Behaviour issues in rabbits

Guen Bradbury is a professional vet, pharmacologist, and an innovation marketing consultant. She works for Innovia Expertise, lectures and teaches on the College of Cambridge and runs a teleconsultancy service.

Guen Bradbury is a professional vet, pharmacologist, and an innovation marketing consultant. She works for Innovia Expertise, lectures and teaches on the College of Cambridge and runs a teleconsultancy service.

Behaviour issues in rabbits

Guen Bradbury emphasises the significance of working with house owners to know and resolve points in these standard pets.

The UK has 1.5 million rabbits. In a current survey, 43% of these rabbits confirmed at the very least one behaviour that the proprietor didn’t like.

Undesirable “downside” behaviours don’t simply trigger a nuisance to the proprietor – they’ll point out the rabbits are experiencing poor welfare and can even could cause a breakdown within the human-animal bond.

And that is severe. When that bond breaks down, house owners are much less prone to work together with their rabbits continuously, much less prone to discover indicators that point out ailing well being, and are much less prone to search and pay for remedy.

Behavioural issues typically contribute to well being issues. They usually severely have an effect on rabbit welfare.

What do house owners sometimes do if their rabbit exhibits a behaviour that they don’t like? Within the 2016 PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report, house owners had been requested how they’d discover assist with their rabbits’ behaviour. Some house owners (14%) mentioned they wouldn’t trouble. A couple of third (38%) mentioned they’d look on-line. However half of the house owners mentioned they’d ask a vet skilled.

And that’s the reason we, as vets, have to learn about rabbit behaviour: as a result of we’re the primary port of name for numerous rabbit house owners.

Why do behavioural issues occur?

Why do rabbits present behaviours that house owners don’t like? The bulk are prompted both by unhealthy husbandry or by unhealthy interactions.

This truly makes diagnosing the causes of an issue behaviour pretty easy – an excellent historical past can warn you to features of the rabbits’ husbandry which might be imperfect. It’s also possible to ask about how the proprietor performs with their rabbits and the way they present affection; this offers you details about interactions.

Once we consider undesirable behaviours, we sometimes consider aggression, fearfulness, destruction or inappropriate elimination, however truly, house owners might dislike a unique behaviour solely.

Within the 2016 PAW report, the “downside behaviours” that house owners reported most continuously had been thumping of the hindfeet, and biting of the bars of the hutch or cage. These are clear indicators that these rabbits are fearful, anxious, bored and pissed off. And when house owners let you know about these indicators, it’s a nice alternative to provide some recommendation that may actually enhance their rabbits’ welfare.

So, let’s take into consideration what a rabbit wants, after which we will take into consideration what good husbandry and good interactions imply to a rabbit.

Rabbits had been domesticated pretty just lately (about 1,200 years in the past, compared to 12,000 years for cats and greater than 40,000 years for canine). In order that implies that the motivations of a pet rabbit are basically the identical as these of a wild rabbit.

The important thing factor to recollect about wild rabbits is they’re eaten by virtually all the pieces – they’re the principle supply of meals for nearly 30 species of their native habitat. So virtually all the pieces {that a} rabbit does is ruled by its sturdy evolutionary motivation to not be eaten.

When rabbits are compelled into conditions the place they assume they’re about to get eaten, they really feel very careworn. And this explains why being saved alone and being picked up, two of the commonest causes of poor welfare in rabbits, are so disturbing to them.

If you happen to’re a rabbit, why are you so determined to be with different rabbits? Properly, in case you’re making an attempt to not be eaten, dwelling in a big group implies that the possibility of you changing into prey is decrease. And if a predator comes close to, there’s a very excessive likelihood that at the very least one among your rabbit companions will spot it and sign, alerting the entire group and permitting them to flee.

If you happen to’re a rabbit, why don’t you want being picked up and cuddled by people? People are a predator species. You recognize that in case you’re picked up by a predator species, you’re in all probability not going to outlive (Determine 1).

We must always take into consideration a rabbit’s pure atmosphere after we think about how we maintain it. Good husbandry, for a rabbit, means companionship, as talked about beforehand. It means a weight loss program that’s virtually solely grass or hay, if grass isn’t obtainable. It means entry to the outside, for vitamin D, for expression of pure behaviours together with grazing, and for stimulation (Determine 2).

Good interactions for a rabbit imply not being picked up or at the very least being picked up as not often as attainable. Good interactions are these the place the rabbit has a alternative slightly than these the place the rabbit is compelled to work together. They embrace the proprietor providing a hand and the rabbit decreasing its head to be stroked (Determine 3), clicker coaching, giving meals rewards, andsitting in shut proximity.

Not like many different interactions (similar to choosing rabbits as much as “cuddle” them or turning rabbits on their again to “trance” them), these are rewarding for each the proprietor and the rabbit. And these construct belief slightly than worry, and so they present the muse for enhancing behaviour, and enhancing the connection between the proprietor and their pets. Most downside behaviours might be resolved at the very least partially by enhancing the rabbits’ husbandry and altering the proprietor’s interactions with the rabbit.

