Im sick of my rabbit <img src=’desktopmodules/ntforums/images/emoticons/sad.gif’ height=’20’ width=’20’ border=’0′ title=’Sad’ align=’absmiddle’&gt

[LillyBear]

OK. Don’t get me wrong. I love my Lilly, but honestly.  The animal is crazy.  I don’t know what is wrong with her.  She hates me and my dh, she hates everyone.  She is sweet around us when there are "strange" people around, that is the ONLY time she will come jump up and sit on our chests.. if we are alone with her she will run up to us when we walk in the room and growl, jump back, and run away.  Then if we approach her she growls REALLY LOUD!!  I never knew she could be so loud.  I thought getting her spayed would help.. but I swear the doctor forgot to take out her ovaries or somthing!! 

I just hate that she is so mean.  Every day it is biting and scratching.  I have cuts all over from her nails, just when I am trying to clean up some of her stuff she freaks out.  When we try to pet her she freaks out too!  When I can finally get my hand onto her forehead I can usually relax her and pet her for about a minute before she jumps up runs around and growls at us again. 

I swear we are good parents, she is so spoiled.  And there is nothing medically wrong with her, we were just at the vet’s on Monday. 

I don’t know   I am just so sad.  It makes me want to get rid of her, and that is such a terrible thing to think.

PS guys sorry about the title, i didn’t realize i couldnt put a sad face in the title. oops.

[poopy]

was she like this before her neuter? perhaps she is irritable because of a jaw issue or something, but the vet should have checked that out when they neutered her

[poopy]

oh another idea, maybe lily will act different if she is able to have a friendly husbunny who will give her more confidence and calm her anxiety

[Hedi]

I got both of my girls fixed the middle of November. I really think Pookie had no idea she had surgery and acts better and better everyday! She used to be so flighty but now she luvs to be petted and will come jump on us.

Carrera on the other hand has been so mean. I took her for the surgery and she still associates me with it. Used to she was my little couch potato-as soon as she was out she made a quick check of the house and then demanded to sit on my lap and be petted in return for bunny kisses. Since surgery she wont hardly let me near her-still. And that was a few months ago. The vet said it could take 3 months for her to be normal again. But my bunny was 3yo when she was fixed and had a horrible build up of fluid in her chest. The vet said her ovaries were huge. She moaned and groaned for a week after surgery. It was horrible.

I would say its still surgery. She doesnt like me but will let my husband love on her anytime and he wasnt with us at the vet. So im the bad guy and hes the good guy. Ive had to let her dictate when and how she will be loved on. Im hoping to get my baby back i had before surgery soon.

Hang in there it will get better

[Lucy]

Lillybear-

Do NOT be discouraged.. how long have you had lilly? has it been that long. I URGE you to look at my first postings at this site” https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/view/topic/forumid/3/postid/85/Default.aspx

I had it BAD it was BAD from May till about, oh, Aug/sept or so… Fujoe finally became a free- range rabbit in November I think..

But he would growl, and lunge and bite and the worse. Sometimes he would want to be petted, but it was only on his terms. I have scars on my hands from him.

He’s still aggressive sometimes, but he is much much better.. it took a few months AFTER the sugery for him to calm down.. it’s only been two weeks or so for you? Take it easy, spend LOTS of time with her. It’s just hormones, they need to calm down a little. Don’t get another bunny- you need to work on one at a time, once she is more recpetive and loves you and she calms down, then it’s fine… Anyways, you’re not supposed to bond a female rabbit who’s been spayed before two weeks after their surgery, but four weeks is reccomended

You’re in Chicago- and you’re kind of near my school (SAIC).. Maybe we can figure something out where we visit each other and spend time with our rabbits.. It might help for you to see another house bunny, and to see what happens when Fujoe gets angry..There might be something in your apartment that is upseting Lilly.. it’s just a thought- email me through the site if you want to follow up- If you go to UIC, then all you would have to do is take the Halstead bus up north- a little past Belmont to roscoe and I’m at that corner.

Also, can you try petting her while she is eating a treat? Like a carrot. so that way she associates you with something that tastes good? It’s going to take some more time- hang in it and be strong!! — big huge!–

[Theresa Moan]

How long has it been since she was fixed?

[LillyBear]

Thanks guys… she was spayed on the 12th of Jan.. and I guess it hasn’t been THAT long.. and yes,she has been like this since we got her – well a few days after we got her since it took her some time to settle down to us. I guess I will keep waiting. I mean, I have to. I am not about to give her up either way.. I am just frustrated.

