Duck Tape Incident

[daisy406]

My poor 4 month old Dutch bunny. (I am a new rabbit owner). Daisy, my precious new 4 month old Dutch bunny (not spayed yet) is the sweetest thing in the world. I’ve had her for about 3 weeks now. I have a water bottle and a water bottle holder which just hangs on the side of the cage and is supposed to hold the water bottle in place, yet it doesn’t, it always falls out especially around 5:00am when Daisy decides to knock everything in the cage over because she wants to be let out due to her feeding time being at 6:00am. Due to it always falling to help it, I had duck tape securing it in place. This duck tape is changed consistently to keep in place. This morning I woke up to a lot of noise at 5:00am and as usual I ignored it waiting till 6:00am for our normal morning routine. I opened the cage at 6:00 to find duck tape stuck to her bum. She was running around frantically. I tried to sooth her with my soft voice and when i went in to touch her she made a hissing like sound and lunged at me to bite. This I have never heard and she has never done! Daisy wouldn’t even let me near her let alone anyone else without lunging forward at them to bite and hiss.  I woke up 2 of my roommates to help me because I was so afraid. I called animal hospitals which told me the fee would be $125. I am a college student I don’t have money like this on the spot. We tried so hard for 20 minuets to grab it but didn’t want it to pull at her fur too much. I didn’t want to make a traumatic experience for her also a bad one for me and her so i had my two roommates due the hard work which sounds bad, but I didn’t want Daisy to associate me with the bad experience. While one threw a towel over her and held her still the other started slowly and steadily pull the duck tape, while I stayed calm telling daisy, “Shhhh it’s okay Daisy it’s going to be okay good girl Daisy.” At a certain tug of the tape she lunged out and ran frantically on my bed. We repeated this process one more time to finish the job! We got the duck tape off and she sat there breathing heavily. My roommates went back to sleep and I stayed with Daisy obviously in my room on my bed (which she usually is NOT on). I was nervous to pet her or even attempt to so I sat back and gave her food in front of her. I sliced a small bit of apple (she never tried before) and let her take about 5 small bites before putting it away (just a small treat for being so good). She then peed on my bed after I took the apple away 5 minuets later. I cleaned it with vinegar baking soda and water right away. I laid on my bed and she soon came up to me perking up, I was still hesitant to pet her due to her lunging and hissing before. I laid my hand out in front of me and she came closer allowing me to pet her cheek. I put her food and water bowl on the ground and she soon hoped down to eat her hay and pellets. I sat on the ground with my legs extended out and she hopped over to my feet and nudged her nose at them. I have never seen this behavior before and she did this twice then came close to me and I proceeded to pet her more. I’m afraid that after this experience it will be harder to bond with her, I don’t have the BEST relationship with her yet due to only being with her for 3 weeks, but I do my best to always spend time petting her and playing with her or being with her while she eats. I understand this was a long paragraph, I just want to understand all her behavior and makes sure nothing was completely out of wack. I also want to understand her nose nudges and how I can proceed to bond with her since this experience. (I am going to forsure get a new water holder that will secure it in place more so than just a loop!) Any future tips, or legit any responses to this would be nice to reassure me on everything or give me advice for if another incident such as this or something different were to occur with this behavior of hissing again what to do. As of now, only 10 mins since the incident she seems fine and is letting me pet her and running around.  

[Bam]

You did very well. The vets wouldn’t have done it better and taking her to the vet would have made her even more scared, so I think you dealt with this very well. She took her treat after the incident, and that means she’s not crazy traumatized. She also ate hay and pellets later and she asked for pets from you – a traumatized bunny or a pi##ed off bunny would absolutely not do that.

Sometimes we have to put our buns through procedures that are not at all nice for them. It can be things like give medications, tend to wounds, force feed Critical Care etc. The bun is as a rule not at all happy while it’s going on. You can get bit or boxed and growled at, because the bun goes into total defense-mode. But when the ordeal is over, the bun tends to have become more bonded with its human, curiously enough. We’ve had many stories here about that happening, I’ve myself had that experience with my bunny Yohio. 

If a bun nose-bops your foot it can mean “pet me” or “give me a treat” or, sometimes, “you’re in my way, move”. If you don’t obey, the bun can proceed to nipping to get its point across.

Just to be sure, keep an eye on appetite and poop for the next few days. Stress can cause tummy trouble.

[Luna]

I agree with Bam. It’s great that she is eating and acting ok right now. Luna will give me the bunny butt treatment every once in a while, but she always forgives . Maybe instead of the duct tape, you can use a zip tie to help secure the water bottle to one of the bars of the cage. Just don’t pull the zip tie all the way, so then you can slip the water bottle off when you need to refill it.

[daisy406]

Thats a really good idea if none of the water bottle secure holders fit my size i’ll do that! Thanks!

[daisy406]

Thank you!!!!! This reassures me a lot! I will definitely keep my eye on her appetite and stool the next few days!!  

[tobyluv]

You can also switch to a water bowl for your bunny. Most rabbits prefer drinking out of a bowl rather than from a bottle. You do need to buy a heavy crockery bowl, so that it can’t be knocked over.

[daisy406]

Yes! Every time I put her bowls (food and water) in her cage when i go to classes she knocks them over sometimes she knocks the water bowl in the food bowl and it gets all gross and it’s a waste of food (and water)! But maybe I can try a heavy crockery bowl I haven’t tried that!

[Author]

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