friendly rabbit is suddenly aggressive and scared

[roxy]

my friend left her rabbit for me to take care of till she comes back from her vacation i would say the rabbit is about 4 months old, ever since i’ve had her (for a week now) she’s been SUPER friendly would lick me lay next to me play with me today i went to get her out of the cage and she keeps running left then right again left then right when i caught her i let her out she ran away from me when i put out my hand next to her she literally SCREAMED i stood there shocked not just because i just heard a rabbit scream for the first time in my 19 years on earth but because nothing happened to her that would leave her THIS traumatized no one hit her no one yelled at her none of my cats attacked her the only two incident i think could be the cause is when i stepped on her foot (accidentally) yesterday but i feel like its not because of that because right after she went back to being friendly the amount of guilt i have right now feels so heavy on my chest not only my friend will probably hate me and not trust me to take of her rabbit again but i also turned a friendly rabbit (the friendliest rabbi i have ever seen) to traumatized rabbit who is afraid of everything

[Dee]

I would be more concerned that the rabbit is sick or injured than the possibility that you somehow upset her. She COULD have just gotten scared for some reason and will calm down soon,but this sounds rather extreme.

Is she eating, drinking and pooping OK? Rabbits become very reclusive when they are sick. Offer her a bit of her favorite food to make sure she’s eating. If she won’t eat, she really needs to see a vet ASAP. Clean out her litter b÷ox so you can keep track of how often she is pooping. Also feel her ears to make sure they aren’t cold- if she is sick she could become hypothermic.

How hard did you step on her foot, and were you wearing shoes? Not trying to make you feel bad, but if she is injured she would act strange.

I think that if she isn’t back to normal within a couple hours, you should call your friend and find out what vet to take her to. And please don’t feel badly- you are doing the right thing, trying to find out what’s wrong ☺. Best of luck- please keep up

[Bam]

Puberty hits around that age, and it can literally happy overnight. We have heard stories similar to this many times – a cuddly sweet baby girl bun (it’s almost always a girl bun) suddenly becomes skittish, fearful and antisocial, even aggressive (esp cage aggressive).

The screaming is a bit over the top though. Rabbits can scream and it’s dreadful. They do it when they’re really terrified. I assume you’ve checked out the foot you accidentally stepped on so it isn’t more hurt than it seemed yesterday.

Is she eating and pooping? As Dee says, offer a favorite treat and see if she takes it willingly. If she is refusing food and treats she should see a vet sooner rather than later.

ETA: In your other thread (I’ve locked it now to prevent confusion) you mention having pet another dog. https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/163937/Default.aspx

So I’m copying what I wrote in reply to that info:

Sometimes if you’ve met another pet (although most often if the other pet is another rabbit) you need to shower and change clothes before the bunny stops acting scared. Rabbits have a keen sense of smell, even keener than  a dog’s, so you can’t hide scents from them very well. 

[Author]

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