure some of the rabbit rescues have been in this situation though, hopefully they will answer.

The reason the buns dont get up is that whilst they are tranced, they cant get up, they are immobolised, some more than others.
 
There are reports of stress hormone levels being very high when trancing which is why many on here won't do it. I only do it if absolutely necessary. Instead I do as nessar describes and hold their head up slightly higher. The only time I do it is when Smudge has matts around his tail and I do it as quick as poss and try to keep his head higher.

Shelley if you have to do it to adminster medicine and treat a wound then there's not much you can do other than do it as quickly as poss. :) he's not running off because he's almost in shock. :)
 
Wrapping them completely in a towel is reported to be more stressful than "trancing" them. It has also been recorded that some bunnies actually enjoy being put on their backs and "tranced", I would say that Shelley's bunny enjoys it. They don't all get stressed by it.

A rabbit guru I once knew (she was the "Peter Gurney" of the rabbit world, do you think I can remember her name?! (due to illness, not convenience)) used to swear by it, where has the new information about it being bad for them come from? (not having a go, just genuinely interested)

I used to Trance Jasmin to trim her bottom hair, simply because she would NOT sit still any other way, it was too much of a risk to NOT do it. She would have had to have gone under GA otherwise. Which is ALWAYS best avoided.

I could do ANYTHING with Floppy though, he was such a star!


Seems to be medical experts and vets mainly, then people that know spread the message.

I think it is a very useful tool to have, dont get me wrong, but I think its important to know what it actually does to our rabbits so we know only to do it when we absolutely have to.
 
(Sorry to butt in, but it's not trancing if you hold them in a C-shape, is it? Mine both usually stay oddly still for a couple of minutes when held that way - then they start wriggling madly as they do the rest of the time.)
 
(Sorry to butt in, but it's not trancing if you hold them in a C-shape, is it? Mine both usually stay oddly still for a couple of minutes when held that way - then they start wriggling madly as they do the rest of the time.)

That shouldnt do it, unless the head is tipped back too far. If you keep the head up enough they dont trance.

edit: Mind you, Annabelle trances easily and will do so before you have tipped her back fully.

You're probably going to have to use your own judgement.
 
Last edited:
He kicks when i wrap him in a towl and panics but he doesnt when i just prop him up in my lap on his back. I didnt even know any of this. It was just the only position i could put him in to clean out his wound, i never thought about it before. I fill all the syringes and lay them out and i put the honeu on a cotton bud and set the hibiscub up next to me before i put him on my lap. He'sprobably n that position for about 5mins max. Ive been doing it twice a day for the last 3weeks so im much quicker now. This is what is under his chin, he had an abcess in his jaw which has spead to the bone. Its been re-opened again by the vet as the pus keeps building up so i have to clean it regularly

2nl8ivr.jpg
 
He kicks when i wrap him in a towl and panics but he doesnt when i just prop him up in my lap on his back. I didnt even know any of this. It was just the only position i could put him in to clean out his wound, i never thought about it before. I fill all the syringes and lay them out and i put the honeu on a cotton bud and set the hibiscub up next to me before i put him on my lap. He'sprobably n that position for about 5mins max. Ive been doing it twice a day for the last 3weeks so im much quicker now. This is what is under his chin, he had an abcess in his jaw which has spead to the bone. Its been re-opened again by the vet as the pus keeps building up so i have to clean it regularly

2nl8ivr.jpg


Poor bun. You may just have to trance him, just do all that is nessessary on his back and put him the right way up to do the rest. I would give him the metacam right way up as he likes it, my boy will suck on the end of the syringe for it.
 
where has the new information about it being bad for them come from? (not having a go, just genuinely interested)

It came from research conduted by a team led by Anne McBride. They measured stress hormones in blood when rabbits were placed in Tonic immobility, (TI) which is what trancing is actally called/creating. TI is also holding a rabbit in any way that mimicks it being carried off to be dinner, where the rabbit freezes still.

I've just co written an article with Anne on handling, which looks at when TI is apt, how to do it safely etc. We also made two films to go with it, in the second film (bottom of page) she talks about TI. Here's the link http://www.hoppingmad.org/E3/handling.htm

At the very bottom is a link to download the academic paper that put this info out there.

Some people have misunderstood though, Anne herself says TI is fine if used only when apt & kept to the briefest time. Say for example it's a choice of taking bun to vet for nail clipping, or doing TI at home, then TI is a lot less stressful, although it's never ideal.
 
Awwwwww, what a poor wee mite.

Sense would say that you cannot put him in any other position to do what you have to do, his head has to be back to reach the wound without hurting him.

I say carry on with what you are doing. That must be really painful, he would never in a million years let you touch that whilst he's alert.

Unless of course, by miracle, he's learned that you are helping him, so he lets you do it.

Naah, that would be a long shot.

I hope he recovers soon, bless him. Well done you for all the work on keeping it clean and trying to remedy it :)

xxx
 
Fiver loves being wrapped up in a blanket or towel. I used to wrap him in his favourite blanket for car rides but never tried to put him on his back in a towel. He will lay on his back but usually I only do it to check his bum and his feet because he is a very twitchy rabbit. He never lays there for long but long enough to check him over. I don't lay him on the floor but in the crook of my arm or on my knees so he feel a little safety.

I don't think it's an awful thing to do as long as it's only used when needs be. The worst thing I get after doing it to Fiver is a foot flick as he hops off and he's never had any ill effects from it.
 
Back
Top