DESPERATE FOR HELP

[Kylee5902]

So I just got my rabbit on the 31st of July and I just need help. I feel like I’m doing everything wrong and that I’m off to a rocky start. Astrid is 10 months and she was surrendered to the shelter on the 22nd of July and she got fixed on the 26th so it hasn’t been long (two weeks)

I feel like I’m having so much trouble bonding with her and I just want her to have a happy home life. When I got her from the shelter they told me she was food aggressive which was the case at first but she has kind of dropped the habit.

she was already litter trained when I got her from the shelter but for some reason she has been going out of her way to go to the bathroom on my bed and my bed only.  Every where on the internet says this could be a dominance thing and I just don’t know what to do because she’s done 4 times in the last 7 days. Some websites said to gently push her head down to the floor to put her in a submissive position but when I try that I don’t want to hurt her and it just feels wrong.

 

ive never had a rabbit before so if anyone could please give me ideas and tips about literally anything it would be very much appreciated.

Kylee vrba

[Bam]

Thank you for adopting this rabbit!

It normally takes some time to bond with a rabbit. Rabbits are not like puppy dogs, rabbits are flight animals whose instincts tell them to be seriously cautious, or else they may become someone’s dinner. What you describe sounds perfectly normal, especially since she was spayed quite recently. (A spay throws the rabbit into hormonal turmoil, which needs some time to resolve. Hormonally driven territorial behaviours such as marking and aggression often become more marked for 2-4 weeks post spay).

She marks your bed because a) she’s in a new place that needs to be claimed and b)  it has a strong scent of you. To a rabbit, that means “this is the place to be, the best spot!”

Marking is not a dominance thing between a rabbit and a human. Dominance in animals manifests between members of the same species. Your bun knows you’re not a rabbit. Pushing her head against the floor is pointless, even counter productive.  It is always the dominant bun that puts its head down in demand of pets from the submissive bun. Your instincts are sound!

It’s very promising that she’s not being food aggressive with you.

I think you mostly need to be patient. It can take months for her to trust you fully, but that’s how rabbits are. They are food for so many animals, they cant afford to go around and just trust anybody.

We’d be very happy for updates on how you get on. To gain the trust of a rabbit is a wonderful thing!

 

 

[DanaNM]

Agree with Bam 100%!

Bed-peeing is a super common problem. The simple solution is to block access to the bed (most people put up an x-pen around the bed), because sometimes once a bun gets in the habit of peeing somewhere it’s hard to break. You might want to do that temporarily at least while her hormones settle from the spay. Another thing that members have had some success with is to put a shower curtain on top of the bed, and then a thinner blanket on top of that (there are also lots of waterproof puppy blankets available these days). The shower curtain blocks the scent of the bed to make the bun less likely to mark, and also makes clean up easier if they do mark.

As for bonding, you are very likely on the right track since her food aggression is improving. I find the best route is to “play hard to get”, in that I sort of pretend to ignore the bun. I will feed them and clean the litter tray, but I don’t try to pet or interact with them at all at first. Spend time on the floor reading or watching TV while the bun is out, so they can just explore around and realize you aren’t going to try to pick them up or hurt them. Once the bun starts to relax near you on the ground, then they are starting to trust you. 🙂

. . . 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.  

[Bam]

When my bun Vilde was new with me (I adopted him when he was almost 6 years old), I read aloud to him. I did it so he’d get used to my presence and voice, and so he’d feel he had company. I didnt try to interact all the time, because that could’ve been stressful for him.

I think it was very successful. Vilde started out in the rather small cage that he came in, but it only took a few days before he started to explore outside the cage – and within a week, he had found new places that he preferred over the cage.

How long it takes before a rabbit starts to show affection for you depends on the rabbit’s personality and it’s experience with other humans. My bun Bam who I found abandonned in the woods needed a whole year before he started to really interact with me and trust me.

The “hard to get’-strategy is often very succesful. The rabbit doesnt have to feel like it is a target. You ä see the same thing with dogs- the top dog ignores the lower ranking or younger dog, which signals to the younger dog that there won’t be aggression.

 

[pinkiemarie]

I agree with everything said above but I wanted to add that although it takes time for the rabbit to trust you, once they do it can be an extremely rewarding relationship for the human. I seriously giggle like a little kid when my bunnies flop or binky in front of me.

I got my girl from a situation where she was out in a hutch and wasn’t well socialized with humans. She was clearly afraid of us at first and I gave her a place to hide inside an ex pen and then a couple times a day I’d open the door to the pen and just sit there and ignore her. After a while she didn’t feel like me or my house were a threat and would come out and explore, and would nudge me with her nose. That’s when I started petting her and now she loves being petted. She has a special place that she goes to (called the petting spot lol) and puts her head on the ground when she wants me to pet her.

 

I’m sure you know this but I also wanted to mention not to pick her up unless you have to because that scares them and can slow the bonding process by making them feel like it’s not safe around you.

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