Rabbits pulling fur out!?

Hello everyone. I'm very new to bunny ownership as the rabbits I talk about actually belong to my housemates but I will be taking them with me when I move out in a couple of months.

Yesterday I noticed a clump of fur with blood matted into it in the cage, I had a look at the rabbit it came from (there are 2) and she didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere and I really had no idea whether the other had pulled it out or she'd pulled it out herself. I checked on them again today and there is more fur around the cage and the rabbit is actually bleeding underneath her tail. I still don't know if she's done it to herself or not. Neither of the rabbits are neutered, they got on very well though and although I have seen the other rabbit chasing the bleeding rabbit around the cage, she never seems to be aggressive and they still cuddle up and sleep together. If one is hurting the other, I don't want to have to separate them, if she's hurting herself, why do you think this could be? I thought it may be that she is having a phantom pregnancy, but the hair is only missing from underneath her tail, and do rabbits normally pull so hard they make themselves bleed?

I was planning on neutering both rabbits when I move out of the house and go back to my parents house in June, however, is this something I need to do now? I really don't have the spare money at the moment but if it was absolutely necessary, I would be able to find a way. I'm just not sure who is pulling the fur out or why or how to stop them! If anyone could shine some light on this, I would be very grateful.

Thank you

If I were you I would arrange a vet check for both of them and neutering as soon as poss.

Babsie said:

If I were you I would arrange a vet check for both of them and neutering as soon as poss.

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Okay then, I think I will ring the vet tomorrow. Thank you

Nic. said:

Okay then, I think I will ring the vet tomorrow. Thank you

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:thumb::wave:

Do you know how old they are and are you sure they are 2 females?

tonibun said:

Do you know how old they are and are you sure they are 2 females?

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They're both about 12 months old. My housemates got them in June from Pets at Home and were told they were about 8 weeks old, they said both rabbits were definitely girls, we've had them quite a while now so I presumed if that was wrong, one would have been pregnant by now.

When you have 2 girls together one always chases the other usually and they grab fur under the tail to pull it out. It sounds like this is what is happening. It's not much fun for the one being chased, a bit like being bullied, even though they sit together at other times.

tonibun said:

When you have 2 girls together one always chases the other usually and they grab fur under the tail to pull it out. It sounds like this is what is happening. It's not much fun for the one being chased, a bit like being bullied, even though they sit together at other times.

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Aww, the poor thing. I have seen them chasing each other around a bit, but nothing very alarming. I was very surprised to see fur and blood these past couple of days and it looks like things got quite vicious. Is this something you think will go away once I have them both neutered then?

Thanks for help

I would separate them now and rebond again when they're both spayed. Try and keep them near to eachother so they can see and sniff eachother but not fight.

I don't have anywhere else to put them so I'd have to go and buy another cage which isn't really something I can afford right now on top of having them both neutered. Do you think it would be okay to just put some sort of barrier between them, like a piece of wire mesh? I'm hoping to get them neutered this week, but I'm not entirely sure I trust their current vet with a big operation like spaying so I'm going to have a look around and make some inquiries first. If I did just put a barrier between them, or even managed to keep them together until I can get them spayed, can they both be in the same op straight after their operations? Or are they going to accidentally hurt or bother each other? Sorry for all the questions and thanks!

A barrier would be perfect, as long as they can't hop over.

After their operations they'll have to be kept separately for at least a week or 2 to prevent them hurting themselves/eachother and give them chance to heal and hormones to settle :wave:

Gemmapookie said:

A barrier would be perfect, as long as they can't hop over.

After their operations they'll have to be kept separately for at least a week or 2 to prevent them hurting themselves/eachother and give them chance to heal and hormones to settle :wave:

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Ah, so regardless of whether they're separated before the operation they'd definitely have to be separated afterwards? If I do just use a barrier during this time, can I just remove it after a week or two or will I have to take special precautions to make sure they don't fight? Thanks for all the info!

The problem is you don't know when you bring them back from their spay whether they will fight or not. So it's best to give them a break after the op for them to recover. Someone on the Forum took 2 similar rabbits home which fought, possibly due to the fact they smelt different from being at the Vets. Obviously you can't risk them fighting or fur pulling straight after their op.

Would it be better to spend money on another cage and one operation so at least they can't injure one another. Then have the second one neutered when you have saved up enough money. I think some Vets will let you pay off gradually, this is another option.

Then, if this is what you decide to do, when you take them home in a couple of months, you can go ahead and bond them.

Thinking about it I would recommend you spend the money on another cage so you have 2 rabbits which can't harass one another and then go from there.

tonibun said:

The problem is you don't know when you bring them back from their spay whether they will fight or not. So it's best to give them a break after the op for them to recover. Someone on the Forum took 2 similar rabbits home which fought, possibly due to the fact they smelt different from being at the Vets. Obviously you can't risk them fighting or fur pulling straight after their op.

Would it be better to spend money on another cage and one operation so at least they can't injure one another. Then have the second one neutered when you have saved up enough money. I think some Vets will let you pay off gradually, this is another option.

Then, if this is what you decide to do, when you take them home in a couple of months, you can go ahead and bond them.

Thinking about it I would recommend you spend the money on another cage so you have 2 rabbits which can't harass one another and then go from there.

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Thanks for the advice. I'd just been keeping a close eye on them until I'd figured out a way to separate them, but after I came back home after a few hours at Uni I found that Luna has ripped out Lana's fur again and actually ripped off some skin aswell. I can't manage to get a proper look but from what I can tell there's alot of fur missing from the spot, some dried blood in the fur and the skin looks red and raw where bits of it have been ripped off with the fur. I feel awful about not separating them immediately but I didn't think it would suddenly get that bad! I went and bought another cage and fitted it inside their large one. I've been keeping the smaller cage open so they can share whilst I'm in the room and letting them out to play together but shutting them both inside the separate cages when I'm not watching. I think this will work as they don't fight at all when I'm in the room, and are very affectionate towards each other generally. I'm a little bit worried about the wound Lana has, it looks very sore, but she seems to be acting the same, she's been running around the living room and playing for hours, still eating fine so it doesn't seem like she's in any pain. Is there something I should be doing to treat that? Or should I just leave it alone to heal? I've also booked them both in to be spayed for next Tuesday.

Again, thanks for all the help