Domestic Bunny Bite

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I am pet sitting for the neighbours, staying overnight. The rabbit bit my hand when I was trying to sprinkle some sawdust in his cage and he thought I had food in my hand. It drew blood, but it’s not deep at all. Looks like a scratch. Other internet advice says just clean it like you would any other scratch, put a bandaid on it, and don’t worry about it. I couldn’t find any polysporin or bandaids anywhere. There is a box of stuff that is too high to reach that I haven’t looked in. I washed the bite under the tap and put hand sanitizer on it. It stopped bleeding but there’s no bandaid on it. It’s a small “scratch”.

Does anyone have experience with this? So far *the internet says* indoor pet rabbits are less worrisome regarding carrying disease than wild ones would be, and are herbivores so their bites carry less bacteria than dogs and cats. Can anyone confirm they survived a bunny bite without a trip to the doctor? I really don’t want to bother if I don’t have to. I felt ridiculous enough taking up time for a bee sting a month ago!
 
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* in case anyone is wondering, he gets let out to hop around all day, but likes to stay near his cage, and likes to hang out in there. The door gets closed at night. If I don’t feed him like clockwork, he rattles his cage, flips his dish upside down, digs and makes a mess, and it looks like a prison riot in there, if I’m gone an hour too long! Even if he still has hay (which he grazes on all day.) If he wants fresh veggies and his food pellets, he demands it. I don’t think you can train them to be patient, like dogs. They are not as docile as one might assume. I’ve never owned a rabbit. He’s sociable usually (aside from biting me) likes attention...but it’s totally food motivated! I was a little surprised when he bit me.
 
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Never had a rabbit bite myself, but I've known lots of people who've had pet rabbits, and sometimes they do bite. I've never known anyone to do anything other than clean and (if it's deep) disinfect the bite - like you'd do with any bite from a pet to be safe. All the victims of rabbit bites I've known remain alive to this day - although when the full moon strikes? Let's not go there. I shudder to think of it. But, oh, the wererabbit stories I could tell. They'd make your spine tingle.

Seriously - you'll be fine.
 
Have had lots of bunnies and they can bite. Never did anything other than wash with soap and water

But the idea he bit you in the cage wasn’t because he thought you had food. It is because he is territorial. Rabbits really are like that. They don’t like your hand in the cage. Yet if they are out and hoping around they are happy to be petted

Try not to put your hand in the cage when he is inside.
 
Have had lots of bunnies and they can bite. Never did anything other than wash with soap and water

But the idea he bit you in the cage wasn’t because he thought you had food. It is because he is territorial. Rabbits really are like that. They don’t like your hand in the cage. Yet if they are out and hoping around they are happy to be petted

Try not to put your hand in the cage when he is inside.

Like Rab -ite humans and their thoughts? Alice and her Mire friend ...
 
Actually, it is a national number
About 8-1-1
Yes. I used it when I was stung a month or so ago, and the nurse without “giving direct advice” hinted I might want go to emergency - she put me through and the ambulance showed up in minutes. I felt like it was too dramatic for a bee sting...but because my mouth and arms were tingly they took it very seriously.
 
Thanks everyone. So far, it looks normal. I think it’ll be fine, too. And I won’t put my hand in his cage while he’s in there anymore. If he hears the bag of food pellets (like he heard the bag of sawdust - I’m sure he thought it was food pellets because he behaved very eager to get to his dish. It’s like catnip to him), he goes straight to his dish, blocks my way, and I can hardly pour them in there. He head butts my hand to get into to the dish, doesn’t usually bite. But I’ll figure out another plan.
 
My sister's rabbit never drew blood, but bit me a few times. Kinda sad, the thing used to be super lovable. It had free range of her place initially though. Would run figure 8s around legs (not the safest thing, but it was cute) and while it didn't like being picked up, it loved to be pet. Would happily sit between my legs, on the floor and be pet. When we were kids and were asked what pet we would want (excluding dogs and cats) I wanted a bunny, but that never happened. When the thing had run of the rental my sister was in/majority of the main floor at my parents I enjoyed playing with it, the zoomies and the binkies. Also totally ridiculous IMO. The thing would rip out carpet, fiber by fiber, my sister did not get her damage deposit back due to a large whole in the carpet. It got inside my parent's couch, wires had to be very carefully covered and even then in those rooms supervision was needed as the things was so determined to get at them and any corner that jutted out it would chew on the drywall despite it's many chew toys. Surprisingly I wasn't allergic to that particular rabbit as far as I could tell, just it's food. When I had allergy testing done hay, dogs, cats and feathers were all bigger than the positive control, couldn't really say one was worse than the other, they were just all at the max they consider.

