Aggression

[Joon]

About 6 months ago we acquired a bunny from a coworker who free roamed in a house with a dog she seems to have some aggression towards humans sometimes and then other times she’s very loving she wasn’t spayed when we got her so we got her spayed recently and I can’t tell if her aggression is a learned behavior or part of a personality trait that might never go away. when we first got her her biting habits would draw blood but we’ve seemed to move away from that we do a lot of spending time with her she does pretty good with feeding you know bananas and stuff by hand but with smaller stuff she’ll will attack our hand. Even on bad days if she’s not really vibing well with us I still spend time with her so she knows that the problem isn’t really going to go away but we do allow for her to have some alone time as well cuz that seems pretty important to her. just looking for some tips or to make sure what we’re doing is the right thing to do we realize with her coming from a battered home that it might take upwards of you know a year or two for her to feel completely comfortable with us. We currently have an X-Pen style setup allowing for free roam time for most of the day or anytime I’m home, she just seems pretty unpredictable. going to allow her to adjust to all of the new home changes and her getting spayed and see if her aggression goes down a little bit more as it was going down before. Also want to note if she was not fed hay at all when I got her and veggies were not on a regular basis mostly just pellets. The previous owner said she was pretty destructive towards the house but I found that after we introduced hey and regular veggie schedule with lots of toys to chew on she doesn’t really chew on anything she’s not supposed to. The vet said that they didn’t see anything wrong with her when they got her spade so I’m not sure if maybe I should take her back in to a different vet for more thorough evaluation or if she’s probably fine, was just wondering because she didn’t have hay or a lot of things to chew on so there might be an underlying cause that I’m not aware of. We realize that it is going to take a lot of work to get her back to a more content state and even if she has picked this up as a personality trait and it never seems to go away we still want to allow her to have a comfortable life with no plans of getting rid of her. we also do not own any other pets other than her currently and have no plans of getting any other pets as I don’t want to cause her any other stress. One last note she did have one other owner before the owner we got her from and I don’t know what living conditions she was subjected to before her last owner.

[HipHopBunny]

Thank you for saving her. 🙂

I would first like to say, her living conditions with you sound great! 😀

For the aggression – my suspicions are, she is this way because of her past treatment. She must have needed to defend herself from the dog, or the humans, or at least in her mind. 🙁 It isn’t a personality trait, I wouldn’t ever classify a rabbit as aggressive, it only happens from what they’ve been taught, or, as mentioned above, their living conditions.

Spaying does help a lot! 😀 Although, you won’t see immediate behavior change, in fact – the first few months after spay, they go through what we call a “post spay craze” where they are even more destructive than before! 😆 After that though, they are very sweet. 🙂 With the right conditions, provided, she did have a couple of rough phases before, so you will still have to work through some aggression.

How you can do this, is by showing her that you will not treat her the way she has been in the past and that you are a safe space to go to. 🙂 One trick is to hand-feed them some treats, but not too many – you don’t want an overweight rabbit!  😉 You could also play relaxing, soft piano, or read aloud to her. 🙂

She will not bond with you quickly, all buns take time – but when she does, it will be extremely rewarding. 😀

Wishing you luck!

 

[Joon]

Thank you so very much! I am pretty new to bunny care and I just want to make sure we’re doing everything we need to be to make her comfortable after all that trauma. Also good to know she might be a little crazy after the spay! We have no plans to get rid of her and I will continue to work with her until we get there. Patience is a virtue.

[DanaNM]

I agree with @HipHopBunny, it sounds like you are doing a great job and more time will probably work wonders. 🙂

With buns that go a bit too crazy for hand feeding, it helps to hand feed things that are long and not quite as exciting LOL (like a lettuce leaf).

Do you notice any triggers to her aggression or does it seem random?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Joon]

Before her spay she was super territoral, and had pretty bad food aggression. Other than that it seems to be pretty random. Some days she wants alllll the snuggles and other times she really just wants to be left alone and seems unhappy or lethargic. But also with all the work we’ve been doing it seems to be getting better? Most days it seems to be getting better haha some days are iffy. But I can definitely tell she has a diva personality.

[DanaNM]

Gotcha, yeah I’m guessing spaying and a more stable home will help a lot. Spending lots of time around her but ignoring her completely is also a good trick.

When she seems unhappy/lethargic, I’m guessing she still eats and poops normally? Just checking in case something health-related could be at play. How long ago was her spay?

My foster was very cage-aggressive at the shelter, and it helped her a ton just to have “her” space that I don’t mess with unless absolutely necessary. I only pet her when she’s out of her pen, and I try not to do any pen cleaning while she’s in it.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Joon]

Yeah so she actually eats really good! She got her spay this past Wednesday, but I noticed her lethargic tendancies before the spay. The vet told me she could just be adjusting to all the new stuff and she’s indesisive about how she’s feeling, being rehome twice she could be worried about that. Each owner only had her for about a year.  The spay definitely didn’t help her mood, but we’ve just been trying to give her the space she needs to recover. Though I’m a bit worried they only gave me 2 days worth of pain meds so hopefully tomorrow is a smooth transition from being off the meds. I also try to respect her space by cleaning the cage during roam time. And we never force her out of her space to play. Honestly I just go about my day around her and if she comes up to me I give her some positive assurance. I only got worried because the vet told me that if her aggression doesn’t get better after the spay it could be possible she’s always gonna have issues. Which is fine but I wanted feedback cause it didn’t seem right.

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