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Daisy biting

rianne23

Mama Doe
ooo what to do...
Well most of you know Daisy's past, and that she is not very used to being handled. Well i have had her for almost 2months now and i try to handle her everyday even just briefly...but she bites :( she has settled down with her struggling now..she likes a quick cuddle whilst i check her over...but she bites :( i think it is a warning bite...you know, she is not intentionally doing it to hurt me...just "look i really have had enough now".
but the thing is she needs to know that is wrong!! So what can i do? i have used a stern but gentle (ok does that make sense lol!! :rolleyes: ) NO!

other than that i am not sure what to do...it is definatly a bossy bite!!

i am also finding it hard to get her speyed as there is no PDSA local to me to help me and no way i can afford it
 
I've got a couple of buns who nip when you pick them up (one male, one female). I agree with you that it's just bossy behaviour. Mine are both neutered/spayed, but the op had no affect on that element of their behaviour.

Wearing thick clothing helps :lol:

Amy
 
Can you speak to someone at your local rspca to see if they would help with getting Daisy spayed? She really does need to be done from a health point of view (I am sure you know this) but also, it may help the biting a little.

But, as Amy says, sometimes it doesn't help. I have a male who bites. He has done ever since he was little. He was neutered at 4 months and still bites. Unfortunately sometimes it's in their genes I think.

Hopefully someone else will be along with advice about what to do re spaying Daisy.
 
IMO spaying helps with cage/territorial aggression and aggression towards other rabbits.

I think some bunnies nip when you're holding them because they don't like the sensation of being held, or out of excitement when they are impatient for you to put them down.

Amy
 
well i am under the impression that if a bunny has had a litter she doesnt need to be speyed...i.e "either give them a litter or have them speyed"....words from a few people where i used to live...because i was going to get Tilly done but i left the area then she died of myxi :cry:

but Daisy has had a litter

oh and my local RSPCA is in bedfordshire (somewhere...very well hidden :roll: )and i cannot get there right now it is about 1hr drive and i have no car and noone that can take me right now
 
thats just a myth the either get her speyed or let her have a litter :roll: i wonder how many people are told this no wonder theres so many unwanted rabbits :cry: just because Daisy has had a litter does not mean she wont die with cancer in the future getting her speyed will also help sort out behaviour problems :D

when Honey was still with me she was a very nervous rabbit and always used to bite my arm when ever i picked her up and when she had to go the vets she used to chew on my arm :shock: Daisy is either biting you through behaviour problems, because she gets nervous/scared (we dont actually know how she was treat in the petshop) or another reason :?
 
thats just a myth the either get her speyed or let her have a litter :roll: i wonder how many people are told this no wonder theres so many unwanted rabbits :cry: just because Daisy has had a litter does not mean she wont die with cancer in the future getting her speyed will also help sort out behaviour problems :D

when Honey was still with me she was a very nervous rabbit and always used to bite my arm when ever i picked her up and when she had to go the vets she used to chew on my arm :shock: Daisy is either biting you through behaviour problems, because she gets nervous/scared (we dont actually know how she was treat in the petshop) or another reason :?

well i kind of do know how she was treated to be fair, and she was not handled. i am not silly either i do know the risk of Uterine cancer but not every doe dies from it. My rabbit will be speyed but i cannot afford it at this time. It is very expensive and as it is i am struggling to pay for my children to have any presents for xmas :( but does this mean i am a horrid owner who is basically killing her rabbit? :cry:
 
no it doesnt make you a horrible owner sorry thought you were basically saying that you werent going to get her speyed because she'd had a litter and she wouldnt get cancer :roll: plus when you said that people were telling you that you either let a rabbit have a litter or get her speyed kind of wee'd me off abit i cant believe people are saying that i think alot of new rabbit owners are mis-lead into believing things like this its all very sad :(

i am probably guessing that Daisy is biting because she gets nervous/scared i know that you rescued her from the petshop (god knows what they would have done to her if you didnt probably would have re-bred her :roll:)
 
I handle my rabbits as little as possible as it stresses them (I cut Benny's nails today, but I don't handle them just for no reason) and I also haven't spayed my girls (who are now aged about 3). I don't think they care when they die, but how they live - and there's plenty of other things more likely to kill them - stress being a major factor.
 
I handle my rabbits as little as possible as it stresses them (I cut Benny's nails today, but I don't handle them just for no reason) and I also haven't spayed my girls (who are now aged about 3). I don't think they care when they die, but how they live - and there's plenty of other things more likely to kill them - stress being a major factor.

They don't care when they die?! :evil: I agree they probably don't have any real concept of their own mortality but in my opinion every animal deserves to have everything done in their owners power to ensure that they do not suffer in any way. Dying of cancer cannot be a nice way to go. Surely an animal deserves a good quality of life and a long one at that!