It being fixed, then spending more and more time in cages until it was in a cage full time (once the dog came into the picture it would sometimes get to run around a room) demeanor totally changed, very aggressive and lunged when anything was put into the cage, attempts to bite. It wasn't like that with it's cage before. She got a 2nd rabbit to try to keep it company - that did not work as they tried to kill each other, she ended up with 2 very large cages in her basement. 2nd rabbit is now dead, the 1st if still alive (it would be old now) on some farm sanctuary, for real. My sister was getting picture updates. Shocked to see it and a dog would happily sit near each other.
/of rabbit story

My sister got bit more than me, sometimes blood was drawn, no treatment ever needed though.
 
My sister's rabbit never drew blood, but bit me a few times. Kinda sad, the thing used to be super lovable. It had free range of her place initially though. Would run figure 8s around legs (not the safest thing, but it was cute) and while it didn't like being picked up, it loved to be pet. Would happily sit between my legs, on the floor and be pet. When we were kids and were asked what pet we would want (excluding dogs and cats) I wanted a bunny, but that never happened. When the thing had run of the rental my sister was in/majority of the main floor at my parents I enjoyed playing with it, the zoomies and the binkies. Also totally ridiculous IMO. The thing would rip out carpet, fiber by fiber, my sister did not get her damage deposit back due to a large whole in the carpet. It got inside my parent's couch, wires had to be very carefully covered and even then in those rooms supervision was needed as the things was so determined to get at them and any corner that jutted out it would chew on the drywall despite it's many chew toys. Surprisingly I wasn't allergic to that particular rabbit as far as I could tell, just it's food. When I had allergy testing done hay, dogs, cats and feathers were all bigger than the positive control, couldn't really say one was worse than the other, they were just all at the max they consider.

It being fixed, then spending more and more time in cages until it was in a cage full time (once the dog came into the picture it would sometimes get to run around a room) demeanor totally changed, very aggressive and lunged when anything was put into the cage, attempts to bite. It wasn't like that with it's cage before. She got a 2nd rabbit to try to keep it company - that did not work as they tried to kill each other, she ended up with 2 very large cages in her basement. 2nd rabbit is now dead, the 1st if still alive (it would be old now) on some farm sanctuary, for real. My sister was getting picture updates. Shocked to see it and a dog would happily sit near each other.
/of rabbit story

My sister got bit more than me, sometimes blood was drawn, no treatment ever needed though.
This guy digs in his cage and pulls up the newspaper lining from under the wood shavings, sometimes. And then it gets spread outside the cage, bits of stuff everywhere. What a mess! He has his own area rug, though, that he pretty much keeps to.
 
Yes. Bunnies dig and mess up their cages. It’s a thing

I used to put newspape on the kitchen floor, set up a baby gate and let our girl do her thing. She was small but could be feisty. They really don’t like your hands in the cage

An option we chose was to take the lid off the cage to feed her. She would happily let you drop greens and hay in hen the lid as off. Or she would hop out and wait
 
I remember a friend who had a rabbit that had free range of the house.

We had a young son that was crawling.

Had a moment when my son was picking up an item from the carpet to put in his mouth - yup, rabbit poo.

Kind of ended his crawling days at that house.
 
I open the top door/ lid, too. But I have to reach in a little bit to aim what i’m Putting in there..was aiming sawdust at a hole. Trying to tidy it up a bit. For whatever reason, he decided to bite. It’s fine though, only minor. Tomorrow is major cage cleaning day. I’m getting help with that. They also have 2 cute guinea pigs in their own large cage. They like to stay hiding in there. One is younger and rambunctious, comes out of his “cave” more. He lets me hand feed him...so cute...his little face and oinky squeek! But they don’t like to be picked up. They will let you pet them sometimes. I think they know their names. The younger one seems to.

I have learned not to wear bare feet on the bunny rug. Lol.
 
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Yes. Bunnies dig and mess up their cages. It’s a thing

I used to put newspape on the kitchen floor, set up a baby gate and let our girl do her thing. She was small but could be feisty. They really don’t like your hands in the cage

An option we chose was to take the lid off the cage to feed her. She would happily let you drop greens and hay in hen the lid as off. Or she would hop out and wait
This one doesn’t wait. He does what he wants.
 
I open the top door/ lid, too. But I have to reach in a little bit to aim what i’m Putting in there..was aiming sawdust at a hole. Trying to tidy it up a bit. For whatever reason, he decided to bite. It’s fine though, only minor. Tomorrow is major cage cleaning day. I’m getting help with that. They also have 2 cute guinea pigs in their own large cage. They like to stay hiding in there. One is younger and rambunctious, comes out of his “cave” more. He lets me hand feed him...so cute...his little face and oinky squeek! But they don’t like to be picked up. They will let you pet them sometimes. I think they know their names. The younger one seems to.

I have learned not to wear bare feet on the bunny rug. Lol.
I’m especially fond of the one Guinea pig. He’s my favourite of the three pets. He has personality...really. That little face, it melts me! He stands against his cage looks right up at me when I come in. I had a hamster as a kid, who was full of energy, funny. This Guinea pig is like him. The other one is kind of more boring, but he’s cute, too.
 
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