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Territorial Female (again)

new_horizon

Young Bun
Hi All,

I posted briefly before about my female spayed lop rabbit, Pudding, who has recently become a bit of a nightmare.

The background is as follows...

Adopted her at the age of 3 months and she was neutered at 4 months (I am aware that this is young). The reason for such quick spaying was that I wanted to bond her with my other two, who currently live outside. However, due to the harsh weather and her lack of Winter coat, she has been living inside. Her temperament was always fine and she had learned to come to her name amongst other obedient behaviour (enjoys a nose rub etc).

However, my partner and I were decorating our bedroom and she spent the week living downstairs, where she had access to the kitchen (where her litter tray and food/water bowls were) and the living room. We also have a cat and initially, Pudding was curious about her and kept trying to approach her; they kind of sniffed eachother and then went their separate ways.

Anyway, I was petting the cat one day, when Pudding came racing over, snorting and chased the cat away. I put this down to jealousy and tried not to pet the cat in front of her again. However, this has gotten a lot worse now, and the cat will no longer set foot on the floor, won't enter the room if Pudding is there and won't eat out of her bowls unless they are above ground level. Anytime that she does try to venture onto the floor, Pudding chases her and bites her.

I have tried various things, such as putting them both in a room and trying to keep them apart so they get used to living in eachothers space, but Pudding has become very aggressive. I've tried loudly shouting at her and grunting at her, but neither of these have any effect. She is also beginning not to respond to her name.

I can't work out what has changed, but right now it seems as though we may have to get someone to foster Pudding as the cat was here first and we don't have room to keep them both apart all of the time.

If you have any similar experiences or can help in any way, your advice would be most appreciated - I just can't understand what has happened to my usually beautifully behaved rabbit!

Thanks

Mark
 
These are two different creatures and don't have to get on. It would be great if they did, but they obviously dont. She could be scared of the cat and is reacting because of this.

Can she not go back in the bedroom until the Spring when she can go outside?
 
my petal is extremely territorial. so much so that she attacks the hay when it's thrown into her living quaters( i have to just through it in or else i end up bring my arm up with a bunny attached to it) petal was spayed when she was 6months. i have tried everything including putting gloves on and letting her bite my hands.
 
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