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Help for my friends grumpy rabbit...

bensonlola

Warren Veteran
Is there anything she can do?

Short background... She decides to get two rabbits. I invite her to see mine to see what they need etc... she can't wait and goes to the petshop. They sell her a female rabbit and male guineapig cause they don't have 2 rabbits left :roll: They sell them in a metre long cage :roll::roll:. Anyway the rabbit bullies the piggy to within an inch of its life, they separate, the MALE piggie has babies. The babies get a disease of the rabbit and die. She ignores my advice to get the rabbit spayed.

Anyhoo - she has a very grumpy rabbit that growls and bites the bars at her and has to be wrapped in a towel to catch her and put her in after free ranging. They keep the rabbit in a larg(ish) two story hutch. On it's own. The vet said that spaying may not calm the rabbit down and it is quite an invasive operation to put it through and then not work.

What should she do - the rabbit is obviously not happy and everyone is scared of it - poor thing.
 
for starters the pet shop needs shooting for selling rabbit and guinnea together
if the rabbit is deffo a doe and not pregnant and only a pet get it neutered does who want litters can get very very nasty if they want and yes the vet is right it may not calm her fully but will make a difference and stop her nesting when nesting they get more nasty :?
ann x
 
Personally, to me the first step would be to get her speyed :? The vet doesnt sound very experienced with bunnies, any decent vet would surely know a female rabbit is more likely to get uterine cancer if left unspeyed :(

It may not help, but certainly it sounds as if its worth a try :) xXx
 
I didn't know until Nicola Tervitt looked it up on the internet - they can get some form of pneumonia from bunnies - fatal

:D I'm like a piggie guru

If the rabbit is genuinely 'aggressive' spaying won't calm her down, but I don't really believe in aggressive rabbits :roll: so it probably will calm her down. I agree with printing her out leaflets, scare her with official-looking things that make her feel like the RSPCA will be on her case if she doesn't.
 
:D I'm like a piggie guru

If the rabbit is genuinely 'aggressive' spaying won't calm her down, but I don't really believe in aggressive rabbits :roll: so it probably will calm her down. I agree with printing her out leaflets, scare her with official-looking things that make her feel like the RSPCA will be on her case if she doesn't.

Yes, I'll do that - then it wont look like I'm lecturing her. She says she loves animals but doesn't want to put herself out too much for them.
 
She says she loves animals but doesn't want to put herself out too much for them.
:censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:
What my experience taught me, is that if you're like that, you SHOULD NOT HAVE PETS. Otherwise you will not be able to meet their needs. Period.
If I were you I'd try and take the rabbit. Your friend doesn't sound like she will EVER have the patience to make friends with the poor thing, who probably has the only guilt of coming from a pet shop's breeder and therefore not having been handled enough.
I know fully well what a mistake getting a rabbit from a pet shop can be, since my Maia is exactly like that. I love her as grumpy as she is, but I can't help but shiver at the thought of what would have happened if she had ended up in the house of someone who got fed up of her not-so-cuddly personality.
 
What should she do for the rabbit? Maybe surrender it to a rescue if she is unwilling to meet its needs.

If she wants to keep it she needs to get it spayed. That's a good start. From there, once she has recovered, they can then work further with her if she is still nasty. However, it sounds like she can't really be bothered.
 
personally i cant blame pets shops for a young animals behaviour (yes they don't get as close contact as they would if reared in someones home BUT at 12-16 weeks old regular handling and proper housing diet veterinary care etc done after actual consideration about what a rabbit requires should mean you have a happy pet even if she is still just a little grump as some well loved bunnies are.
but your friend seems like someone who expected a happy cuddly bunny and g-pig without much effort so is prob not gonna do what it takes to bring her little doe around now that she has actual behaviour issues .
I think you are doing all you can to support and guide and to be honest what more can you do.
the pet store is fully responsible for the g-pigs issues and should be informed of the situation as it is totally unacceptable practice and compensation should be asked for (as its the money that hurts a business not your's or your pets feelings or health).

and maybe your friend will consider letting her pets go to a new home if you encourage her to realise how important it is so spay and how much time and effort it will take for her bunnies behaviour to be corrected (or at least amended) and the fact she could just be a rabbit that doesnt want contact and may never will ...

i wish you all the luck in the world and i realise it must be soooo frustrating for you but you are doing the right things and some good official literature may just drill the message through lol ..:wave:
 
Thanks folks! At least the bunny does get free ranging and has a decent size hutch - I know it's not engough but it's better than a lot get. I did mention about a rescue for the wee bun but they don't seem to want to do that. I'll try to go down the spay route and just enjoy the rabbit for who it is!!
 
an agressive rabbit will not become unagressive unless it is spayed. Spaying may help to reduce agression along with time & TLC but it isn't 100% guaranteed. If you like you can get her to contact me I have a long term foster bunny here (Kung Fu panda) becuase of his agression. If she wants to find out out how we turned him from cage raging monster to butter wouldn't melt then drop me a line.
 
Spaying should help but it does need to be backed with very good rabbit care after-wards.

Aggresive does can become less scary and can reach a point they tolerate people but they will prob never be cuddly.

Well done for continuing to try to encourage your friend to give her bun the best she is able to.
 
When I got my bunny Poppy she was very aggresive and would grunt and squeak everytime I went near her she was like that from day one.

Since getting Poppy speyed she is a million times better she will never be a cuddly rabbit but is no longer aggresive and no longer grunts she will also tolerate being picked up.
 
We had an aggressive bun hen i was younger. Even the dog, a jack russell, was scared of her!

My mum would put her hand in the cage and got bitten and scratched, but could never work out why I didn't even after I showed her a million times.

Basically she startled easily. I found that if I knelt down to her level, talked to her in a calm voice and didn't make sudden jerky movements she was like an angel. Didn't like to be picked up still, but wouldn't attack and would accept a headrub.

Try to get them to spend calm time with her, talking to her without trying to stroke her, so she get's used to the fact that they're not attackers and them being around does not mean something bad will happen.

ETA: Obv this is in addition to the spay!
 
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