Rabbits chewing themselves

[dancincat417]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, and was looking for a little help/information regarding one of my new bunnies. We took 3 female bunnies from a guy that couldn't keep them, and that was the day before Thanksgiving. They all love each other very much. Two are 2 months old, dwarf mixes. One is about 5 months old, and she is a mini rex. She is the one I'm concerned about. I brought her to the vet last week because she suddenly had a lump inside her right cheek. The vet says it isn't an abscess, but it seems like a build up of cellulitis. She is on antibiotics for that in case it does abscess). That issue seems to be fading, but a couple days ago I noticed blood all over their pen. I immediately saw that one of her toes had a open wound at the end. So I cleaned it, and have been cleaning it twice daily (with Betadine), and it's already healing nicely. However, last night when I went to clean it, I noticed another one of her toes (like her pinky toe I guess) was gaping open and bleeding. It seriously looks like she bit her toes off, and I'm very concerned. The pinky toe wound looks like she is missing a good portion of her toe. I know when we got her she was covered in urine, so I was wondering if maybe that was burning her feet or something??? I have been wiping her clean a little bit here and there, but last night I put her back end in a warm bowl of water, and immediately so much of that urine came off. Then I cleaned her wounds with the Betadine, which is helping tremendously. I am concerned that she might chew another toe off or hurt it however she hurt those 2 toes. I checked their pen and there is nothing she could get caught on, and like I said it seriously looks like the toes were bitten off. I used to work in animal care, at an animal shelter and then at a vet, so I'm familiar with cleaning wounds and such, but I've never heard of a rabbit biting their toes off and why. Please help if you know why she may be doing this!!! Thank you!

 

[alforddm]

My first thought is that rats are biting her toes through the cage wire. Is she in a wire or solid bottom cage? Outside or inside?

 

[Dood]

If she is caked in urine it could be burning her skin

You may want to try a full body bath if the doe will tolerate it and you can dry her very well and keep her in the house and toasty warm until she is completely dry

 

[dancincat417]

She is inside. We have a large cage and leave it open so they can go in and out of it, and we have a large pen around that. My first though was the urine too, that's why I put her rear end in the bowl of water. It immediately took so much urine off of her. Now her wounds are already healed up thanks to the Betadine. I guess if it doesn't happen anymore that might tell me that it was in fact the urine burning her toes. She was in filthy condition when we got her. I didn't want to scare her too much by bathing her so I kept using these wipes I got for small animals. Once I saw her injured toes, though, I was like shoot let's get more of that urine off of her. Although she hated the bowl of water, she quickly came back to me afterwards, almost like she was thanking me or something. She must feel much better already. I've just never heard of them chewing body parts off. I know they can chew wounds, but never thought she would bite her toes off!

 

[Easy Ears]

I've just never heard of them chewing body parts off. I know they can chew wounds, but never thought she would bite her toes off!

They can actually. I just read about it! Apparently it is a genetic disorder. In your doe's case it was probably just the burning of the urine, but if it continues you may want to read this:

Compulsive self-mutilation. In the ‘90s Iglauer et al (1995) reported an increasing tendency of extensive automutilation in a rabbit breeding colony of Checkered crosses (Figure 30). The traumatized body parts were the digits and pads of the front feet. There were no other evident behavioral abnormalities or signs of disease. Self-mutilation was observed in several conditions and situations, in breeding and experimental animals, in rabbits kept singly in cages and in those housed in groups on the ground, in rabbits kept in different buildings and under the care of different staff members. This behavioral abnormality of Checkered crosses has also been observed in animals after they were placed into other environments (institutions or private homes). Parasitological, mycological, histological, clinical or haematological examinations showed no evidence of an agent which may be responsible for the occurrence of self-injury. Statistically the frequency of this abnormality was reflected by 12 to 16 animals affected yearly in a colony varying in size between 130 and 230 individuals. Relapses, following complete healing, occurred up to 3 times per year, on either the same or the opposite front foot. Haloperidol (dopamine antagonist) administration has been shown to be the solution for the interruption of automutilations in the last 21 occurred cases. Similar signs of automutilation were never seen in animals of another breeding line kept in the same building and under the same conditions nor in animals brought in from other breeding colonies. Because this Checkered crosses breeding colony was 15 years old, a relatively high coefficient of inbreeding can be presupposed. A genetic predisposition for the behavioral anomaly described appears very likely.

You can find the rest in this article: http://www.rg.bioflux.com.ro/docs/2014.7-47.pdf
(Courtesy of Homer from this thread: rabbit-genetic-diseases-t27168.html )

 

[michaels4gardens]

was there any fur bits around the area ?, sometimes when rabbits are "socializing" there is a little nipping, " it could be" that she did not bite her own toes off, -- but- instead it "could be" a social integration issue that will either pass, or get worse. so-- just watch for any more of this kind of thing.

--- also- inspect your cage flooring and egress areas, to see if there is any places where toe injury could happen, i.e.: places where there is a separation between two joined wires [like where the sides and bottom are fastened together] large enough to get a toenail caught, or two boards, or pieces of metal with gaps the right size to get a toe caught in.

