Incredibly Aggressive Bunny

[pogaf]

Hi everyone! I've been doing a lot of reading and research, but I figured a forum would be better than a long-abandoned website.

I adopted my Lionhead Rabbit, Lolli, about a month ago. She was found in February of 2011 in a snowdrift. They told me she had recently become cage aggressive (she was moved from foster care to a pet store adoption center a week or so before I picked her up), but otherwise was sweet.

She has been a terror since I brought her home. She growls, she lunges, she scratches, and she bites. I've worked with cage aggressive animals before, but nothing like this. I have bruises and all over my arms from her biting me. I usually have to get her to come out from under the hideaway and then put my hand on the back of her neck so she cannot gnaw on my flesh. She calms down a bit once she's out of the cage, but after some time out the aggression returns and she begins "guarding" things like my bed, my chair, or, if the door is open, my toilet. I had her outside on her leash (she hates her harness) the other day and she literally stood on her hind legs and lunged at me. I have a bite on my stomach as proof.

I have taken her to the vet to make sure there wasn't anything causing her pain or discomfort. She checked out fine, but does need to be spayed. She has "made friends" with some of my stuffed animals, so I know she's definitely hormonal, but I worry even that surgery won't calm her down. I'm afraid her behavior is just from being in foster care and possibly not getting enough attention.

I don't need her to be a perfect little angel bunny, but I would like to not be terrified of her. The cage thing I get, but being out and aggressive is what worries me. I've read a few different approaches to working with her to get her tamer, but does anyone have any experience with things that have or have not worked? Like I said, I'd rather take advice from people instead of a website! ^^



And just general other care: I feed her Oxbow Rabbit pellets, she gets lots of Timothy Hay every day and of course, fresh water. She has a cage that's about four feet by two feet and is 80% litter box trained. I keep her on a mix of Carefresh and Aspen shavings and change her litter box every other day.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had a Netherland Dwarf named Mr b ( short for Beelzebub) and he was a holy terror. I had to wear gloves and long sleeves so he couldn't bite chunks out of me. It took almost 4 years to finally calm him down and get his trust--then he was a model citizen and I was only down two pints of blood. Time, patience, gloves, and a lot of clothing. Good luck.

 

[Pipp]

Getting her spayed will definitely help. She's territorial about all sorts of things, probably you!

Eliminating her cage and re-setting up her area will help, and so will a bit of dominance repositioning, which is just holding your hand on her head, which gently tells her you're dominant.

Other things will help, but getting her spayed is number one.

Let us know how it goes.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

My mother in law has a lion head rabbit and she is a lot like you described. I have tried so many things with her. My mil got her from me, my husband got her from the guy selling her on the side of the road, she was terrified (i think thats why she is the way she is). We're waiting because she is going to get her fixed as soon as she can, then we will really start the conditioning..

Wishing you lots of luck!

 

[Samara]

Reading your story reminded me of this one:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/ungetaway.html

Give it a read; the ending portion may be something you can try.

In my personal experience, I've had one cage territorial rabbit (Atticus); he used to have the run of the entire third floor of my house until he started chasing and biting/boxing anyone who came upstairs. It wasn't cool because that is where both my kids' bedrooms are. So I being unable to get my hands on NIC panels for a short while put him in a store cage with lots of out time. I put the cage on the next floor down right in the living room. His territorial behavior extended to the cage.

He is neutered, healthy and now in a very large NIC condo with two lovely ladies (Pidge and Starling) and since adding the two little girls he has become the model citizen.

A side note: he wasn't aggressive with other rabbits around, just humans in his enclosure - so I wasn't worried he would hurt either of the the wee ones, but still took it slow and made sure things would work out.

I'm not suggesting adding another rabbit would be a good idea for your Lolli right now; I think her stress HAS come from being bounced and never having a stable home. She needs consistency, structure, patience.

Thank you for giving her the time of day and reaching out. A lot of people would just give up, and rightly so that sometimes passing hands is what is needed, but you're doing right by her. Props to you

 

[pogaf]

Thank you all for your replies and support! I definitely plan on getting her fixed in the near future. I just got out of college and dropping $270 on a surgery for her is a little steep, but I'll manage to pull that together!

I've considered getting gloves, but I know from experience with birds that the gloves often frighten them more than hands do. I'd like her to get used to my scent and gloves prevent that. I've considered putting a shirt of mine in her cage so she gets used to my smell, but I don't want her to chew holes in it!

I'm living with a friend's family at the moment, so I unfortunately cannot give her the room to run around in. I hope to give her more free range when I get a place of my own, especially since she's doing so well with her litter box! When that happens I may look into getting her a friend to make her more comfortable. I had her out the other day for some socialization and she made friends with a lab puppy. She had no fear of it and looked more annoyed at him sniffing her than anything else, so she may benefit from some companionship.

My methods so far have been taking her out and giving her head scratches (seems to calm her down). I'll continue with that and see if there's any improvement. Thank you all again for your helpful responses!