Need reassurance

[skachan]

Hi there!

Just a bit of history. I haven't had a rabbit in quite some time, and most of my experience is with neutered males and wild rabbit rescue. I saw my rabbit, Abby, on the Human Society website while I searched for a bunny companion and fell in love!

When I met her, she was a bit frightened but allowed me to hold and pet her. Throughout the evening she began to explore the apartment, lay on my lap and groomed me. The next day, I opened the cage and with no warning signals, she bit me quite hard and drew blood. I assumed that she was being territorial, but she is extremely aggressive any time I try to grab the empty food bowl and even attacked a cup with food in it (I tried a different tactic to refill her yummies, she didn't like that either lol). I know this is not unusual behavior, but it made me very upset at the prospect that she wouldn't be happy with me. A bit silly, I know, but I can be very paranoid.

I am letting her come out of the cage on her own, and she'll poke her head out and sniff me if I leave the door open and sit near her. She loves to run around the bathroom but doesn't want to interact with me much. She was a surrender and the family said she was social.

I know that she will need time to adjust, and I am patient, I just need to know if there is any good ways or suggestions to help her be more comfortable in her new home. I need reassurance that she will be comfortable here in due time, I'm so worried she won't be :I

I plan to have her spayed in the next few weeks, too, for health reasons. The vet said her aggression would improve as well, and that she was young enough that it would make a difference in her temperment. A gentlemen at the pet store disagreed. Everybunny is different, but anyone else have their bunny spayed around 10 months?

I love her very much already and want her to be as happy as possible. I've never had a rabbit be so aggressive with me, so I'm unsure what to do (of course, the bunnies I'm used to are either fixed or babies, so this is a new experience for me).

 

[ladysown]

well first off she's brand new to you so she'll need some time to adjust.

the whole biting thing means she likes her cage and she wants you very much to respect it. I'd be giving her an alternative place to be in while you handle cage cleaning and feeding. Does her cage have a place in it where she can hide? Did you startle her when you came up? Did you try sitting outside her cage talking to her? Offering her tidbits of food for good behaviour?

 

[agnesthelion]

I would definitely encourage to spay her for sure!! Of course there is no guarantee it will help with all the aggressiveness but I'd be willing to bet you'll see improvement in some way or another I could not imagine having an unaltered house bunny. Too many hormones!!!

Other than that I agree to give it some time. Continue to let her explore on her own. Don't reach in her cage to pet her or get her out. Cage should be on the floor where she can come and go on her own. Ignore her for the most part and let her come up to you. Offer treats and get her to associate positivity with you.

Be patient and im sure you'll see progress. Every bunny is different and she may never be super cuddly and affectionate but with some persistence she'll learn to trust you more and more.

 

[skachan]

Indeed, in a way I was happy she was being territorial and seems to be comfy in her cage. I have been sitting outside the cage and chatting to her. She DOES perk up when I come home and babble to her haha. I might have startled her when she bit me, but I think she just didn't want me to mess with the cage after she had arranged it to her liking (including moving the food bowl).

She absolutely will not take treats from me if I try to hand them to her. I have to place them in the cage in order for her to munch on them, put if its something super tasty she will allow me to have my hand in the cage briefly. One step at a time, its an improvement

I gate off the bathroom when I'm changing bedding and cleaning the food bowl so she won't try hopping into the cage while I'm working on it. She likes that, it seems. I happy that she doesn't mind coming out and checking out the place, I just want to do everything to make her happy lol.


I definitely want to get her spayed for the health benefits, I know going into heat can make critters crazy (including we human females). I was surprised they didn't alter the rabbits at the shelter, but it was in my plan when I decided to adopt her.

 

[kmaben]

Get her spayed and wait a few weeks. She sounds quite territorial. My bad rabbit would growl, box, and bite me if I went any where near her cage. After getting spayed she calmed down on the territorial issue but she's still pretty evil. But I think she was just evil to begin with it. You should be ok after she gets spayed. Thankfully you have patience on your side.

 

[ladysown]

rabbits don't come "into heat" so that's not the issue. The issue is that some female rabbits just want VERY MUCH to be momma's and therefore to protect their space to keep their babes safe. A COMPLETE spay will do that...but then you need to ask to get a complete spay as I've learned there are different ways to spay, and vets will do it differently depending on their training.

Anything less than a complete spay will not protect your rabbit against uterine cancers.

 

[whitelop]

I had a really cage aggressive bunny. It really sucks when you have to alter your life to accommodate a moody rabbit. But what I did was, I would let her out of her cage, shut the door behind her and then clean the cage from the top. I hope you have a top opening cage! haha. She would pace back and forth and go crazy because I would be rearrange her cage and she wouldn't like it.
She bit me twice in her life and both times were pretty terrible.
So I just learned to do what she wouldn't attack me over. She would eat from my hand because I had her for a long time and she was bonded to me, but if I tried to do anything in her cage she would flip out on me.

There is a link somewhere in the library, it shows how to get a rabbit to eat from your hand. You will have to earn her trust for her to be able to let you feed her. If you want to give her treats and stuff, try to find something that she can't resist, like bananas or craisins or raisins or apples. I used to feed my baby bunny her dinner time pellets as a treat because she wasn't old enough to have any treats, that REALLY helped to bond her to me.

You just have to give her time. Then once you get her spayed, I'm sure things will improve greatly. And remember treats, whether fed from hand or just set down for her to eat, they go a long way in getting her to like you and trust you. haha.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Definitely neuter her. Cage aggression might lesson afterwards, but I'd put a stop to it as she has to let you clean and feed. When she gets aggressive, pin her down like an "alpha" rabbit would do. That worked with all but two of ours. They ended up getting snatched up and rolled on their back and pinned for a few seconds till they relaxed so that they knew who was the alpha and who was in control. The boxing never bothered us, but I abhor bleeding and heeling when I'm trying to take care of them.