Here on the TAP
Homestead and Rabbitry, we are a small working farm. The primary goal
here is to provide for ourselves as much fresh fruits (blackberries,
apples, and pears) vegetables, eggs, and meat (rabbit and chicken) as
possible. As well as supplement our income with rabbit and chicken
sales. We have taken the Blue Bell approach in that “we eat all we
can, and we sell the rest.” Because of this predation, injury or
disease that causes us to lose a productive animal is not something
that we like to experience. Unfortunately, it happens, and such is
the circle of life on the farm.
The purpose of this
article is to share with you the rare experience that you may have
when you embark on raising rabbits for meat and or sales. We have
been raising meat rabbits now for three years, and this was he first
time that we have had a rabbit engage in the process of self-injury
or mutilation. It is my hope that this article will shed some light
on this subject and although rare, if you happen to experience this
in your herd, you will know that you are not alone. Included at the
end of this article is a picture of the self inflicted injuries that
our New Zealand Red (NZR) buck had inflicted upon himself. They are
quite graphic, but I felt the need for them to be included so that
you could see the extent of what he did to himself in just a few
days.
Possible Causes
There are many
theories as to why a rabbit begin to chew on their feet, but there is
no definitive test that can determine the exact cause of this
behavior. For the owner of a 'pet' rabbit, the first step would be to
take their animal to the veterinarian to have it examined, and a
multitude of tests run. However, for the meat producer or small
homesteader, this is most often not a fiscally reasonable option.
Spending $100 or more for a breeder that can be easily replaced by
another for $30 - $50 is somewhat wasteful, even if the rabbit was of
exceptional quality. So what causes a rabbit to engage in
self-injury? Self mutilation by rabbits may be caused be any one, or
a combination of the following.
According to the
Textbook Of Rabbits Medicine, 'The cause of self-mutilation is
not clear and it is likely that a number of conditions may result in
this type of behavior. Obsessive/compulsive behavior.,
hypersensitivity, harvest mite infection, atopy and contact
dermatitis are among the causes that have been considered. Many
rabbits carry Cheyletiella parasitovorax and/or Leporacus gibbus
mites and hypersensitivity is a possibility' (Varga p. 240). In
addition, the authors indicate that 'self-mutilation sometimes
appears to be a psychological disorder. Active, sociable animals seem
most susceptible. Environmental enrichment, including the opportunity
to exercise and a bonded companion can be successful in preventing
the syndrome' (Varga p. 240).
A five year study
conducted by scientists regarding the problem of self-mutilation of
laboratory rabbits began with the basic assumption that this behavior
was caused by poor nutrition, caging, social contact, and or
environment and care. The initial outcome of their study indicated
that there was no specific trigger for self mutilation. 'No other
behavioral abnormalities or signs of disease were evident.
Self-mutilation was seen both in stock, 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 being placed into other institutions or private homes. No
evidence of an agent responsible for the occurrence of self-injury
could be found with parasitological, mycological, histological,
clinical or haematological examination' (Iglauer,
et. al). Their conclusion after completing their five year study was
that the cause of the self-mutilation in theses cases was of a
psychological not physical condition. Once 'the condition was
recognized as an obsessive-compulsive behavioral disorder.
Thereafter, animals were hindered from inflicting further
self-injury' (Iglauer, et. al).
It would appear that
the evidence strongly suggests, that when there is no physical cause,
that self-mutilation is rabbits comes as a result of a psychological
disorder, but other environmental, age, or stress related factors
cannot be totally ruled out. Some of the other factors that have been
discussed as possible causes for self-injury or mutilation include:
-
Pain from
arthritis (primarily in older rabbits)
-
Nerve damage
related to previous injury or injection site
-
Stress and
boredom, a rabbit may chew on it's own foot when bored or stressed
-
Contact
Dermatitis
-
Presence of a
foreign body in the foot or fur
-
Contaminated
food supply (rare)
-
Hereditary
conditions (psychological disorders)
-
Infestation
of the skin by parasites such as fur mites or burrowing mites
Prevention
So how do you keep
your rabbits from self-mutilation? The problem is that without being
able to identify the exact trigger or cause of the foot chewing or
self-injury, it is rather difficult to prevent the problem. Having
said that, there are some overall strategies that you can implement
to possibly minimize any potential self-mutilation problems in the
future. As I mentioned in some of my earlier articles on rabbit
nutrition, a diet high in fiber is important to rabbit health,
supplying your rabbit(s) with something to chew on other than
themselves is important to relieve boredom. 'Chewing through a mound
of hay or grazing grass prevents boredom as well as providing
indigestible fiber. Toys, such as cardboard boxes or branches of wood
will also provide entertainment' (Varga p. 240). If however, the
problem of self-mutilation develops as a result of a psychological
disorder, there is really no way for you to prevent the problem from
occurring.