-- not that it is "impossible" to have a rabbit that will bite themselves, it is just very unusual... in 50 years or so, -- I have only had two rabbits that actually chewed on them selves, [and it was discovered that there were "other contributing issues" [ that I should have been paying more attention to, and attended to], that were causing it. [such as- bugs , --and-- urine / poop scald from untreated coccidiosis that I noticed afterwards.]

 

[dancincat417]

Thank you both for the info. I have rechecked their pen and I still don't see an area where any of them could get caught. I truly believe she did it to herself, I just hope it doesn't continue anymore. Hopefully it was just from the urine or something. I remember she did have a small wound on one toe when we first got her, but it wasn't an open wound anymore. That was the first toe she bit off, so maybe the urine was scalding wounds...? She did get beat up by other rabbits before we took her, so she had a few wounds, mostly on her face. She gets along very well with the 2 younger buns she is with. She loves them.

 

[michaels4gardens]

hopefully, she will recover mentally as well as physically ---

 

[wamplercathy]

Is their current cage solid bottom or wire? I had a doe jumping around and rip her nail out. Which is odd because I keep all their nails clipped. She healed fine, could it just be a nail that was pulled out while playing?

 

[dancincat417]

UPDATE****

She was put on an antibiotic to prevent infection in the exposed bones where she chewed her toes. She seemed to be doing well and her toes have been healing, but last night when I checked her toes again, almost all of her back toes are messed up. All of her nails are completely chewed to the toe, and some toes are chewed open a bit as well with little sores on them. Two of her toes are a bit swollen, but the wounds are healed. Unfortunately this is something that will need a lot of vet attention. The vet said we will need to do X-rays and probably amputate her back toes to a certain point past this "disease". I feel so bad for her. She snorts at me now because she hates getting her meds twice a day for a month now.

 

[michaels4gardens]

UPDATE****

She was put on an antibiotic to prevent infection in the exposed bones where she chewed her toes. She seemed to be doing well and her toes have been healing, but last night when I checked her toes again, almost all of her back toes are messed up. All of her nails are completely chewed to the toe, and some toes are chewed open a bit as well with little sores on them. Two of her toes are a bit swollen, but the wounds are healed. Unfortunately this is something that will need a lot of vet attention. The vet said we will need to do X-rays and probably amputate her back toes to a certain point past this "disease". I feel so bad for her. She snorts at me now because she hates getting her meds twice a day for a month now.

hopefully your vet included a probiotic with the antibiotic...
and if this continues, you will have to make a decision as to just how long this will go on, how much she will suffer, and how much you will spend. -- .sometimes, euthanasia is the right choice...wish you the best..

 

[dancincat417]

Well the vet said the medication is a very strong one that will prevent infection in the exposed bones and keep flushing out bad bacteria, so hopefully it's doing it's job. We will definitely consider her well-being as far as surgeries or treatments go. I may even get a 2nd opinion to see what my other vet would suggest.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi Dancincat,

what a terrible thing to have happen! Poor bunny!

Even with full feet, some rabbits develop "sore hocks", and I am afraid that she would be prone to them because her weight would be distributed unevenly and over less surface area.

Much as you obviously want to help her, I would suggest that you have her euthanized to prevent further suffering.

 

[dancincat417]

Yeah I'm going to take her to my other vet and see what he says, and go from there. Maybe he knows something else that would help her. If not, we will figure out where to go from there. She is in a carpeted room with her bunny friends now, because I know the hard floors can cause further injury to her feet. I was doing some research online yesterday and found articles from people who have bunnies that had similar issues with chewing paws, and they finally found ways to make it stop. I still have hope for her. We may just need to do more research and find ways to treat it without amputation which would add to injury.... we will see. <br /><br /> -- Wed Jan 06, 2016 10:58 pm -- <br /><br /> UPDATE FOR THOSE FOLLOWING THIS:

I took my bunny to see our regular vet to get a different opinion, and he said bunny was just chewing her toes due to trauma, and all of her toes are healing up nice with no recent signs of her chewing. Her 2 toes she chewed off had wounds from a bunny attacking her before we got her, and we suspect her other toes were chewed a little due to being on the hard concrete floor. But she has been on a carpeted floor for over 2 weeks and her wounds are healed. I was also able to stop giving her medication since her wounds are healed!

 

[michaels4gardens]

wonderful...

 

[alforddm]

I took my bunny to see our regular vet to get a different opinion, and he said bunny was just chewing her toes due to trauma, and all of her toes are healing up nice with no recent signs of her chewing. Her 2 toes she chewed off had wounds from a bunny attacking her before we got her, and we suspect her other toes were chewed a little due to being on the hard concrete floor. But she has been on a carpeted floor for over 2 weeks and her wounds are healed. I was also able to stop giving her medication since her wounds are healed!

Thank you for the update. I'm so glad she is healing for you.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That's great news! Glad to hear she is going to be okay!