New Aggression

[Marie]

My cat Smudge died today…. and my rabbit, Jojo, seemed fine as when I found out I hugged him for about 5 minutes and he was acting 100% normal. However, I later went down to my shed where my Dad had wrapped Smudge in a towel so I could say goodbye to her. After hugging, patting, kissing and crying over her for about an hour I came back inside completely wrecked. 

This is when I went to Jojo and tried to pat him. He kept grunting and running away, he’s only ever done little grunts if someone is touching his food but he never lunges or bites its just like “Hey don’t take that away, its mine!” But he was going crazy and wouldn’t let me near him. I finally rounded him up and he started running and lunging at me, almost barking at me, and attempting to attack me… 

He’s 10 months old and is in great health, and as mentioned has never really shown aggression before. He is also desexed and a free roam rabbit who shares a space with myself, my parents and as of recent two cats.. now its just Oscar my younger cat. 

I’m so confused as to why this is happening. I’m devastated about my cat Smudge and now this?!? Someone please help me understand and possibly fix this situation..

[Wick & Fable]

I’m so sorry for your loss of Smudge. I can only imagine what a magnificent personality a cat named Smudge could have.

There are many reasons why a rabbit may suddenly act that way.

Based on the context you’ve given, it seems unlikely that between the time of you hugging him initially, and then coming back from the shed, that Jojo somehow became hurt and was getting aggressive to defend himself (i.e. When a prey animal senses there’s something wrong with their health, they tend to get aggressive to fend off predators trying to get them while they are weak). But to be sure, I recommend taking a glance and seeing that Jojo seems OK healthwise.

More realistically, I can imagine a few scenarios:

1) If you went outdoors for a time, and your rabbit is not super-used to your outdoor environment (i.e. if Jojo is an indoor rabbit), you could have brought back scents of outdoor predators with you when you came back in, or just smelled unfamiliar in general. Rabbits do most of their recognition via scent. We’ve had rabbit owners on these forums who volunteer at rabbit shelters, and one in particular had to shower completely after coming back, or their rabbit would constantly attack them (to my recollection).

2) Grieving is a very intimate process that involves expression a lot of emotion. With that comes different sounds and body language. It’s possible Jojo heard you and your father grieving and/or sensed your body language, making him feel very insecure. Rabbits are very receptive of these sort of cues, so sensing that you were in such a state may have made Jojo feel scared. One of the most memorable times I’ve had with Wick being scared was when his other parent had the longest bout of hiccups (30 minutes). Wick was terrified the entire time because he had no idea what was happening to his other parent and his other parent was freaking out because the hiccups wouldn’t stop. Wick would run away from both of us until the hiccuping stopped.

— Is Jojo still acting this way towards you now? Is he acting this way towards Oscar right now?

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.

[Marie]

I’m not sure if it’s number one, because yes we do have two dogs outside but he’s smelt them on me before and had no issue. I also washed my hands right before walking to him, so I believe anything I’ve touched would have washed off. But maybe I’m wrong.

I checked on him an hour or two afterwards and he seemed better, he let me touch him around his face without any lunging and started licking my pants. I haven’t seen him bother my other cat Oscar either.

I wonder if he smelt Smudge on my jacket I was wearing when first coming in and he was upset? Can rabbits mourn when other animals pass away?

The only other factor was someone fed him between these two times seeing him… but I don’t think he was just hungry and I tried giving him a treat while he was angry and it just made matters worse, as well as he’s had other food today so it’s not like he’s been starved.

[Wick & Fable]

Yes, rabbits do grieve and that can be expressed by destroying things. I haven’t heard it through attacking people though, so it wasn’t a first thought for me.

Did the person who fed him potentially try to pet him too much?

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.

[Marie]

Sorry I stated that wrong. He was fed after I noticed the aggression and then the next time I saw him he was more like himself.

[Author]

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