Can NOT pick Bella Up.

[Jolaedana]

My husband and I have watched videos, read all the suggested links on this forum, tried everything. I’ve been working with Bella over the last couple of weeks with the method where you position her length wise in front of you, and then place your arm around her and under her front legs to start with– she lets me get my arm around her, but the minute my hand goes even close to her front paws or tummy area she freaks out and bolts.

Bella is NOT spayed yet, we had to buy a new car and simply haven’t had the funds (joy for totaling cars unexpectedly… everyone’s okay.) We are planning to take her for a general check up and etc as soon as we can afford it. She’s a year and a half or so, we adopted her from some people who had a two year old they let try to handle the rabbit, and in addition, I didn’t see them picking her up properly when we were there (it was more of a squeeze the squirming rabbit and aim her at the carrier and hope she lands in it!! God, it was scary.) I can tell they probably never handled her from the day they got her (which was very young.)

She’s got one broken back nail, and the other nails are curved out to the sides- the previous owners had never taken her to the vet or trimmed her nails.

Does anyone have any tips for working with an adopted rabbit that’s been handled badly? She’ll let us pet her back and face now, and occasionally briefly touch her paws if she’s in “flopped out” mode, but the minute we try to touch her underside or the area around her legs (especially back legs), she just explodes into a ball of teeth and claws and gets out of there as fast as she can.

We want to take good care of her, and all these videos make it look so simple…. anyone else have a twitchy bun? Should we just lure her into the carrier and take her to the vet?

 

EDIT:
We’ve spent this afternoon trying the “bunny burrito”- gave her a handful of greens, and tried to get her chilled out on the towel, and she refused to get comfy or lay down on the towel. It’s one we left in her space for a few days, so the only thing I can figure is she knew something was up. My husband wants to try tossing the towel over her, and picking her up while she’s blind, but I’m worried she’ll get hurt that way.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I handle LOTS of rabbits with my volunteer work and alot of them are hard to handle. Can you tell me more about what’s causing the problem?

Does she ‘flip out’ (start panicking and kicking like crazy) Does she box and growl and bite? Does she leap out of your arms? Does she just not let you catch her? Does she bite when being held?

[Jolaedana]

hey! Thanks for the reply.

She flips out, most of the time if we do get ahold of her- kicks and keeps kicking, and if she’s got any purchase on the floor she’ll make good use of it. It’s enough that we’re afraid to try and hold on to her. We literally can’t even get to the point of getting under her, or into the air. If we touch her belly or legs, she instantly reacts and heads for the hills. Most times, she’ll simply avoid the issue by kicking out and then and jumping away from us, and promptly going to hide somewhere we “can’t get her”.

One great thing about Bella is that she never ever bites- at least not yet. She will growl and box, but not when we’re trying to pick her up- she reserves that for defending her private cage area if we’re being too forward.

[MooBunnay]

It can be very hard first learning how to pick up a bunny. I would say that one of the keys is feeling confident – I know that is hard when you’ve had a difficult time, but your bunny will pick up on the fact that you are nervous and it will make it even harder.

I looked online and saw that there is a Colorado House Rabbit Society that is in the Rocky Mountain area – is this near you? I would highly recommend getting in touch with a local rabbit rescue, the reason is that they can help you learn how to pick up your bunny. It is much easier when you have someone that can demonstrate for you on your bunny and help you gain confidence.

If you can’t find anyone local, also try videos on Youtube – be careful when searching as you don’t want to end up seeing something you don’t want too, watch one of the videos by someone reputable like The Rabbit Haven, or there is one I have seen by “Expert Village” that was good.

[Jolaedana]

Thanks moobunnay!…

I think we’re getting better about being confident. I’ve actually had a house rabbit in the past, though it was quite a few years ago now- so I know all the basics of picking up a rabbit, I just can’t seem to apply them to poor Bella. She’s nothing like our previous bun, who was fairly mellow as long as you stayed away from her teeth. lol.

The Colorado HRS is up north, north of Denver even, and we’re south, in Colorado Springs. It’d be a few hours, but that may be a good idea- to take a trip up and visit.

I do have a couple of local vets here who come very highly reccomended by the Colorado HRS, so maybe going to them would be the best thing? I think maybe she just needs a couple of sucessful pickups for her to get the idea it’s not the end of the planet- it seems like that’s been the trend with her so far as everything else goes.

Here’s hoping.

[MooBunnay]

The vet is a good idea – the only thing I would be concerned with is if they charged you for a whole vet visit just to show you how to pick her up! The vet techs generally seem to be very good at picking up bunnies, and maybe if you call and talk with them, they can arrange something for you to come in and have a short time with one of them to work with you.

I have a bunny similar to Bella – I have 8 bunnies right now, and I can pick up every one except Henri. Henri with seriously flail around like a maniac when I try to pick him up. I still have difficulty so don’t feel bad about having trouble with Bella.

There may be another rabbit rescue closer to you – I saw that the Colorado House Rabbit Society has several sattelite locations, perhaps one is closer to you. Their website is http://www.coloradohrs.com .

[Jolaedana]

Well, to be honest she needs a full vet check and nail trim anyway- and I’d like to see if they can tell me exactly how old she is and what a spay would cost anyhow- so maybe that really is the best solution! I just wish it wasn’t going to be so pricy. She’s never been to a vet, and while she seems to be the picture of health (nails and one hock aside) I think it’d still be a good idea since her previous owners never took her.

I’m glad to hear it’s not just her. Somehow, I figured that was probably the case, but I keep hoping that maybe just working with her will help all be right in time.

I will look into the alternate locations for the Colorado HRS- I had only known of the one they adopted out of in Longmont, so thanks!

[Beka27]

oh Bella! giving your momma a hard time!

i don’t have anything else to add, like they said, some buns are more difficult than others and this can be related to what her life was like previously. i think a trip to the vet is a great idea.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’ll ditto the vet trip.

In the mean time, if she’s running away and you can’t get ahold of her, I’d try your hubbies idea of a towel on her and then pick her up. Hold her tightly so she can’t flail or kick and let her calm down. As soon as she’s calm let her go. Practice and repeat. She’ll quickly get used to being held and learn you aren’t trying to catch her to eat her!!

[Author]

Messages