I have a 5 1/2 month old Lionhead rabbit that has been chewing on his foot. He has chewed all the fur off and it is bleeding. It will scab over and then he will chew the scab off.

Any idea what is going on? This behaviour began about 9 days following his surgery for nuetering. The foot in question was lagging behind his other leg when hopping directly after the surgery. The lagging behavior went away in a few days. I believe the leg of the foot in question received an injection for his surgery.

We took him to the Veterinarian an the only solution she offered was to put a cone collar around his head. We have not been successful in getting the cone to stay on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi Mike. The exact same thing happened to me. My 5 month old lionhead girl “Moomba” just came home from her spay last Wednesday. I came home yesterday (Saturday- her first day being off pain meds) and she had chewed the fur off a small area on her right front leg. The skin was definately red, but it was hard to inspect because I didn’t want to lift her up because of the spay inscision. I will be contacting my vet today, but I just wanted to know if you had any advice. As this happened to you last year…how did everything work out in the end? Was it because of an injection site? Did you end up using any creams or meds to help him stop chewing it? Thanks so much for your help! Aimee

I believe that the rabbit is nervously chewing at his foot, probably due to
discomfort and itching in the leg as a result of the injection. I have seen
this case in my (Smiley’s) brother, where he was chewing on the stitches
after being neutered.

The cone will definitely need to be kept in place as this is the only way to
stop the rabbit from chewing everything – rabbits are notorious nibblers! I
would suggest bringing your rabbit inside and caring for him this way,
making sure you give him plenty of cuddles and attention to distract from
his wearing the cone. Feed him by hand pieces of fruit or veg, or some of
his food, as the cone will likely irritate him when he tries to bend to eat
and drink. Offer him a droplet of water on your finger and if he licks at
it, it probably means he is ready for some water. You can give him water
using a syringe used for medicine, or you can hold the spout of the water
bottle up to him to allow him to drink.

Hopefully, with his distraction from his leg, the wound will heal and not
become infected.

Good luck with your bunny and do let us know how you get on

Smiley

Smiley Rabbit
Not a Real Rabbit Doctor (TM)
Rabbit Bites
“Twisted and sublime…” NY Times

We bought the wooden chew toy but my rabbits don’t pay any attention to it at all. Mind you, that was not the cheapest toy around!