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Why is my rabbit lifting her head up? - video

Lorkesaurous

Lorkesaurous

New Kit
Hi, my little mini lop occasionally keeps lifting her head up and down over and over. Does anyone know what this might be? She isn't making any noise or gasping for air. I've hopefully added a video:

She has had an injection recently to get her eating as she was off her food a little. We aren't sure if it might be because it's irritated her neck. She also has mild teeth spurs.

Thanks, Laura
 
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It's my first time posting a video on here, so not sure if you can see it in the first post?

It kind of is like she's bobbing her head but she isn't investigating. She's lifting her head up and down, so her chin is in the air. She does it quite a few times in a row at a time and quite quickly too.

She hasn't been doing it all constantly, just every now and then, which is odd.
 
Looks like she is trying to groom her dewlap. You may want to check and make sure there isn't something stuck in her fur or the fur being wet. If you had just given her something juicy to eat, that could be why. She's trying to reach down to lick it off.

Or if not that and she isn't spayed, she could be going through a false pregnancy and trying to pull fur out of her dewlap to make a nest.
eta: I have a video of one of my buns doing the same thing when she went through a false pregnancy prior to being spayed.
 
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I don't know an awful lot about rabbits, but to me that looks neurological. How old is she and is this new or has she always done it?
 
Just got the video to work :)

It does look like she's trying to groom, but a rabbit should be able to do this without the struggle she appears to be having.
Personally I'd take her in for a thorough health check & also take the video with you to show your vet.

It could be something spinal, neurological or something completely innocent.
 
She is spayed and I'm unsure if she's trying to groom herself as she's generally pretty good at doing so. Plus she has her own personal groomer (her brother!)

RedFraggle - shes 18months old. I've seen her do it once or twice before. She's done it a few times the last two days, about 30seconds at a time. I wasn't sure if it was because of having an injection yesterday.
 
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I would take her back to the Vets - is she eating now? Is she happy on the floor as she seems to find it slippy? They sometimes make those movements when eating hay. Hope you can get her sorted soon.
 
Lorkesaurous said:
Hi, my little mini lop occasionally keeps lifting her head up and down over and over. Does anyone know what this might be? She isn't making any noise or gasping for air. I've hopefully added a video:

She has had an injection recently to get her eating as she was off her food a little. We aren't sure if it might be because it's irritated her neck. She also has mild teeth spurs.

Thanks, Laura
Click to expand...

I have a rabbit who does this a lot. Mainly next to his water bowl and associated with grooming.

You say 'occasionally' - how often would you say?
 
She is eating now and seems to be back to her usual self, compared to yesterday when we took her to be looked over at the vets. She's fine on the floor, in the video she was on the fire place slipping around but she loves to lay on there because it's nice and cool in the summer.

MightyMax - I've seen her do it twice last night after coming back from the vets, and three times this evening. She has stopped now and quite happy hopping, flopping and roaming about. We also use a water bowl rather than a bottle for both buns but will keep an eye on her to see if she does it after drinking.
 
If there's no question that your vet is rabbit savvy, I'd take her back and show the video as daphnephoebe said. That doesn't look right to me and I also thought it might be neurological. What kind of injection was she given? Perhaps she is sensitive to the medication? And how long has she been having trouble eating? I hope the cause can be easily sussed. Vibes for Sky bunny. xxxx
 
I'm not sure of the name of the injection but it was to get her eating. We only noticed her not eating yesterday evening when we came home from work - Sky usually loves her food but only managed one or two small strands of Timothy hay. She was also hunched up and grinding her teeth so we phoned and then got her to the vet to be checked over.

As said, she seems completely fine now apart from the head movements yesterday after the vets and a few times this evening and was a bit worried about what it was all about. I'll be keeping an eye on her and will give the vets a call tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your help, I'll keep you updated about what it could be and how little Sky bun is doing. Really hope it isn't anything serious. :(
 
Lorkesaurous said:
She is eating now and seems to be back to her usual self, compared to yesterday when we took her to be looked over at the vets. She's fine on the floor, in the video she was on the fire place slipping around but she loves to lay on there because it's nice and cool in the summer.

MightyMax - I've seen her do it twice last night after coming back from the vets, and three times this evening. She has stopped now and quite happy hopping, flopping and roaming about. We also use a water bowl rather than a bottle for both buns but will keep an eye on her to see if she does it after drinking.
Click to expand...


Did the Vet check in her ears and in her mouth ?

Is her bum clean ?

Is the fur/skin UNDER her dewlap clean and dry ?

I have seen the behaviour displayed by your Rabbit in Rabbits who have something irritating them that they cannot reach to lick/chew/scratch.
 
Lorkesaurous said:
I'm not sure of the name of the injection but it was to get her eating. We only noticed her not eating yesterday evening when we came home from work - Sky usually loves her food but only managed one or two small strands of Timothy hay. She was also hunched up and grinding her teeth so we phoned and then got her to the vet to be checked over.

As said, she seems completely fine now apart from the head movements yesterday after the vets and a few times this evening and was a bit worried about what it was all about. I'll be keeping an eye on her and will give the vets a call tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your help, I'll keep you updated about what it could be and how little Sky bun is doing. Really hope it isn't anything serious. :(
Click to expand...

I think the most important thing is to get her eating again, pooing and making sure her teeth are OK.

Vets usually have a hard time of it with symptoms they don't regularly see, unless you have a good expert to hand :D
 
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