I think my indoor bunny was spooked by skunk smell.

[overhear]

Last night my daughter woke me up to tell me that our bunny was thumping like crazy, which is very out of character. I came downstairs and she looked terrified. She was thumping, hyperalert, and breathing heavily. Occasionally she would take a few steps toward one side of the room and then slink backward and crouch down. Nothing I could do would calm her, so after searching every corner of the room and I just stayed up with her for hours until she finally chilled out a bit at about 1:30 AM.

My husband -- who slept blissfully through the entire episode, of course! -- told me this morning that he smelled a skunk in the yard last night before he went to bed. This morning bunny's back to being her happy, relaxed self but I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for what to do if this happens again. Should I try fabreze???

 

[Preitler]

I wouldn't use chemicals. Those sprays work by numbing down your smell receptors and overpowering whatever is left of that sense, not by removing an odor. Rabbitrs sense of smell is a hundred times better.

Honestly, I've never seen any reaction to a strange smell from my rabbits, I would rather think your rabbit heard it. They don't care about loud noises, but that of an animal sneaking around can put them on edge.

 

[JBun]

To cover strange sounds, turn on the tv or radio.

If you feel you need to mask the smell still, maybe safe essential oils instead of chemical air fresheners. Or put some strong smelling herbs that your bunny likes to eat, like parsley and cilantro in with your bun to help maybe divert your bunny. Not sure what else can be done to cover skunk smell, since it's pretty potent.

 

[overhear]

If it happens again I may try a window fan turned to draw air out of the house.

I didn't smell a thing and I have an acute sense of smell so maybe it was a sound. All I know is that by the time I got downstairs I couldn't find evidence of anything but she was definitely still reacting to whatever it was.

 

[Bunnygreen]

I would say makesure nothing has changed from what she was used to. The smallest changes can really affect their fear even if it means nothing to us. I have an air purifier that seems to calm my bun. Our power went out and shut it off without me realizing and I have never seen him so destructive in his pen. Sometimes it just takes them a day or two to adjust to a minor change that you may have not even noticed!!