The Solution
We examined all the
possible things that we believed that could have led to this
condition in 'LER'. My wife treated his wounds, but he continued to
chew on his feet on a daily basis. Our initial observation was that
he did not have any pain and this activity did not keep from from
eating. In fact, because he exhibited no outward signs of pain or
distress, we did not notice this practice until he had be doing it
for a few days. Attempting to determine the cause, we examined all
the things which we discovered in our research regarding self-injury
in rabbits. There has been no change in his diet, environment, and we
do not believe that any new stressors were apparent that would have
been a factor. It could have been related to arthritic pain, but he
was only three years old, and he had no other outward signs of
physical injury that we could see upon examination. We could not find
any foreign object in either of his back legs or hocks that would
have caused him pain. Honestly, we were stumped as to the cause, and
whether it was physical or psychological in nature.
Unfortunately, we
could not allow him to continue this practice. For us, as breeders of
meat rabbits and small time homesteaders, the only viable and humane
option was to euthanise our NZR buck LER. It is not something that we
wanted to do, or an action that we took lightly. LER had been a
really good breeder for us, and fortunately we had a son of his from
a prior breeding. In addition, we bred him the morning that we had to
put him down with one of our NZR females 'Dottie' so we will keep the
best male from this litter as well.
Conclusion
When you live on a
working farm, regardless of size, any and all livestock that you have
need to be able to perform at their designated function in order for
you to make ends meet. Any and every farmer I have known hates to
lose livestock to predators or disease, however both are an
inevitable part of farming and ranching. While our chickens and
rabbits are working animals, there is always a bit of angst when you
have to dispatch of an animal that you have become attached too.
Unfortunately, we
have no idea what caused our NZR buck LER to start to process of
self-injury, but nothing that we did could stop him from hurting
himself. When we look back on all the possible causes, I am left to
wonder if it was indeed more of a psychological problem than a
physical one. Even with his self inflicted injuries, he never
displayed any discomfort and was able to breed this morning without
any problems. Whether it physical or psychological, at this point is
really not up for debate. I simply wanted to share with you our
experiences regarding this problem though rare as it is, it sometimes
happens. All you can do is to take the necessary precautions to
ensure that your rabbits have access to proper nutrition (food and
water), a clean home in which to live, and as stress free environment
as possible.
Of course all is not
lost, as I mentioned, we have a breeding male from a previous litter
of LER's that was intended as his replacement, and we were able to
breed him this morning to one of our other red doe's, so his genetic
line will continue. So ends another day on the farm with both the
beginning and end of life. We will miss you LER. I encourage you to
do any additional research that you think may be necessary regarding
self-injury in rabbits. As always, if you have enjoyed this article
or have found it informative, then please share it with your friends.
Don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook or Google+ so
that you will not miss any of our latest articles.
Author's Note: By
clicking on the link below you can download a free PDF version of the
'Textbook Of Rabbit Medicine'. It may be a bit technical, but the
information is quite through and something that every raiser of meat
rabbits should have in their library.
References:
Haddon, Celia,
Rabbits Which Chew Their Feet or Body, 2007, Accessed April 20, 2017
F.
Iglauer, C. Beig, J. Dimigen, S. Gerold, A. Gocht, A. Seeburg, S.
Steier and F. Willmann. Hereditary
Compulsive
Self-Mutilating
Behavior In
Laboratory
Rabbits.
Lab Animals,
1995, 29:385-393
Patry, Karen, The
Rabbit Raising Problem Solver, Storey Publishing, North Adams,
MA, 2014.
Van Pragg, Ester
PhD., Self-Mutilating Behavior In Rabbis, MediRabbit.com, Accessed
April 23, 2017.
Varga,
Molly BvetMed, CertZooMed, DzooMed, MRCVS, Textbook
Of Rabbit Medicine, Butterworth–Heinemann Linacre House, Jordan
Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041,
2002.
