Ok, so, I have a very sweet little girl.. she's probably about 8-10 months old. She has been in the family for the past 6 so she's pretty used to us. (Specifically me since I interact with her so much). But her and I are home alone this evening. I've been cleaning the house for the past few hours... I go in the living room where we have her cage (which is about 3ft-3ft and maybe 2 feet deep) I pull up the rug a little to sweep under it next thing I know Willow is running frantically around her cage like jumping on the sides of the cage walls running all over top of her stuff (wrecking her cage) I put my hand in to try to calm her but she just started thumping very hard and loud (she maybe continued to thump up until 5 minutes after she stopped freaking out.) She stopped thumping and since has been breathing super heavy and hard. This was about 20 minutes ago now. I think she may have scratched her nose on something in her cage. This has only happened one other time and it was because she saw the hamster running around in his ball. (Since then we keep them a good distance away from each other.) So it wasn't him. I keep thinking maybe she saw a spider or something but idk. I'm kind of freaking out. I know bunnies thump when they aren't comfortable with something /assume danger is coming. But this is just a regular evening. Have been doing usual stuff. Please help .
PLEASE HELP
- Thread starter Larlar44
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Edit: she doesn't stay in her cage for very long. Just when I'm cleaning, we are out, or we are sleeping. Otherwise she is out and running around. So I really don't think it's because she isn't getting enough "out time".
It can sometimes take them a while to calm down and stop the thumping. For some rabbits it can help to comfort them by giving head rubs, or a few even want to be held(though not usually). If comforting your bun doesn't seem to calm her down, you could try putting a sheet over her cage, as this can help give them a sense of security. Once she's settled down I would give her a thorough looking over to make sure she didn't injure herself. If she does have a cut on her nose and it's not bad, I would just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get infected.
For future info, a rabbit freaking out can be potentially hazardous to them. I've read of rabbits breaking their jaws when they slam their heads into the cage bars. I know you can't stop her panicking, but sometimes providing places of security can help. If she doesn't already have a hidey hole(cardboard box with entrance and exit holes) in her cage, I would suggest providing one. Keeping a sheet over part of the cage may also help. Also when she's not in the cage, it's good to provide tunnels and hidey holes in case she gets scared of something while she's out.
For future info, a rabbit freaking out can be potentially hazardous to them. I've read of rabbits breaking their jaws when they slam their heads into the cage bars. I know you can't stop her panicking, but sometimes providing places of security can help. If she doesn't already have a hidey hole(cardboard box with entrance and exit holes) in her cage, I would suggest providing one. Keeping a sheet over part of the cage may also help. Also when she's not in the cage, it's good to provide tunnels and hidey holes in case she gets scared of something while she's out.
Thank you so much for your response. I hadn't thought of the blanket over cage idea but that really might help us out. I hate when she gets worked up. I'm always so scared she is going to hurt herself.
