rabbit acts weird when im sick?

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This topic has 1sd reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by Bam.

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- 11/16/2022 at 11:00 AM
  bumpybunny
  Participant
  155 posts
  i always read about rabbits that comfort their owners when they’re upset or sick, but my rabbit does the exact opposite. for some reason on the days im sad about something or im not feeling very well, pumpkin acts really weird. she will make a huge mess in her pen and spill her water repeatedly. as soon as i clean it up she goes and does it again. Then in the evening when I let her out of her pen to play, she wont let me touch her and she bites/lunges at me out of nowhere even when im just sitting there across the room not bothering her at all, and she does anything she possibly can to make a mess in my room that she knows i will have to go clean up. when i go to clean the mess up (again, not bothering her at all or even near her) she lunges at me and attacks me for cleaning it up?
  
  any idea why she does this? i have a chronic illness that causes me to be in a lot of pain some days, and with pumpkin doing all this when i dont feel good it just makes everything so much worse. on normal days shes very loving and clingy, but the complete opposite when im in pain. she never acts this way any other time. i dont do anything different on these days, i feed her on the same schedule and let her out to play at the same time. she is spayed.
- 11/16/2022 at 12:24 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  16965 posts
  I’m very sorry you have a chronic illness.
  
  My guess is your bun is being – a bun. Some rabbits are extra loving when their bonded mate is ill, some rabbits are completely indifferent, but many rabbits actually act out in the presence of a sick fellow bun. It’s quite common between rabbits -healthy rabbits can be really mean to poorly rabbits even though they’re very close friends (bonded).
  
  This is of course about instincts, not concious choice. The rationale would be that it’s simply not favorable in terms of survival to be near a sick member of the herd. Sick individuals attract predators, because predators have a very good eye for weekness in prey animals.
  
  Now, you are not a rabbit (obviously), but your bun might regard you as her bonded mate. If this is the case, your flare-ups could be stressful for her, since she regards you as a fellow bun. (Which is rather a great compliment to you, most hooms never get accepted as honorary buns).
  
  She might get used to them with time, since nothing bad actually happens when you’re sick, no predators will appear and try to eat you both. Or the instinct simply runs so deep that it will persist.
  
  I’m sorry that she’s being difficult during your bad spells.
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