And I do pet her a lot. Even when she growls. And she LOVES her treats. When she sees me go in the cabinet for that bag all the sudden the anger stops and she runs up to me, jumps on me, trying to get the treats from my hand! But I try not to pet her a lot while she is eating because I feel bad because she always drops the food out of her mouth! haha. But I do pet her a lot in general, and I hold her a lot!! She puts up a fight to be held, but once I am holding her I think she likes it.

Fujoe, perhaps we should meet up one day. That could be fun. Though I bet you will be meeting the nicest bunny in the world since I am almost sure her mean personality would change because someone (and bunny) would be “strange” haha. Even the vet nurse commented how wonderful Lilly was because she didn’t put up a fight at all about anything.. she just let her (the nurse) do her thing. I laughed and said, if it were us (me and dh) she would be going nuts!

[Gravehearted]

aww Lily, living with an aggressive rabbit really can be tough. I know you want to love her and for Lilly to be happy.
It can take several months post spay for the hormones to calm down, so it may a little time before you see a change. In my time volunteering with the rabbit haven, I have seen some very aggressive bunnies become much calmer and mellow. So, don’t lose faith. Most of the time it’s a behavioral thing and it sounds like she is very territorial.

In the meantime – there are some things that may help. I’ve found these articles from HRS to have so helpful suggestions.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/aggression.html
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-2/mean-rabbit.html
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/agressive.shtml

[BinkyBunny]

Has her aggression gotten any worse or just stayed the same after her surgery?  I am just checking to make sure she is not dealing with a pain or illness issue. 

The other thing you mentioned is that she hates being picked up.  (not uncommon).  I   I know you said she likes it afterwards.  What body signals does she give that makes you think this?   Sometimes rabbits just give-up or are too tired to struggle anymore.     Even if the fact is that she ends up liking it in the end, the process of picking up is obviously disturbing to her, and for now, while it seems she is still dealing with trust and aggression, it may be better to not pick her up (unless you have to), until she calms down. 

I think in her current set of mind, you and your hands can be seen as a threat sometimes, and the act of picking her up only solidifies that.   Does she growl when you get to a certain part.  I know some bunnies get touchy when you approach their the end of their back.  Many might think you are going to make a dominant move.    Also, if she doesn’t like being picked up, she might be giving you a warning not to do that, even if you weren’t intending it.

I’m not saying you can never pick her up, but just temporarily, keep it to a minimum while you are trying to gain her trust and affection.

Also, when she does growl, bite and scratch, what is your response exactly.  What do you say? What is your body and hand movement?   Also, how do you approach her and pet her. I know you may not even think about it. Just next time you do it, take note, and let me know. 

I want to make sure that you understand i am not saying it’s YOU.  Many people can approach their bunny ANY way, without the result being aggression.   It just sound like Lilly may have some bad habits set in that will hopefully get better in time as her hormones die down, but there are also some ways that you can help with this too.

Both Jack and Rucy were aggressive rabbits.  Each for two separately different reasons.   And so I had to approach their aggression in two separate ways.    The articles that gravehearted provided are really helpful!!

[LillyBear]

Thanks for those articles gravehearted some of the stories made me laugh but it is giving me ideas on how to handle my bunny. I know i read rabbit.org articles about this before.. but I am too impatient to just wait and wait and wait.. so I try it my own way, and I guess I am failing.

Binky, Lilly has always been this agressive since about 2 weeks after we got her (Lilly is a big scaredy cat and didn’t relax around us until about then.. and even now if she is scared she turns into miss sweet bunny because she knows we will take care of her!). When I pick Lilly up it is either hit or miss, sometimes she allows me to pick her up and she won’t even move or struggle, other times she makes it known she doesn’t want to be picked up. If I pick her up anyway she usually remains calm on my chest for a few minutes as I pet her, and groom her. Also I usually massage her tummy with my fingers because for some reason I don’t think she has an incredibly great digestive system and I like to keep everything moving along in there.. she allows me to do this also. When she starts to move around I let her down, so usually it is on her terms. Unless of course I need to be holding her for one reason or another!

