Behaviour - Post GI Stasis Aggressiveness

[EricaWD]

Hello all,

As I mentioned in another thread, our bunny Hayden we adopted a couple weeks ago very quickly developed cecal dysbiosis and GI stasis. He seems to have pulled through (is eating now - not as much hay as I'd like but still eating regularly).

When we adopted Hayden the previous owner said he was very laid back and easy to handle. She easily plucked him out of his cage to show us and my husband was able to hold him easily then. Since Hayden had GI stasis we had to pull him out of his cage for medicating, force feeding, or subcutaneous fluids every few hours for about 10 days. Now he grunts at us often when we reach inside his cage and sometimes lunges, though (thankfully) he's never bitten us. I don't blame him for being scared and defensive, but we're hoping he gets past this?

We are letting him out into a pen daily and sometimes laying in the pen with him. I suggested to my husband we ignore Hayden as much as possible but he wants to pet, which Hayden often accepts when he's outside his cage. He worries me though when I reach inside his cage to change his water, feed him, or clean his litter box, and he grunts or lunges. Do you think this will just take some time for him to get over? Am I right that we should just let him come to us? Maybe I should just try to do work in his cage when he's in the playpen outside it?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Butterscotch]

He may just not like you reaching into his house no matter your intentions. Sometimes it's best to let your rabbit come out of the cage before you try to reach into it for cleaning or feeding.

I don't think I would ignore my rabbit, I would let him come to me for attention and then I would smother him in love. My buck isn't very confident so I prefer not to approach him unless I have to. I give him space and he always eventually comes to me for some grooming and cuddles. We are building our relationship on his terms and that seems to be working well for us. Maybe your rabbit just needs some time to come back around on his own terms.

 

[EricaWD]

Thanks Butterscotch. It's hard to tell if he wants to be pet, sometimes he grunts when you try and sometimes he leans into the hand petting him. I think he is more likely to accept pets outside his cage so we'll experiment with that gently and slowly.

 

[JBun]

It's not unusual for a rabbit to have some changes of behavior after a bout with stasis and all the handling and hand feeding/medicating that is required. It can make some rabbits temporarily very wary and skittish of people, and particularly your hands. Usually once the illness care is over, gradually the rabbit will get over being upset about it all and get back to normal. This can take days, or sometimes weeks.