A shorter, shuffling hop is the headline sign
An aging Californian rabbit with joint discomfort usually shows it first in the hop itself. Instead of the clean, two-feet-together push, she may shuffle — moving one hind foot at a time, almost walking — or take short hops and stop. Rising after rest gets slower: she rocks, gets one hind leg under her, then the other, instead of springing up. Californians are big, heavy rabbits, and that mass concentrates on hips, hocks, and spine that have carried it for years. Watch her cross her usual pen in the morning, when stiffness after rest is most honest, and compare with how she moved a season ago.
The litter box becomes an obstacle
A litter box she used reliably for years suddenly gets misses beside it — often an aging Californian is not being careless but calculating the hop over the edge. Stepping in lifts the hind end high and lands weight on sore hips, so she goes beside the box where the floor is flat. The same logic explains abandoned ramps, shelves, and favorite raised spots. Before assuming a behavior problem in an aging Californian, test the joint theory: offer a low-entry box or a cut-down side and see whether her habits return. That single experiment gives the vet genuinely useful information about where movement hurts.
Grooming gaps show where she cannot reach
Joint discomfort redraws a Californian's grooming map. A rabbit whose spine and hips are stiff cannot twist around to her rear, so you may find a dirtier underside, matted fur along the back, uneaten cecotropes stuck in the coat, or soiling she would once have cleaned immediately. She may also stop periscoping — rearing up to survey — because the position loads the hind joints. Check her hocks while you are looking: large breeds resting more on sore joints often develop reddened, thinning hocks, and the two problems feed each other, since sore hocks change how she sits, which loads the joints worse.
Appetite and posture changes that raise the stakes
An aging Californian in joint pain often sits hunched with weight shifted forward, chooses one sleeping spot and keeps it, and shows less interest in exploring at her usual active hours. Reduced movement slows the gut, so smaller or fewer droppings in a stiff rabbit deserve attention rather than a wait. Any rabbit — whatever her joints are doing — who stops eating, stops producing droppings, or grinds her teeth while hunched needs veterinary care promptly, because gut shutdown in rabbits escalates quickly. A leg that drags, sudden inability to rise, or loss of bladder control is urgent, not arthritic until proven otherwise.
Low-entry living while you arrange the vet visit
Make her world flatter: a litter box with one low side, food and water reachable without rearing or hopping up, soft thick bedding over hard floor, and gentle encouragement to move in short sessions rather than long confinement, since stiff joints worsen with total rest. Keep her weight honest — on a Californian frame, extra pounds are a joint treatment issue, not a cosmetic one. Bring the vet your observations: when the shuffling started, whether low entry fixed the litter misses, and photos of her hocks. Dated notes like these, kept in a KinsLe Pet Passport, let the vet track your Californian's mobility across visits and judge whether her comfort plan is actually holding.