Lilly has been showing aggressive behavior..

[sarah92lynn]

I need some help. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you guys all the details. Lilly was a very happy bunny ever since the day I got her but yesterday morning she started showing aggressive behavior to things she never cared about before. I have heard her grunt at me a few times before, but it only happened when she was laying under my desk and I had to go under there to get her out. I figured it might have been because she thought I was going to pick her up or something. But it has gotten much worse. I first noticed her acting weird when I was fixing her bedding in her cage yesterday morning and she started to grunt at me. I wasn't changing her bedding I was just moving it around because she made a hole in it where she normally likes to go to the bathroom and I didn't want her to pee right on the bottom of the cage. She lunged at me after she grunted and started to box my hand. I backed off after that and tried to figure out what happened. My theory at first was that maybe she was starting to get territorial since she is getting closer to four months old and I read that their hormones start to mess with them around four months. I tried to shrug it off and give her space for a while.
Later that night I let her out of her cage and she was still acting kind of funny. Almost like she was scared of me or something...I gave her some pets and she hopped under my desk and took a nap. After a little bit she jumped on the bed with my boyfriend and I and was hopping around for a little while. I use to do this thing to play with her where I would scratch the bed by her and she would jump around and shake her head. I tried to do that last night and she started to grunt at me again and show me aggressive/defensive body language. I stopped and pet her head to show her I wasn't trying to upset her. After that she seemed mad at me and she wasn't doing binkies or being playful.
This morning she came up to the front of her cage to greet me like she usually does which made me very happy. She was fine until my boyfriend tried to give her one of her toys in her cage. She freaked out and tried boxing his hand. She seemed scared again after that. I let her out and she wouldn't really be social. She was doing binkies on the floor and stuff but normally she would have jumped on the bed almost right away because that's where she loves to play. I saw her in her little box house so I decided to pick her up while she was in her house and put her on the bed. She usually doesn't mind that but today she freaked out and jumped off the bed into her cage. I waited until she came back out and was out for a little before I picked her up and held her for a couple minutes. I put her on the bed when I put her down and she seemed ok. She was exploring and hopping on my legs for about five minutes. I had to get up to do something and I made sure I moved slowly so I wouldn't scare her but when she saw me move my legs off the bed she jumped off the bed and thumped her back foot on the ground then ran under my desk..
What could be causing this? I miss my happy bunny..I feel so bad because I feel like she is scared of me. It's been a hard day =(

 

[MiniLopHop]

Is she spayed? Sounds like hormones to me.

 

[sarah92lynn]

No she isn't spayed yet. We thought that might be the problem but it just seems so weird that it would start up so suddenly

 

[MiniLopHop]

From what I understand the hormones can hit pretty hard. One day a sweet bun, then next a terror. Hopefully you can get her taken care of soon and get your sweet girl back.

 

[agnesthelion]

Oh no that has got to be hard! I don't have a lot of experience but my best guess would be hormones. Are you planning to get her spayed? The only other random thing I thought of is a false pregnancy but she seems a little young for that....but females get very territorial and protective of their cage during pregnancy.

Hopefully the experts have some advice. Best of luck to you though!

 

[sarah92lynn]

Thank you! It's nice to hear a second opinion. I'm gonna have to call the vet today and figure things out

 

[sarah92lynn]

I've been planning on it but haven't got around to making an appointment cause I don't have much money at the moment. I also have yet to find a trustworthy vet around here. I'm gonna do some research right now and see if I can get my girl back to normal as soon as possible!

 

[sarah92lynn]

She's got an appointment for a check up on Monday to make sure nothing else is wrong with her first. Thanks for the help guys =)

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Nelsons_Mom]

It sounds like she needs to be spayed and fast. If you are low on funds, you should talk to your vet about a payment plan. And, while I haven't tried it (though with two recent vet bills totaling $800 for my rat [RIP Elloise] I wish I had) a lot of vets accept care credit, which is pretty reasonable in pricing.

I'd get it done as soon as possible. Good luck c:

 

[LakeCondo]

It all depends on what the vet says & how old she is. Some vets don't like to spay until the rabbit is 6 months old, especially for the smaller breeds.

Whenever you are able to have it done, the time between now & then is something you & Lilly will have to go through. Just wear long sleeves or gloves until then.

 

[wendymac]

Good luck!! I don't spay my females (for obvious reasons) so we have to work through the hormonal stuff. It's not always easy, for sure! But, with time and patience, they usually come around. I'd try not to mess with anything in her cage for a while. Arrange/re-arrange when she's out playing. Trisha (daughter's intermediate Californian doe) was a terror! She'd charge the front of her cage if you even got close. But now, 2 months later, she's one of the sweetest in the barn. I just ignore them when they do it, and go about my business....they usually take the hint.

 

[sarah92lynn]

Thank you! You guys are so much help. Today she seems to be pretty much back to normal thank goodness. I was so happy to see her hopping around her cage and standing on her back feet to greet me. She jumped right up on the bed when she was let out and had a blast running and jumping around. I'm just going to be more cautious of her body language and try to avoid upsetting her from now on. =)