When I approach her I usually do so from the front, I will kneel down in front of her and bring my hands to her forehead and start stroking her. Sometimes this is okay with her, other times she lunges out and scratches me. Just today I decided to try sitting on the ground and letting her come to me. She does come to me and hops onto me, but still runs when I pet her most of the time. I am also going to try not picking her up so much.

I do think it is mainly territorial issues because as I said when I walk into her room she will growl and run into the corner; and if I go try to pet her then she growls really loud and runs past me into her litterbox. But there is nothing I can do, I need to be in that room sometimes!! Also when she is growling I try to stay really calm and talk softly and nicely to her to get her to calm down. When we first got her we would say NO when she would growl, but that hadn’t worked so I tried a new approach. I am not seeing improvement with that, buut Id rather be nice to her. Dh is much more strict with her, but she doesn’t growl at him or scratch him half as much. He has almost never been scratched… and he has never been bitten.. and I think I am nicer to my bun and I am taking the beating!!

hrm. sorry. im not sure this post clarified anything! ahh. .I will read those articles and see what works. I will keep you updated..

ooh and we just ordered her a new litterbox online yesterday. im super excited it should be here by friday. I hope she likes it.

[LillyBear]

ps gravehearted. about the aggressive rabbits being the “geniuses” I believe it. Lilly knows just about every way of getting into trouble possible! Her cage is about 2 feet high (it was my dogs old cage) and I left a bag on top of it thinking noo she wont get it.. I walk in there a little later and Lilly is sitting on top of the cage playing with the bag. haha! She has jumped up there quite a few times! Also one time I walked into the bathroom and we were searching for her everywhere.. we couldn’t find her.. but when we did she was sitting in the sink! I have no idea how she got up there… jumping on the toilet to the sink? who knows!

[Gravehearted]

You’re not failing, it’s just a tough situation. Females tend to be more territorial than males, and the calming down of hormones may really help. I think rabbits who are aggressive tend to be more sensitive kinds of bunnies – and therefore in my completely unprofessional opinion – more intelligent. My Hareiette is very aggressive around other bunnies and hands down the smartest bunny I’ve ever encountered. She plans and plots things – very similar to what Lilly has done with the hay on her house.

I’ll echo what Binkybunny mentioned – note what’s going on when she’s being aggressive. Is there anything specific triggering it? Maybe she doesn’t like to be pet on the nose, or head on? It sounds wacky – but I’ve noticed some bunnies are less likely to dart when being pet with a foot – since hands can seem scary. It could be worth a try.

I really hope that Lilly will come around with time and some patience. We’ve had some bunnies in foster care who would lunge and growl at anyone approaching their house. But, over time they’ve come to trust people and feel safe and amazingly become bunnies who love affection. It will take work, but I can tell you’re committed to trying to turn this around.

[wendyzski]

Poor baby – All I can suggest is time.  I’m also in Chicago, and not working at the moment, though I’m waaaay up on the north side.  I still think getting people together to make/exchange toys would be fun.

[FuegaNetsah]

Amanda,
This email comes a little late but I do understand what you are going through. I thought Oren hated me when he first moved here. He would not let me hold him, pet him, would run away each time I came into the room, and did not seem to be getting trained very well. I thought about giving him back as well, and it is hard because it is like giving up on a commitment. This thought did make me cry a good bit. That is actually when I found this site a few months back, because I was getting so frustrated about litter box training. Most of the other sites were saying “it is so easy it is so easy” it was driving me nuts this was the only site I found that said it might take a while *Bailey*. As small as that might seem, it helped a lot and gave me more patience. One thing that did help was to ignore him. I would sit down on the floor balance the checkbook, read, whatever and ignore him didn’t even look at him. He got curious and started coming over and accepting some head rubs. We still are working on him liking to be picked up. Lily is still young though, just keep working with her and you did good to vent. Talking helps .

Donna

[BinkyBunny]

FueggaNetsah – I’m am sooo happy that things started working out for you. Some are slow learners or just stubborn. I’m glad that your bunny is becoming more friendly with you. You may never get him to like being held, as most bunnies don’t. It is really rare, but you may at least be able to get him to tolerate it since you will have to pick him up to do nail trims and such. How is the littertraining going?

LillyBear – how are things progressing? Has she calmed down with you?

[FuegaNetsah]

Well, he actually has gotten a lot more social since I got him his girly friend. As for the litter box training it is coming along, it is fair, especially since I am trying to teach her as well now.

Would like to hear how Lilly is doing too!

[Author]

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