So I have four buns…three of them bully the other one.

[babiebun]

Okay, my bunnies are: Caramel, Flower, Berthold, and Vanilla. 

Caramel is the mother to Flower and Berthold. Vanilla is unrelated to them. Caramel, Berthold, and Flower have also been altered for a while. Vanilla was only spayed last week. 

It’s been really bad. Caramel and Berthold, especially, since they seek out Vanilla and try to maul her. Even when they pass by Vanilla’s closed cage, they reach inside with their little noses and nips/plucks at Vanilla. Flower doesn’t deliberately seek Vanilla out, but when Vanilla is in her presence, she always reacts aggressively. When Flower sees mommy and brother bullying Vanilla, she joins in and chases Vanilla around the yard. Therefore, I had to separate Vanilla from the other bunnies and she doesn’t get as much fun/exercise time as the others. To me, Vanilla is a bunny that really wants friends, and ever since I had to separate her, it looks like her mood’s been going down. 

Vanilla is probably the kindest bun I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen her display signs of aggression, even while unspayed. She never fights, nips, mounts, or anything…When the bunnies start bullying her, she’ll often hide behind a chair in the corner of the yard and she only goes out when a human comes up and showers her with kisses. I know that she’s desperate for company and acceptance from the other buns. I’ve spayed her in hopes of having them open up. Formerly, the relationships of my buns were really different. Caramel gave birth to Flower and Bertie (from our former neighbors bun, another story), but she always treated her babies harshly. Vanilla would always come and groom and cuddle the infant buns. The babies would even mistake her for mommy sometimes and try to get her attention. Caramel was not aggressive to Vanilla back then. They were like sisters. When hormones started kicking in, Caramel often tried to shred her own babies, especially Bertie who would try to mount her. After all of them were altered, it seems like they’ve gotten so inseparable. Even the formerly mean mommy Caramel showers her babies with kisses. I wasn’t able to alter Vanilla for a while due to expenses, but the entire time that I spent saving up cash for her big snip, she was getting marginalized every day. 

It’s been three days after Vanilla’s spay and she’s recovered a lot. She seems to want to get out badly, but Caramel and her children still bully her to no end. It’s like being unspayed gives off a smell buns don’t like or something! I read that somewhere it takes a month for hormones to subside. I really want to bond Vanilla to the other three like it used to be. I’m really hoping that they’d eventually get along. Even immediately after Bertie was neutered, his mommy tried to pounce and attack him. I wish it would be the same end result for Vanilla. I seriously feel sorry for her everyday… 

Your thoughts? 

[jerseygirl]

It’s been three days after Vanilla’s spay and she’s recovered a lot. She seems to want to get out badly, but Caramel and her children still bully her to no end. It’s like being unspayed gives off a smell buns don’t like or something! I read that somewhere it takes a month for hormones to subside. I really want to bond Vanilla to the other three like it used to be. I’m really hoping that they’d eventually get along. Even immediately after Bertie was neutered, his mommy tried to pounce and attack him. I wish it would be the same end result for Vanilla. I seriously feel sorry for her everyday…

You’ve pretty much hit on the problem here.
To them, she still smells intact. They would view her as an intruder & threat to their territory.
She might also have some lingering foreign smells from the vet clinic.

I think you’ll just need to let some time pass then do some bonding work in neutral territory.

Are you able to spend one-on-one time with her while the 3 are out together? She may crave their company but the timing seems a bit earlier. It may take some work getting them all to intergrate but its certainly possible.

[BunnyLady1989]

Poor Vanilla she sounds like a sweet girl! Hopefully that’s the problem and it will sort itself out in time when the ‘smell’ goes away. Keep us posted!

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