Traumatized Bunny

[MayhemRenee]

We rencely had a tragedy when my neighor let the dog in the house without letting me know. We lost one bunny and the other is now severely traumatized over the whole ordeal but uninjured. (while I am still totally pissed about it)

anywho.... I am now tring to get Sugar back to not hating her home. She hates her cage and was thumping around in it day and night so I put her in the
back-up cage I have and she is now ok with being in a cage agian. I figure I would slowly reintroduce her to cage as it is the bigger and better one. She also still thumps while running around my daughters room but I figured that will just take time and patients for her to get comfortable running around again. I don't really want to take take her out of there it will devistate my daughter but she isn't upset at all if she is in the cage. She was very aggressive for a couple of days bitting and scratching if you held her at all. I noticed she was worse when I was wearing dark colored clothes (dog is black) so I started wearing lighter colored clothes and she began to relax a little when held. Although mostly color blind I would assume they could pick up on a shadowy black.

Any other advice would be much appriciated.

 

[whitelop]

Surprisingly enough, you're not the first person to lose a rabbit to a neighbors dog. Someone else a few months ago had a similar thing happen, but the dog killed both of her rabbits...at a cook out. What I don't understand is why people feel its okay to just let their dogs into other peoples homes without saying anything. Thats freaking rude. I would never just let my dog into someones house, without knowing what was going on in the house. And I have a really really well mannered dog. I mean, I take my dog almost everywhere with me, but I don't take him to other peoples houses with dogs that he doesn't know because I wouldn't want to chance anything.
Whether your friends with your neighbor or not, I would still not be okay with that.

As for your bunny that is left, it might take her a while to get over it. Or she may never get over it. She may always be a little timid or skittish. She probably will never like dogs.
I would get her a new cage and new things, that might help. Maybe you could get her another friend. I'm not sure if thats the right way to go about it, but I think that another friend while she's all stressed out would help her. I think they say when one passes and there is a bonded one left, to get the remaining one a friend to sort of fill the gap.
But it will take time to get her back to 'normal'. I would just make sure that you're not startling her or anything like that. Just go slow and give her lots of time. Make sure she's still eating too. Sometimes they get really depressed when they lose a friend.

I think that if you get another rabbit, cage and/or things, you should make your neighbor pay for it because its their fault you have to do this. Thats what I would do. Then I would also make sure to post a sign on my front door that says NO DOGS.

After re-reading, was it your dog or your neighbors? I may have gone a rant for nothing. Oh well.

I'm really sorry that this happened to you though. Its so sad and it could have so easily been prevented.

 

[MayhemRenee]

Yes it was my dog, who likes to be outside and never mixed with the bunnies because she was never socialized with them. My neighbor opened my front door while I was sleeping and put her inside with out letting me know. Even though your rant is a little off your not that far off.... We are not that kind of neighbor I would be ok with just opening my door and while I know she was well intentioned I'm still pissed. I am now super paranoid and make sure my front door is locked at ALL times.

 

[whitelop]

I would make sure the door was locked too! Ugh. Sorry for going on a total rant up there. Hearing stuff like that, makes me mad. Its an accident but its still frustrating. You know that though!

Anyway. I hope that your bun calms down. I think it will take time, but she will probably always be bothered by dogs. For some reason, I don't think they forget the things that happened to them.
Just be patient with her. Poor thing.

 

[MayhemRenee]

Yes it is frustrating, more so because it was totally preventable by simply taking a few more steps to wake me up. Hell you already broke into my house might as well go all the way.

She is slowly making progress, along with never being ok with dogs she may never be ok with being picked up by someone wearing a black shirt. She bit and scratched my daughter yesterday (who was wearing a black shirt) I told her to go change her shirt and then Sugar was fine.

 

[whitelop]

Aww that is so sad.

 

[PaGal]

Give her time. I would also for the time being pack away the black clothes. If you want her back in her original cage which she now hates, I would try cleaning it well especially with vinegar/water. I would take it outside and clean it and rinse it several times and let it air dry outside and maybe even leave it out for a few days and then try her with it to see if that helped. It could be if you get rid of all of the old smells in the cage then maybe she will no longer associate it with the horror of what she witnessed.

How old is your daughter? I would possibly try explaining to her why it is for the buns best interest and peace of mind to be moved out of the room at least for the time being. Maybe after some time she could be moved back in to the room. I know if something horrible happened to my hubby I know I wouldn't want to be where it happened all of the time. If you have no choice but to keep the bun in your daughters room then I would give her some time. I wouldn't force her out of the cage but would open the door and sit near it even if just quietly reading a book in hopes that being near would be reassuring to her and let her decide whether to come out or not. Now if it seemed like the bun would just never feel comfortable coming out on it's own then I would rethink things.

I am sorry for your loss and in such a terrible manner.

 

[Devi]

Personally, since you are not that friendly with this neighbor for them to just open your front door, I would be laying charges against them good intentioned or not what they did mounts to a B&E which resulted in the death of one of your bunnies. If that happened to me they would be having not only charges via the police, but be dealing with a civil suit. After all one does not just go and open someone's front door without invitation first.

 

[MayhemRenee]

I thought about it at the time but just wanted to move past it (and not traumatize my kids further)... It a waste of police resource at this point.