• 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.

Self Mutilation Rabbit - On the Mend (Video)

The Duchess

The Duchess

Wise Old Thumper
Some of you may know about Eleanor Tuesday who came to us when she was to be pts. She was self harming. Her future has been looking very bleak. Story here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.400481216662278.88011.224203434290058&type=3

She's been trussed up in all kinds of protective clothing post op to stop her reopening her whole chest again and again.

yesterday I took off her clinical tee shirt and this morning she rewarded me with this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3rBZgLB67c&feature=player_detailpage

On the road to recovery I hope and now maybe she'll stop her behaviour
 
She looks so like Doodee including the colouring I just did a double take. :shock:

Hope she continues to improve and sticks to wrecking objects in future.
 
Awwww poor girlie, I am glad she is now healing well.

She hadn't had a Cylap vaccine in the weeks preceding the self mutilation had she ?
 
Jack's-Jane said:
Awwww poor girlie, I am glad she is now healing well.

She hadn't had a Cylap vaccine in the weeks preceding the self mutilation had she ?
Click to expand...

No Jane, in fact she was very lucky to have been fed let alone given any type of vet care. The owner gave her up when she took her to the vets to be PTS. She needed treatment and the owner wouldn't pay or take the time (she was already mutilating and had eaten a fair bit of her dewlap and neck tissue). Vet got the owner to sign the rabbit over and tried to tidy up the neck wound, only there wasn't much skin to join so she made the best job she could (and spayed at the same time). She then asked me to take her.

She came here, I treated and she recovered until there was no wound left. Then a few weeks past that she started to mutilate elsewhere ending up with a hole in her chest to the muscle and then a wound stretching from her original neck wound to her opposite armpit.

We all think she has habitual stress/confinement/boredom behaviour. She's in doors now and is a totally different rabbit.

She has since had the combi vaccination.
 
The Duchess said:
No Jane, in fact she was very lucky to have been fed let alone given any type of vet care. The owner gave her up when she took her to the vets to be PTS. She needed treatment and the owner wouldn't pay or take the time (she was already mutilating and had eaten a fair bit of her dewlap and neck tissue). Vet got the owner to sign the rabbit over and tried to tidy up the neck wound, only there wasn't much skin to join so she made the best job she could (and spayed at the same time). She then asked me to take her.

She came here, I treated and she recovered until there was no wound left. Then a few weeks past that she started to mutilate elsewhere ending up with a hole in her chest to the muscle and then a wound stretching from her original neck wound to her opposite armpit.

We all think she has habitual stress/confinement/boredom behaviour. She's in doors now and is a totally different rabbit.

She has since had the combi vaccination.
Click to expand...

How sad :cry:

I asked as the appearance and position of the wound looks exactly the same as one I have seen (not one of my Rabbits) that was the result of a severe reaction to Cylap. The poor Bun had 3 lots of surgery but sadly lost her fight for life in the end as 6 months later she was still erupting in sores :cry:
 
Jack's-Jane said:
How sad :cry:

I asked as the appearance and position of the wound looks exactly the same as one I have seen (not one of my Rabbits) that was the result of a severe reaction to Cylap. The poor Bun had 3 lots of surgery but sadly lost her fight for life in the end as 6 months later she was still erupting in sores :cry:
Click to expand...

That sounds awful, it really does.

No, I am quite sure that Ellie had never seen the inside of a vets until the day she was given up. The woman's kids used to just chuck in some mix when they felt like it too. When she first came, her whole body was so tense and you only had to put your hand out and feel her and she'd go completely tight and sit pefectly still like she as had the absolute terrors. Role reversal now as she today has become an absolute terror getting into lots of mischief. :D
 
The Duchess said:
That sounds awful, it really does.

No, I am quite sure that Ellie had never seen the inside of a vets until the day she was given up. The woman's kids used to just chuck in some mix when they felt like it too. When she first came, her whole body was so tense and you only had to put your hand out and feel her and she'd go completely tight and sit pefectly still like she as had the absolute terrors. Role reversal now as she today has become an absolute terror getting into lots of mischief. :D
Click to expand...

That is brilliant news !! :D :love:
 
Oh my god I never knew a bunny could do that to themselves it doesn't bear thinking about. I hope she stays better

Ruthie xxx
 
What a beautiful girl, and what a turn around!

I've never seen a rabbit self mutilate to that degree:shock:
 
What a tragic case :(
Glad to see that she has the chance to rehabilitate with you.
Out of interest do you think bonding her will help or will there be a huge risk of her over grooming a partner?
Thanks for posting such an sad but interesting situation, I'd be keen to know how things pan out so I can file in my memory, just in case I am ever faced with a similar situation.
 
BB Mommy said:
What a beautiful girl, and what a turn around!

I've never seen a rabbit self mutilate to that degree:shock:
Click to expand...

I actually decided not to take photos of the latest damage as the hole went right down to her muscle and the outer skin started to go necrotic overnight. And then when she opened up her wound two days on the trot, the mess was a bit grusome. So I left it there with the photos. She has now had quite a bit of cosmetic surgery (by Gill Tose at Windlesham Vets who have been fab). And she now no longer has a dew lap. I just so hope that she leaves this chest and armpit alone now as there is absolutely no skin left to 'borrow' to close again.

But today she's been a right pain in the bum and she knows it too. Currently sprawled out with her daddy watching the Olympics
 
KB said:
What a tragic case :(
Glad to see that she has the chance to rehabilitate with you.
Out of interest do you think bonding her will help or will there be a huge risk of her over grooming a partner?
Thanks for posting such an sad but interesting situation, I'd be keen to know how things pan out so I can file in my memory, just in case I am ever faced with a similar situation.
Click to expand...

I did actually try this during her early mutilation to try and distract her but she just carried on at her own wound and ignored the lovely lad I put with her. He ended up being freaked out and some fur flew. I took the view then that if that didn't solve the problem but they did actually bond, it would almost 'lock' the partner rabbit in rescue unnecessarily as she would almost certainly not be rehomeable if she carried on with her mutilation.

But we will try again when the time is right and she has settled enough to be rehomed.
 
Awww bless her. Hopefully without the triggers that caused it (boredom, lonliness etc) she can eventually get over the urge to self-mutilate.... I cant believe she is doing it to the degree you describe, it must be so painful!

I wonder though, I used to have a dog that self-mutilated, when she came to us her tummy, her bits, and her bum and lower back were massive big infected scabs, and her paws were raw and bleeding. A lot of the problem was separation anxiety and boredom, but we also found out that she had allergies, lots of them, and it was making her itchy. She seemed to be worse when we washed our clothes in certain washing powders, when she'd been rolling in grass, she had a mite allergy and maybe a flea one I think, and there were others we couldnt figure out. I was just wondering whether she could have some allergies that are making her worse?

Fingers crossed she stops now she's indoors!
 
The Duchess said:
I did actually try this during her early mutilation to try and distract her but she just carried on at her own wound and ignored the lovely lad I put with her. He ended up being freaked out and some fur flew. I took the view then that if that didn't solve the problem but they did actually bond, it would almost 'lock' the partner rabbit in rescue unnecessarily as she would almost certainly not be rehomeable if she carried on with her mutilation.

But we will try again when the time is right and she has settled enough to be rehomed.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I guess the lovely lad could sense her mental anguish as well as her physical trauma.
I quite see your dilemma re 'locking' another bun into a rescue life.
I so hope that in time this lovely girl banishes her demons.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DarceyH
Smokey on the mend at last, thank you all for you help and vibes!
Replies
7
Views
715
RogerRabbit999
RogerRabbit999
Back
Top