Nevertheless, some behaviours turn out to be routine or ingrained when a rabbit depends on them to deal with a scenario, and even when the scenario is improved, the rabbit might proceed to point out these behaviours.

That is generally seen with rabbits that present aggression when their house owners decide them up. Even when the proprietor stops choosing the rabbit up, the rabbit nonetheless is not going to belief the proprietor, and should present aggressive behaviours when the proprietor goes close to to them.

When a rabbit exhibits an undesirable behaviour habitually, the proprietor wants to alter the rabbit’s motivation. That is the place coaching is available in.

Rabbits reply rather well to constructive reinforcement coaching, often with meals rewards (Determine 4). Advise house owners to make use of regular rabbit pellet meals.

Grownup rabbits ought to by no means be consumed advert lib focus meals as a result of they want the bodily and behavioural stimulation of consuming lengthy fibre. Focus meals is extra palatable than hay and grass, so rabbits will are likely to eat extra focus meals than they need to.

Because the focus meals must be restricted, rabbits are motivated by it, so it may be used as a coaching reward. Moreover, the pellets are an excellent measurement for coaching rewards, and they’re nutritionally balanced, so are unlikely to trigger gastrointestinal issues. Varied sources on rabbit coaching for house owners, vet nurses and vets exist, together with the primary textbook with reference to rabbit behaviour.

How ought to vets strategy a behavioural downside?

So, we’ve checked out why vets have to learn about rabbit behaviour, the kind of behavioural issues that rabbit house owners report, what motivates rabbits and the core of excellent husbandry.

As a vet or a veterinary nurse, you need to now have the fundamental instruments to at the very least open a dialogue about rabbit behaviour with an proprietor in your clinic.

Nevertheless, truly taking the dialogue forwards to a remedy plan might be considerably daunting. It doesn’t must be – the construction for working up a rabbit behaviour case is simply the identical as that for any veterinary session.

Begin by checking the signalment of the rabbit. Older rabbits usually tend to have underlying well being issues that have an effect on their behaviour. Feminine rabbits usually tend to present aggressive-type behaviours.

Then, take the historical past. If unsure, ask extra questions. Attempt to perceive how the proprietor retains the rabbit and the way they work together with it. You will need to know if the rabbit is allowed or denied companionship of one other rabbit. At this stage, you’re in all probability already in a position to determine some features of the rabbit’s welfare which might be poor.

A full scientific examination is significant – rabbits conceal illness very effectively (as you’ll, in case you didn’t need to present weak spot to a possible predator). Search for indicators of ailments inflicting power ache: dental illness, urinary tract illness, weight problems, arthritis or pododermatitis.

It is advisable deal with these circumstances earlier than you strategy the behavioural downside. Attempting to resolve a behavioural downside in a painful or sick rabbit is difficult and even not possible.

Then comes the prognosis. The proprietor could have informed you what they think about to be the issue behaviour and you’ll focus on with them the elements you assume are contributing to it; these could have come out of your historical past and scientific examination. Clarify why these elements contribute – don’t simply inform the proprietor that they do.

Homeowners typically really feel pissed off when their rabbit is doing one thing they don’t like, so serving to them to empathise with the rabbit will assist strengthen the human–animal bond.

Subsequent is remedy. You may make main progress with the rabbit’s behaviour just by enhancing its husbandry and serving to the proprietor kind sensible expectations. Nevertheless, some behaviours turn out to be routine or ingrained, so even when the atmosphere is improved, the behaviours might persist. That is when coaching to introduce new behaviours might be actually beneficial.

And eventually, reassess. No fast repair exists for a lot of behaviour issues and backbone comes from making many small modifications. Due to this fact, it’s actually essential to verify in with house owners about two weeks after they’ve began making modifications. Give them a name, have a chat, see what’s been working and verify what nonetheless wants to alter.

As with every behaviour downside, be sympathetic to the house owners. The kind of house owners who will ask you recommendation will often actually care about their rabbit and be making an attempt to do the proper factor.

Altering their rabbit’s behaviour requires them to alter their very own, and that’s very laborious.

Moreover, you’ll be able to’t give them a fast answer – the house owners see modifications over an extended time period. So, information, focus on, counsel. Don’t dictate or instruct.

Bear in mind, the least profitable behavioural modification plan is the one that isn’t adopted.

Vets ought to care about rabbit behaviour as a result of they care about rabbit welfare and so they need to encourage rabbit house owners to carry their pets to the vet.

Rabbit behavioural issues are typically pretty easy, and reply very effectively to husbandry and interplay modifications.When you’ve got a fundamental information of what rabbits want, you can provide good steerage on how house owners can enhance rabbit behaviour.

Moreover, if you understand what house owners can do to alter rabbit behaviour and the place they’ll discover extra info, you’ll be able to enormously enhance the welfare of the rabbits below your care.