I understand that spaying is an expensive procedure but if you do your research before getting a rabbit then this should have been accounted for.

It would only take a few weeks to save up the £70 it costs, if not then there are always charities that can help.

Tamsin
 
spaying issues aside, your rabbit may just nip/bite because thats her temprement. I have a neutered male who bites as he's very territorial and opinionated:roll: Although I will try certain methods to minimise the biting (Im spending time sitting in the shed with him, so he gets used to me being in "his space") I have accepted that this is his personality and he may always be like this.

Ironically, his stroppy behaviour endears him to me even more:lol:
 
:shock:
They don't care when they die?! :evil: I agree they probably don't have any real concept of their own mortality but in my opinion every animal deserves to have everything done in their owners power to ensure that they do not suffer in any way. Dying of cancer cannot be a nice way to go. Surely an animal deserves a good quality of life and a long one at that!

I understand that spaying is an expensive procedure but if you do your research before getting a rabbit then this should have been accounted for.

It would only take a few weeks to save up the £70 it costs, if not then there are always charities that can help.

Tamsin

:shock: :censored:
HOW very dare you...honestly...you know nothing about me or my situation...my rabbit was rescued and i have done research thanku very much...i am not stupid. i lost me beautiful rabbit in september after 3 and a half glorious years with her and i was never going to get another one.. it cost me a lot to have her put down..but i loved that rabbit.
i rescued Daisy and have just paid for her myxi and her hvd vaccines, now i have xmas to concentrate and i do not work at the moment because i am not well and i have a 3yr old and a 1yr old i want to give them at least one present each for xmas. money is tight and we only recently left their dad after i put up with 4 yrs of domestic abuse.
so NO it IS NOT easy to put money away a week for her to be speyed. I have rang charities. i gues i will have to maybe reconsider having Daisy then is that what you are saying??? being poor does not mean i cannot have animals :(
 
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:shock:

:shock: :censored:
HOW very dare you...honestly...you know nothing about me or my situation...my rabbit was rescued and i have done research thanku very much...i am not stupif. i lost me beautiful rabbit in september after 3 and a half glorious years with her and i was never going to get another one.. it cost me a lot to have her put down..but i loved that rabbit.
i rescued Daisy and have just paid for her myxi and her hvd vaccines, now i have xmas to concentrate and i do not work at the moment because i am not well and i have a 3yr old and a 1yr old i want to give them at least one present each for xmas. money is tight and we only recently left their dad after i put up with 4 yrs of domestic abuse.
so NO it IS NOT easy to put money away a week for her to be speyed. I have rang charities. i gues i will have to maybe reconsider having Daisy then is that what you are saying??? being poor does not mean i cannot have animals :(

No it doesn't mean you can't have animals, we all know what you do for Daisy and how much she means to you, if you can't get her spayed right now then it's not the end of the world, you are trying and I'm sure she knows and appreciates that. Tamsin 101, I don't think it's fair to judge her when you don't know her situation or any of the facts, that's not fair IMO xxx
 
ok thankyou, i think maybe i should apologise for going off a bit :( i am just having a really really difficult time in my life right now and i came here for friendly advice not something that makes me feel awful :( thanks for ur support fran x
 
hi rianne23,

I wasn't replying to you! I'm so sorry I upset you. :oops: I was responding to Elve....about her saying that she planned to never have her two female buns spayed which personally I think is selfish and also to her comment about how they don't care when they die, which I totally disagree with.

I'm sure you do your absolute best for Daisy and I'd already seen in your earlier post that you said you would get her spayed when you had the money. All I was saying that you could put some money away each week to help take the sting out of the cost. I'm sorry that you are in this awful situation at home and I was not judging you at all.

Sorry again Rianne.....Please don't take the message to be aimed at you...

Tamsin
 
could it not be affection?? george used to bite, little sod would be sitting there purring away then try to take a chunk out of your hand.... he used to bite my mom the worst..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

and theres a bloke at work, his wife has kept house rabbits for years their latest little gal is half hare so very very lively, when he gets in from work she gets all excited about seeing him he leans down to say hello and she trys to take his hand off :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Alvin head butted me yesterday and i dont think it was in a im gonna kill you way, he was just impatient for his veg.....
 
hi rianne23,

I wasn't replying to you! I'm so sorry I upset you. :oops: I was responding to Elve....about her saying that she planned to never have her two female buns spayed which personally I think is selfish and also to her comment about how they don't care when they die, which I totally disagree with.

I'm sure you do your absolute best for Daisy and I'd already seen in your earlier post that you said you would get her spayed when you had the money. All I was saying that you could put some money away each week to help take the sting out of the cost. I'm sorry that you are in this awful situation at home and I was not judging you at all.

Sorry again Rianne.....Please don't take the message to be aimed at you...

