Fur-pulling and washing

So, for the past several years Sophie has had periods off and on where she'll wash a small bit of fur under her chin a lot and pull on the fur (though she doesn't pull the hair out). It's really only a tiny patch of fur where her hair is a bit longer than the surrounding hairs, not even a centimeter wide. She does this almost compulsively sometimes, where she'll pause during a meal or while running around to give that patch of fur a few licks and pulls. She'll do this so much, the fur turns yellow and is almost constantly wet. Then without any reason that I've been able to discover, she'll stop doing it, only to start again several months later. She hadn't done it in quite a while, but today she's started washing herself there again, and pulling on the fur. I've discussed it with the vets before, but they've never been able to find a cause for it. There's nothing physically wrong, and the skin looks healthy, so the only reason I've been able to think of is that it must be because of stress. I just can't think of what would be stressing her out. I've never discovered anything that triggers these times; they seem completely random to me. When we moved to our current place a couple of months ago, she didn't do it, and that must've been a really stressful time for her. I hate the thought of something stressing her out, though, so I'd love to know what it is so I can fix it for her, but I'm stumped. I know they can overgroom because of pain, too, but wouldn't she do it all the time in that case, instead of going months without doing it? Does anyone maybe have any ideas what could be causing her to do this, or how I could find out?

I'll see if I can take a picture of the area tomorrow.

I was going to say pain - without knowing what causes the pain though you can't say whether she'd do it all the time. Plenty of dogs will lick a sore joint for example but then when it eases off they stop. Can't think what might cause this under a chin though other than teeth? Shoulder joint perhaps?

dollyanna said:

I was going to say pain - without knowing what causes the pain though you can't say whether she'd do it all the time. Plenty of dogs will lick a sore joint for example but then when it eases off they stop. Can't think what might cause this under a chin though other than teeth? Shoulder joint perhaps?

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Oh, that's true, it might not hurt all the time... I was thinking that since this has been going on for years, it would be chronic pain, but you're right, it could be something that comes and goes. Her teeth were fine last time they were checked, and last time she had a skull x-ray there was nothing abnormal to see, either, though that might've changed by now, of course, so it could explain why she's doing it now, even though it wouldn't explain why she'd been doing it these past couple of years. A shoulder joint... I don't know how I'd find out if that hurts... She moves just fine, at least. Would her licking the area under her chin indicate that the pain would be in that area, do you think, or could it be somewhere else, too?

Usually it is roughly where they lick, but they can get referred pain just like we can so it's no guarantee :-/ You might be best to speak to the vet about a possible painkiller trial - put her on painkillers for say 3-5 days and see if it stops, if it doesn't then it's less likely to be pain related.

That's a good idea. If she's still doing it on Monday I'll send the vets a message (I assume they'll be closed tomorrow) and ask if I can give her some of Casper's metacam for a few days and see if it helps. Thank you for thinking with me about this. I really appreciate it. =)

No worries, I like working out things like this, it's kind of what I do for a living, hope you find an answer though!

Pain & stress are reasons I;ve heard of, as well as mites. When I adopted Rudey he had been pulling fur out of his chest & made himself bald there . He hadn't been happy since losing his partner (hence rehoming to me). He wasn't in the greatest physical health about her on arrival so its diffuicult to say what caused him to do it but he never did once he arrived here. He did develop other self harmy behaviours though later on.

Now Mousey is super fussy about her humungous dewlap. She's kind of the opposite of Sophie though - really old looking & doddery, needs quite alot of supportive care. Recently she has over groomed it (the to half that she can reach). Mouse will be experiencing some pain though (I hope its managed). She has also had mites twice - both within the past year or so. When we groom her she will pull on her dewlap if she is sat up. she sometimes pulls on it when she looks happy.

It really does seem like a bit of an enigma with Sophie, she always looks so well.

dollyanna said:

No worries, I like working out things like this, it's kind of what I do for a living, hope you find an answer though!

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Thank you! I'll keep the thread updated. =)

joey&boo said:

Pain & stress are reasons I;ve heard of, as well as mites. When I adopted Rudey he had been pulling fur out of his chest & made himself bald there . He hadn't been happy since losing his partner (hence rehoming to me). He wasn't in the greatest physical health about her on arrival so its diffuicult to say what caused him to do it but he never did once he arrived here. He did develop other self harmy behaviours though later on.

Now Mousey is super fussy about her humungous dewlap. She's kind of the opposite of Sophie though - really old looking & doddery, needs quite alot of supportive care. Recently she has over groomed it (the to half that she can reach). Mouse will be experiencing some pain though (I hope its managed). She has also had mites twice - both within the past year or so. When we groom her she will pull on her dewlap if she is sat up. she sometimes pulls on it when she looks happy.

It really does seem like a bit of an enigma with Sophie, she always looks so well.

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Poor Rudey. Losing his partner must've been really hard on him. That's so good that he didn't do it after he came to live with you. I'm sorry to hear he developed other self harmy behaviours later on, though.

Oh, Mousey overgrooms, too? It's interesting that she'll pull on her dewlap sometimes when she looks happy, too, although, yes, since she experiences some pain, that might be why she's been overgrooming it recently... And she had mites this past year, too, poor Mouse.

I don't think Sophie has mites, but maybe I should get her checked out just in case. I bribed her with pellets and took a photo this morning and I saw that she does have a small bald spot where she's been licking and pulling, so I think she has been pulling some fur out after all, or it's a bald spot because of mites? But if it's mites, it wouldn't have solved itself each time she's done this in the past, would it? Mites don't go away on their own, do they? :?



It's just the yellowish slightly longer hairs that she washes and pulls on. If anyone's wondering how she can reach that spot with her mouth, I have no idea. It looks terribly awkward when she does it.

Its not where you'd expect to get mites either is it - its the one place I cant check with Mouse (the teeth come out & they are sharp). I also wouldn't expect Sophie to get mites because she appears on good physical form (Rudey was treated but showed no signs & he was far from active & healthy).

Maybe she has something there that isn't sinister but flares up / irritates her from time to time. back to Mouse again (sorry) but she has a lump on her larynx, we've never stressed her out with diagnostics & on vets advice adopted a watch & wait - this was about 5 years ago when we took her to the vet about it. The vets can still feel it.

I think I'd run it past my vets (again) - because you can see the very specific area it might be easier for them to investigate. Such an awkward place to examine a feisty bunny - I don't envy vets

Yes, it's not as easy place to examine! I doubt my trick of making her stand up by holding a treat above her head will work at the vet. :lol: I'm glad you wouldn't expect Sophie to get mites since she's in good shape. She's a very healthy bunny in general. I've had insurance for her since she was little, the first bunny I've ever gotten insurance for, and I've barely gotten anything back for it because she rarely has any problems. :lol:

Having something there that flares up or irritates her from time to time isn't something I had considered... I'm glad that Mousey's lump doesn't seem to be anything bad, since it hasn't grown or anything. Maybe it's something like that for Sophie...

I think I'll contact my vets on Monday and send them the photo and ask if they can examine her again, yes, or if we can try out dollyanna's pain relief trial first, so we'll know if it's pain or not and have some more information.

I haven't seen her do it at all today... I wonder if maybe yesterday she was doing it because she was nervous because of the fireworks? There were loud bangs all day long and they startled her a few times, so that might've caused her stress? :?

Well, she really seems to have stopped doing it, so I'll keep my eye on it and keep my plan ready for when/if she starts again.