My boyfriend and I adopted a 5 year old half lop (actual half. One ear flops the other is up) from the Washington Humane Society in DC at the end of November and she is ALWAYS ANGRY. We thought she had experienced previous trauma and that, with time, she would get better but we are really at a loss.
At the shelter, they had been keeping her in the exotic animal overflow room--she was in her own cage, but also in the room was another bunny and two turtles, so the lights were always off except for the red lamps for the turtles. We don't know how long she was in the shelter or much of her back-story except that we are her third family, she's about 5, and had a corneal scratch on her left eye a little over a year ago that was treated and she still has mostly normal vision in that eye. She has been spayed for years.
When we first got her home she would growl, lunge, and occasionally nip if we got too close to her (not even to interact, just walking past her). We started her off in her large cage, and then gave her her own "room" (a large walk-in closet and the attached bathroom that has been removed of shoes/human things on the floor) and eventually was given the common area attached to the living room (in addition to her room and the bathroom). Since November she's gotten 100x better--she will come hop up on your lap for treats, and let you pet her head. Sometimes. Other times she will spend a day or two lunging and growling and going back to her behavior. As is to be expected, she is particularly territorial over her house, so we try to take care to try to change her litter box when she's not hanging out in there. A few weeks ago (and for the first time since we've had her) she's started running the line of her territory and doing binky jumps and just seemed settled and happy. Then, a few days later she started lunging and hardly comes out of her cage. We have no idea what changed to make her so scared again. We took her to the vet shortly after getting her, and he did a thorough exam, even took xrays, and found nothing wrong with her.
All that said, it has been about three months and she hasn't really become significantly better, and seems to be regressing in many ways. We've read all the bunny blogs (including this, this, this, and a failed attempt at "painting" her with a paintbrush using the [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abIFF_fgpY"]t-touch[/ame] method, and [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ZMmdAMBdI"]more[/ame]) and always reward her nice behavior with treats. Although, sometimes if you don't provide a treat fast enough for her liking she will growl. We love her dearly, and are not planning on giving her up but are kind of at our wit's end on what to do to make her feel safe and happy. Is she lonely? Does she want a husbun/friendbun? Does she just need more time? Is she always going to bite us and growl?
Any advice/help appreciated. We just want her to feel ok and want her to stop growling at us.
At the shelter, they had been keeping her in the exotic animal overflow room--she was in her own cage, but also in the room was another bunny and two turtles, so the lights were always off except for the red lamps for the turtles. We don't know how long she was in the shelter or much of her back-story except that we are her third family, she's about 5, and had a corneal scratch on her left eye a little over a year ago that was treated and she still has mostly normal vision in that eye. She has been spayed for years.
When we first got her home she would growl, lunge, and occasionally nip if we got too close to her (not even to interact, just walking past her). We started her off in her large cage, and then gave her her own "room" (a large walk-in closet and the attached bathroom that has been removed of shoes/human things on the floor) and eventually was given the common area attached to the living room (in addition to her room and the bathroom). Since November she's gotten 100x better--she will come hop up on your lap for treats, and let you pet her head. Sometimes. Other times she will spend a day or two lunging and growling and going back to her behavior. As is to be expected, she is particularly territorial over her house, so we try to take care to try to change her litter box when she's not hanging out in there. A few weeks ago (and for the first time since we've had her) she's started running the line of her territory and doing binky jumps and just seemed settled and happy. Then, a few days later she started lunging and hardly comes out of her cage. We have no idea what changed to make her so scared again. We took her to the vet shortly after getting her, and he did a thorough exam, even took xrays, and found nothing wrong with her.
All that said, it has been about three months and she hasn't really become significantly better, and seems to be regressing in many ways. We've read all the bunny blogs (including this, this, this, and a failed attempt at "painting" her with a paintbrush using the [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abIFF_fgpY"]t-touch[/ame] method, and [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ZMmdAMBdI"]more[/ame]) and always reward her nice behavior with treats. Although, sometimes if you don't provide a treat fast enough for her liking she will growl. We love her dearly, and are not planning on giving her up but are kind of at our wit's end on what to do to make her feel safe and happy. Is she lonely? Does she want a husbun/friendbun? Does she just need more time? Is she always going to bite us and growl?
Any advice/help appreciated. We just want her to feel ok and want her to stop growling at us.
