Loppy is being really aggressive with recovering Foofy!

[loppyloo]

Now that Foofy is starting to feel a lot better, we are letting him exercise in the whole house again. Before we let him out in the hall so he wouldn’t get too worked up.

Last night was fine, but tonight our other bunny was being really aggressive. They spat a little every once in a while, but tonight as soon as he walked past her, she snapped at him and chased him at full speed. She was put away for a bit and then we decided to let her try again, with closer supervision. Even with my husband and I watching their every move, she did the same thing. This isn’t play fighting, she was really after him!

Anyone have any idea whatsoever about what may be going on in her cute little head?? Is she jealous because of all of the attention that Foofy is doing? Is she sensing weakness and looking to dominate him??? I hope that she was just having a bad day and that this is all a fluke.

Thanks,
Shannan, Foofy and Loppy-Loo

[BinkyBunny]

I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole forum yet, so I am assuming your bunny is recovering from a spay/neuter surgery or from an illness.

IF he came from a vets office, he may smell differently, and she may not recognize him. Rabbits don’t have the best eyesight, and they rely very heavily on scent. I know that if I come back from the rabbit rescue and I don’t take a shower first, I will get shunned by Jack and Rucy will attack me.

Also, it’s not abnormal for one bunny to pick on another bunny that is recovering.

Either way, you will need to supervise closely and get both your and loppy-Loo’s scent onto Foofy. Pet or brush Loppy-loo, and then brush and pet Foofy.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s what I was thinking….If Foofy is normally dominant but is recovering from surgery, maybe your other bunny sees his chance to take over dominant position and is going for it? Or it could be the smell?

[loppyloo]

Foofy had major bladder surgery (he was under anesthesia for 2 hours and he is 9 1/2 years old!) and so has spent a lot of time at the vets and has been in his cage recovering for a week. Also, he is on quite a bit of medication, so that might make him smell funny too. I sure hope that they get back into the swing of things!

[MarkBun]

I would bet that it was the stay at the vets along with the extended absence from loppy that has caused this slight rift to happen. It’ll take a little work to get them back together again but it should go quickly.

[MooBunnay]

I agree with Markusdark – it probably damaged their bond slightly since they were apart for so long, and Foofy smells like the vet, so you will probably have to a bit of “re-bonding.”

There are some tips on this site about bonding in the “Bunny Info.” section, in case you need to review. Did you bond the two together in the first place, or did you adopt them together? I don’t think it will take long to get the two of them to get along again, but you might want to give Foofy a few extra days to recover because there may be a couple spats still before they are re-bonded.

[loppyloo]

Even though Foofy was only technically gone for one night, he spent lots of days at the vets, and when he came home for the night he wasn’t able to interact with her at all. So I think itt has got to be a combo of his absence, his smell (he smells a little weird even to me!) and the attention he is getting. The strange thing is that the first night that they were out together, everything was fine–they were snuggling and he was grooming her (she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of reciprocal grooming) but the next night all hell broke loose!

We had Foofy for two years before buying Loppy and it was a little difficult to bond them together because he was used to being a very pampered only child. But she has always adored him and eventually his tolerence of her turned into bunny love, although he will not share a cage with her.

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