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Seriously aggressive girl!

fudgefase

New Kit
She's so tiny - an eeny weeny netherland dwarf. But the aggression! I just handle her carefully - but she'll attack any other animal or person nearby. Stick your foot in the outdoor run and she'll come out of the shelter and attack you. Growling, gnashing. The whole works. What do I do with her?
She's now in a cage on her own. Should I get a larger male (neutered) and in with her? She's a wild girl.
 
:wave: How old is this little one? How long have you had her? What's her background? It's not clear from your post, as you say she's now in the cage on her own - where was she before?

Sounds to me like a combination of hormones making her territorial (spaying will calm these right down, but you'd need an experienced vet on a teeny bunny) and maybe fear aggression - learnt behaviour that she can make you go away by attacking you.

A partner may help but again if she's territorial you'd have to introduce them incredibly carefully and on neutral territory - i.e. don't put a male in her cage! A good way to do bondings is to adopt a male bun from a rescue and let them do some 'dating' so you can be sure your bunny likes her new companion.
 
little miss aggression

Actually, she's only young - I got her this year as a baby. She's never been mistreated. She used to live with my white female, another dwarf, but she's now so aggressive that I've had to separate them to save poor lilly from harm. I've had rabbits in the past, including big, fairly aggressive males, but little Poppy is a real conundrum.
She's never mated, living in a big cage (5ft x 3 ft and two levels) and the noises she makes! She growls and attacks with teeth and claws! As I say, I'm used to handling animals and it's not a huge issue for me personally, but my kids won't go near her and honestly, I'd be happier to see her in a cage with a companion. Short of a big old tiger I can't see it!
She's the teeny brown thing behind Lilly in the picture. The good old days of about two months ago.
 
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Sounds like you have a teenager there with plenty of hormones going spare.

I would go for neutering her to clam down the hormones and then to find her a partner to live with.

If you get one from a rescue they will help you with the bonding.
 
Awww what a sweetie! Sounds pretty normal teenage female behaviour to me - often when they get to that teenage hormonal phase they can fight with other female cage mates; it's often recommended to get pairs of females spayed as soon as they are old enough to avoid this happening. Once they get teenage hormones they will start viewing each other as a threat to their 'breeding prowess' if you like, so fights are quite common - in the wild they generally have much more space so it's easier for them to avoid such vicious fights. Growling and lunging is quite 'normal' territorial bunny behaviour and netherland dwarves are anecdotally more grumpy than many other breeds!

It is possible that you may be able to reintroduce them (carefully and on neutral territory) if they are both spayed and several weeks later, once all traces of hormone have died down. Otherwise a male companion for each may also work well - but as I said before, you will need to introduce them really carefully and on neutral territory. How she behaves to you or to another unspayed female is no indication of how she will react to a neutered male in a neutral area.

Either way, I'd definitely suggest chatting to a vet about getting her spayed - it's getting to be a relatively common operation although it will be more fiddly on a little'un, so make sure your vet is confident at doing this - my little one is 900g and she's been done and has calmed down no end :D
 
Thanks

Thanks for the quick responses. I hadn't actually considered having her dressed but I'll take it on board and think about it.
I lost a good male rabbit that way once and it's not something I'd do lightly.

I love the idea of her mating prowess - pity any breeding male put in with her! She'd throw him to the floor of her cage and drag him off to the nesting area by his ears while he screamed for his mummy!
I may re-name her Zena! :D
 
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Thanks for the quick responses. I hadn't actually considered having her dressed but I'll take it on board and think about it.
I lost a good male rabbit that way once and it's not something I'd do lightly.

If you find a decent vet this greatly reduces any problems. the vets we as a rescue use does about 300 of our own buns a year plus many more of privately owned buns. We rarely have any problems with them having post op complications or worse loosing any.

The risk of them devlopeming uterine cancer is far greater than loosing them under general anaesthesia.
 
Awww so sorry to hear you lost a bun that way before :cry: How long ago was it done? Rabbit medicine has moved on absolutely loads in the past few years - right from the type of anaesthetic used to the surgical and aftercare techniques and other drugs available. Rescues quite commonly have hundreds of buns of both sexes neutered each year and with a confident vet you could probably count on one finger the number they lose - and almost invariably it turns out there was some kind of pre-existing condition which was not known at the time.

Please do feel confident enough to ask your vet what sort of success rates they have on this type of surgery, there is also a good list somewhere on here of questions to ask of a vet, I'll have a hunt around and see if I can find it...There's absolutely no harm in ringing round and settling with a vet you are comfortable with. If you know of any rescues near you, maybe also contact them and ask who they use.

Good luck!
 
Sisters...

I have a pair of sisters, Brambles and Pippin who, thankfully, get on very well together.
Lilly now has dreadfully crossed teeth - I have to cut them every couple or three weeks, which I sanctioned with the vet who know something of my menagerie and my experience with animals - and I suspect it was during some problem with Poppy that they were damaged.
I could be wrong, and might be blaming her unjustly.
Thank you all for your input. I really should video her attacking the terrier!
 
It may be hormones - but I'd get her fully checked over too. If she's in pain, that would cause her aggression
 
:wave: Defo get her neutered. Will also make her feel happier as she won’t have all the pent up aggression and stress so everyone will be happy all round.
 
Little Poppy the pugilist

I will get her neutered then.
I can see no indication that she is in pain at all. I've checked her over, her teeth are fine, no bulges, bumps etc. She's bright eyed and fine unless you approach the cage. She eats well. Her fur is healthy (though she seems to be either pulling it out a little from her lower sides, or she's been losing it in fights with Lilly. Now that they're apart, we'll see what happens.
Poor Lilly, she's really quite an inoffensive bun!
 
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my little rosie was like that when she first came (although not quite so bad) she growled, boxed, lunged, stamped her little foot and squeaked if she didn't get her way. One spay later (which she came through very well....although she was pretty fussy about eating for a bit) she is now completely bonkers but not at all aggressive.
 
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