Female rabbit turned aggressive, help

[snowbutton]

I have two unspayed female rabbits who have lived together about one year now. Lately my lionhead mix Ellie has been quite aggressive towards me and her sister Esther. She won't even let me or Esther cuddle touch or come near without grunting and lunging forward and darting away. They have a large pen with food and water, veggies and pellets, and we play with them everyday. I hope she isn't sick.

 

[Hermelin]

Your rabbit should be spayed, because then you won’t have to worry about change in personality. She’s acting out on hormones and will go back if she get spayed, if it’s not hormonal it might be because of pain.

But often unspayed females will often act up and start fight because of the changes of hormones, it’s a little like when some women are on their periods or pregnant get all emotional and can’t really controll how they act.

Rabbit females hormones spike up during heat and it often happen they fight to show who it’s the dominant one until the hormones go down again and later on act up again.

 

[Blue eyes]

Unspayed females have been known to bond. Unfortunately, when they aren't spayed, they are more prone to have those hormones disrupt that bond. Sometimes it can even cause them to lose that bond permanently.

Keep a close eye because the aggression could escalate to outright fighting. Rabbit fights can be vicious and cause serious harm.

It might be time to consider having them both spayed. Once spayed, and healed, you can attempt to re-bond them. It will be as if they've never before met. The advantage of spaying -- aside from the potential for a more solid bond -- is that it greatly reduces the risk or cancer. Females that are left intact have a much higher incidence of getting cancer after age 5. (A healthy rabbit can live over 10 years)

If you are concerned that the one is sick and you decide to take her to the vet, be sure to bring both rabbits. Vets (rabbit savvy ones) understand that this is necessary with bonded rabbits. Never bring just one of a pair to the vet or they almost definitely will un-bond because the one will smell different (like a different rabbit) from being at the vet's.