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Hi everyone!
I would love your advice on how to reduce the stress for my bunny, Teddy, while he gets stasis treatment. Basically, he likes to hang out under the bed to feel secure, so I want him to be able to do that so he can rest and heal. But it’s very hard for me to catch him when he’s under there, meaning that each time I have to give him his treatments, there’s a long and stressful chasing process. :/
Until recently, Teddy lived with me and his BFF Athena in a studio apartment that had a little bedroom nook with an open doorway where I slept. At night I would place a gate in that doorway so the bunnies couldn’t get under the bed (and wake me with digging the rug), and they would have the rest of the apt, including their litterbox area and hidey houses, to hang out in. When one had stasis I would keep the gate down, mostly to preclude this chasing issue.
But a few months ago Athena passed on, and then Teddy and I moved into a house with my fiancé and his cat. So now Teddy lives in a bedroom, with my old bed and all his hidey houses, etc., and the door is always closed. The same rug is under the bed so he can go there anytime he wants, and there’s no longer any easy way to block off the bed, though I’m sure I could think of something.
But like I say, I want him to be able to take refuge under the bed during the stressful time of recovering from stasis, and I don’t want to stress him out by putting strange barriers around it all of a sudden, you know? On the other hand, especially now that he’s stronger, he really puts up a fight not to be caught, and it’s stressful for both of us. It can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to catch him (it’s hard for me to squeeze under there and I can’t reach him when he’s in the middle) and lately I’ve been having to grab him in a way that makes me worried I’ll accidentally hurt him one of these times.
(Like, grabbing him while he’s running away, catching him around the hips — things I’d think of as real no-nos.) If he’s not under the bed, I can usually find a way to corner him eventually so it’s not such a big deal, and I can pick him up more gently. (For a day or two I was able to get him to run out from under the bed, but he’s wised up since then.)What do you think? Which is the lesser of the two evils for him? Or is there a better approach than these options?
Thank you so much!!
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Thank you so much! This is all really helpful. And that’s a good idea about the rag. I use a certain regretful tone of voice, saying “OK, bunny, this time I really am here to catch you,” only when I’m about to, but a visual cue would probably be better.
Unfortunately he’s way too smart to fall for a lure — he learned to be suspicious of those many years ago!
But I will work on the situation. Today I made a change that makes it a bit easier to catch him under the bed so we’ll see how that goes. Thanks so much for all your advice! : )
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