Pet Forum / Mammals / Rabbits / July 2008

...is that Usagi has become resocialized.  Before then, he really
didn't want to be petted, just lay around and maybe accepted a pat or
two.  

Part of the issue was that after the last seizure, any petting of his
face or body, even a gentle stroking, was too much for him.  He'd
start scratching with a hind paw--we checked it out and it was a very
autonomic response triggered by even a single soft finger stroke.
Since it was accompanied by a loss of balance, we backed off on
petting since it obviously made him uncomfortable.

Now he'll hop out of his cage area and give me an expectant look. I'll
go over and scratch his face for about ten minutes, which is what he
wants.  No scratching.  Just bunny bliss.

He doesn't do it every day, but it's more than what he was doing. He's
definitely back to interacting with us, on a low-key level. Before
this, the only thing that would rouse him from his routine of eating,
sleeping and using the litterbox was vacuuming out his cage space.  He
wouldn't play with his cardboard toys, wouldn't hop over to check me
out when I did my Pilates workouts by his pen (I used to have a LOT of
bunny help during my workouts), and we didn't dare leave his pen door
open all the time like we can now.

Yeah, he's definitely a frail boy these days.  It's been a slow
decline over the past year, so any positive change like this is good.

jrw