Tamsin

Yes I know it was aimed at me - and yet again I went to bed upset over a nasty remark from this forum. Not only was I upset that Rianne was being made to feel guilty and inadequate, when she's done a wonderful and unselfish thing rescuing Daisy - and was egged on to do so by the people on this forum (nobody said 'if you can't afford to get her spayed then leave her for the pet shop to dispose of') I was also upset that only breeders are allowed to express an opinion different to the majority on here, without getting jumped on.

If anyone like me accuses a breeder of being selfish, it's not tolerated - what gives anyone the right to accuse me of being selfish? Yes I'm so selfish - I've rescued 6 rabbits - a group of 5 unspayed females that nobody else wanted as it would have cost nearly £500 to get them all spayed - and 20 guinea pigs that would have been bred to death and abused if I hadn't decided to spend my entire life savings on rescuing them and given up half my house so I now have no living room - I'm so selfish!

Fact is the current fashion for spaying is just that - a fashion - it's based on a 50yr old study of a family group of rabbits, and there has been no statistical proof that female rabbits live longer spayed than unspayed.

I believe we over-medicalise rabbit care nowadays, and I should be able to say what I believe without being accused of selfishness, as it's based on what I personally think is a good life for rabbits. If on one of their many forced visits to the vets, a rabbit was PTS they would be none the wiser, and would not suffer, because they don't care when they die - they DO care how they live, and I doubt if trips to the vets is high on their list of 'fun things to do'.

I think it's just dreadful the way this forum makes people feel ashamed when they've kindly saved an animal from death and made sacrifices to give it a good life, and yet will defend the breeders right to produce more rabbits 'just for fun' :evil:
 
well i kind of do know how she was treated to be fair, and she was not handled. i am not silly either i do know the risk of Uterine cancer but not every doe dies from it. My rabbit will be speyed but i cannot afford it at this time. It is very expensive and as it is i am struggling to pay for my children to have any presents for xmas :( but does this mean i am a horrid owner who is basically killing her rabbit? :cry:

not at all!!!! but as i am assuming she is still quite young it is not a major problem with the uterine cancer the risk ups with age so the longer its put off the more at risk...as you say not every bun gets it either...

what you could do is start putting away 10 a month or even 5 pounds a month into a seperate account for bunny.... this would mean that you would slowly get together th money to pay for the spey also if you contiunued to do this every month after you would never end up forking out for jabs or unexpected treatment...

please dont take this as a critiscm... just something i found helps me i put a little away each month for different things... also if u put it in a seperate savings account and never need to use it then over time it will gain interest.. maybe every now and then could get daisy a treat?! children not afected obviously you want the best for them too! :) :D

with re biting could you maybe not pick her up so much? (that sounds nasty its not meant to be) mayb try sitting on the floor and letting her come to you? i had a rabbit called lucky who was just like daisy as in would never let me pick her up else she nibbled and scratched....still have bunny scratch scars.... but when i sat down with a bit of cabbage she would come to me and hop onto my lap(given time) and i could stroke her to my hearts content when she didnt want any more cuddles she hopped off!!! (before you say this is just one rabbit...i had another i did the same with and although they were better re picking up they stil preferred to come to me) i think its to do with being a prey animal...any way written far too much! good luck with daisy! let us know how it goes!

pps if you did not get daisy speyed ever i still think its not the end of the world. i have had some rabbits iv speyed and others not. one of whom i didnt died of uterine cancer and i made the decision to never got through it again. point is what ever you decide only you know your rabbit and only you know what's best for her. if she is speyed you may find biting improves it may not u may find even if she not speyed she never gets cancer

.. and you will probly find that people on here will say things and not mean any hurt by them... iv said stuff before and upset people and they upset me too...but we all mean well and are just trying to give advice... (my comment about saving....is only how i have managed...and i know sometimes it is hard to get money and im not a saint if i dont have the money i dont put it in the pot! but i try as i find it helps me! so if daisy and you and your children are happy dont get angry/upset about ppl on here we all mean well!!! :)
 
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Hey ladies...calm down...I think we're going off topic here :lol:

Rianne wants to know whether spaying will stop Daisy biting when picked up. Which it might, but then again it might not.

Personally I have every respect for somebody who makes an INFORMED decision not to spay.

All of mine are spayed...mainly because it makes them easier to pair up and less temperamental. I'm undecided about health issues, although I do think it's probably best to spay as a precaution.

Amy
 
:wave: I would say try spaying when you have got the cash as that might make a lot of difference. In the meantime is hard coz is not like a dog you can train easily or take to classes - rabbits seem to do pretty much what they like in a way! I reckon having her done will remove alot of the hormones and stroppiness and then she will be loads better. Have you tried the PDSA/RSPCA?
 
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