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Please help! Tape stuck on rabbit's chin! :(

H

helprabbitplease

New Kit
Hi,

I am scared of animals but my sister left her rabbit behind without asking me whilst she went on holiday, assuming that I would look after it. I have looked after him for 1.5 weeks and my sister will be back in 3 days.

He is a house rabbit so I opened the cage this morning to let him wander the house as he usually does. However, he has gotten into some tape (I think that it may be masking tape as it is white) and now an approx. 2 inch piece is stuck on his chin :( I tried to remove it but he bit me when I put my hand close (so now I am even more terrified to go near him). :cry:

I am panicking because I don't want him to get hurt and am also scared in case he eats it or it gets more stuck. I'm not sure how badly it is stuck. Will he be able to remove it himself? Shall I wait until they are back and just leave him alone and keep topping up with his hay, etc in the mean time. I'm not sure if I should go somewhere but I can't drive and won't be able to get him into his pet carrier.

I have no idea what to do, especially as I've never looked after any sort of pet before :cry: I would be so so grateful if you have any advice please.
 
Also, I've just had a closer look and it's stuck half way on his chin and half on his whiskers. It doesn't seem to be bothering him at the moment as he is eating like usual and not behaving differently. But he just did not like it when I put my hand near him before.
 
Can you get him into a pet carrier and take him to the Vets or is there someone who can come and hold him for you?
 
Can you try and get hold of him (don't stress him out by chasing him around if you can help it) and wrap him in a towel. If you wrap him up fairly firmly with just his head poking out you should be able to get a better look. If it's only you at home, a couple of pegs or similar might be helpful to hold the towel closed so you have your hands free. You may then be able to gently tease it off if it's not stuck too hard, or try and get a comb in between the skin and the tape, and use a pair of round ended scissors to gently cut it away between the comb and the tape. The comb acts as a barrier and stops you from accidentally cutting into the skin.
 
I think the rabbit needs attention from a vet if you cannot get the tape off yourself. You could contact a friend or relative to put the rabbit in a carrier and either get that person to drive you to a vet or get a taxi.

The rabbit might not appear to be bothered, but he will be aware that it is there and if he starts to eat it for instance, it could cause a blockage with serious consequences.
 
I'm on my own and don't have anyone who is close by to where I am. I'm not sure how to get him into the carrier, its a fabric type one that doesn't stand up on its own.
 
Whilst I've been looking after him, I've kept distance away from him as I really am scared of all animals including rabbits (I know it's silly but I can't help it). I'm not sure how to get that close to him. I've managed to lure him back into the cage with food and have shut it and had a closer look. He does come up right next to me when I am near the cage so I could maybe try taking it off again whilst he's in there, but I'm scared to get bitten again.
 
Thank you all for your advice. I managed to get it off by distracting him with a treat... I'm giving him his favourite treats and greens now after what he went through :(

That had to be one of the scariest experiences of my life :cry:
 
Very well done :thumb: I know that if you are really scared about something, this would have been very difficult for you.

Be sure to let your sister know when she returns that you do not want to be left in this position again :)
 
Thank you. He was so good and didn't make a fuss when I removed it.

Even though I'm scared of them, I really do love animals so it hurts me to see them like that.

I did tell her no due to my fear and lack of experience, but she just left him anyway.

One good thing out of all of this is that I found this website to explore for tips.
 
Well done for getting it off. Distracting him with treats was a good idea. Sometimes you do have to be quite cunning when dealing with rabbits!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thank you :) After today's events, I left him to chill out for the day and made him an obstacle course in the evening which he is loving. He is full of energy running around with even more 'binky' jumps than usual. Rabbits are definitely more resilient than I thought.

Hoping that there are no more incidents like this for the next 3 days :D
 
Thank you :) After today's events, I left him to chill out for the day and made him an obstacle course in the evening which he is loving. He is full of energy running around with even more 'binky' jumps than usual. Rabbits are definitely more resilient than I thought.

Hoping that there are no more incidents like this for the next 3 days :D
 
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