kdubbz117
Active Member
It's been a while since I've posted; I'm not really online much these days. Due to nearly every shelter in my area that takes in rabbits being at or over capacity, I've taken in two rabbits from an old co-worker who has found themselves unable to care due to health problems that have arisen. One is a male Dutch (mix, possibly) who is not fixed (confirmed this with a vet yesterday). The other is a female Lionhead (also possibly mixed; I'm not entirely sure). Unless I had her checked for a scar or had an ultrasound done, I can't know for certain if she's been spayed. The old coworker was also not her first, nor second, owner- and he doesn't know if she ever was. I assume she most likely was not. The male appeared to have been dumped on the streets when my old coworker found him running around someone's lawn, so he took him home where he was safe.
I took the rabbits on Friday, and they seemed gonna be settled in nicely for the most part. Had them both checked at the vet and nails were clipped while I had them there. Aside from what appears to be some hormone-driven behavior (ex: mounting and humping my father's arm, and what seems to be a grunting sound and pushing on my little dustpan while I clean his droppings from his pen), Luke (the male) doesn't seem aggressive. I do intend to get a voucher for a low cost spay and neuter at the vet that I can get through my state's House Rabbit Society for both rabbits regardless.
Luke is roughly 2yrs old from I can safely guess; he also seems to have some sun bleaching from being stray. Harriett, the female, from what my old coworker could gather could be around 8yrs old. He had her for about a year, having taken her from a friend who passed unexpectedly, and that home wasn't even her first. She's timid, friendly, and while I swept her pen this morning, had even licked my foot.
These two buns aren't the primary concern, per say. I've had them for two and a half days now. It's more so my rabbit I have concerns about. Yesterday morning, my beloved Sweet Pea (a black mini-lop) was out on my father's lap, and according to him it sounded as though she were growling a bit. Her behavior didn't seem off in the slightest aside from that. However, just this morning, I was changing Sweet Pea's water bowl (she refuses to use a bottle). When I was setting the bowl back down in her cage, she nipped me. Two times in succession.
I had a brief conversation with the NJHRS expressing concern and some advice. I've had a pair of rabbits, unaltered, in the past and when I had fostered a third, unaltered, rabbit neither of my two were bothered by her scent being on me or anything. Since the nip this morning, I've taken to washing up to my elbows after touching either of the two rabbits I've just taken in to avoid upsetting Sweet Pea or triggering any further aggression.
She gets free roam exercise time, and has managed to invade the room the new buns are being kept in due to my not closing the door entirely. She's inspected the two of them from outside the pens, and doesn't ever show aggression or dislike in that scenario.
She supposed to have been spayed, and yet she peed just outside of Luke's pen.
Should I attribute this to asserting dominance over him/both new buns?
Some of her behavior today seemed off, and almost seemed like behavior from an unaltered female. I adopted her from my local SPCA last November right before Thanksgiving, where I was told she had been spayed prior to her surrender to them.
My other question is that I'm wondering if her aggression could also partly be due to the new rabbits being unaltered. Would that be an issue?
I took these rabbits in based on the notion that I would not be keeping them. All shelters within reasonable distance from me are full and cannot take any more rabbits in due to a number of hoarding and breeding instances gone wrong in the Northeast. They are supposed to be temporary, except maybe Harriett (due to her age, we would like to keep her). Though they are, as of right now, temporarily being kept here, I'm not sure what measures to take to bring peace between the buns- as well as prevent any further aggressive acts on Sweet Pea's part.
Again, I emphasize that the new rabbits are not altered, but it will be getting taken care of as soon as possible.
I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to present the situation in detail... But I also was not entirely sure how to present all my concerns and questions.
I never had this issue with my first two rabbits, despite them being unaltered. Son for this behavior to come from my spayed female, I was taken off guard.
I took the rabbits on Friday, and they seemed gonna be settled in nicely for the most part. Had them both checked at the vet and nails were clipped while I had them there. Aside from what appears to be some hormone-driven behavior (ex: mounting and humping my father's arm, and what seems to be a grunting sound and pushing on my little dustpan while I clean his droppings from his pen), Luke (the male) doesn't seem aggressive. I do intend to get a voucher for a low cost spay and neuter at the vet that I can get through my state's House Rabbit Society for both rabbits regardless.
Luke is roughly 2yrs old from I can safely guess; he also seems to have some sun bleaching from being stray. Harriett, the female, from what my old coworker could gather could be around 8yrs old. He had her for about a year, having taken her from a friend who passed unexpectedly, and that home wasn't even her first. She's timid, friendly, and while I swept her pen this morning, had even licked my foot.
These two buns aren't the primary concern, per say. I've had them for two and a half days now. It's more so my rabbit I have concerns about. Yesterday morning, my beloved Sweet Pea (a black mini-lop) was out on my father's lap, and according to him it sounded as though she were growling a bit. Her behavior didn't seem off in the slightest aside from that. However, just this morning, I was changing Sweet Pea's water bowl (she refuses to use a bottle). When I was setting the bowl back down in her cage, she nipped me. Two times in succession.
I had a brief conversation with the NJHRS expressing concern and some advice. I've had a pair of rabbits, unaltered, in the past and when I had fostered a third, unaltered, rabbit neither of my two were bothered by her scent being on me or anything. Since the nip this morning, I've taken to washing up to my elbows after touching either of the two rabbits I've just taken in to avoid upsetting Sweet Pea or triggering any further aggression.
She gets free roam exercise time, and has managed to invade the room the new buns are being kept in due to my not closing the door entirely. She's inspected the two of them from outside the pens, and doesn't ever show aggression or dislike in that scenario.
She supposed to have been spayed, and yet she peed just outside of Luke's pen.
Should I attribute this to asserting dominance over him/both new buns?
Some of her behavior today seemed off, and almost seemed like behavior from an unaltered female. I adopted her from my local SPCA last November right before Thanksgiving, where I was told she had been spayed prior to her surrender to them.
My other question is that I'm wondering if her aggression could also partly be due to the new rabbits being unaltered. Would that be an issue?
I took these rabbits in based on the notion that I would not be keeping them. All shelters within reasonable distance from me are full and cannot take any more rabbits in due to a number of hoarding and breeding instances gone wrong in the Northeast. They are supposed to be temporary, except maybe Harriett (due to her age, we would like to keep her). Though they are, as of right now, temporarily being kept here, I'm not sure what measures to take to bring peace between the buns- as well as prevent any further aggressive acts on Sweet Pea's part.
Again, I emphasize that the new rabbits are not altered, but it will be getting taken care of as soon as possible.
I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to present the situation in detail... But I also was not entirely sure how to present all my concerns and questions.
I never had this issue with my first two rabbits, despite them being unaltered. Son for this behavior to come from my spayed female, I was taken off guard.
