Help needed....

My mums neighbour had a rabbit, it was in a tiny wooden box (couldnt even turn round) the neighbour was trying to give it away to everyone so i saw it and told my mum she immediately sent me over to rescue Poppy, she went into a huge indoor cage, then now she is outside with a big hutch and run... Poppy was in this box with chicken wire on front of it for the first 8 months of her life and it got to stage she literally couldnt move round..

Our issue is now everytime we go in the pen to feed her or sit with her she attacks us, bites back of our legs, scratches us and generally doesnt like us for the first week we held her, groomed her all with no problems at all but all of a sudden she just started been really aggressive none of us can understand why or how to make things better, shes drawn blood on several occasions..

please help

Is she spayed? If not then I think spaying would help as adult females are naturally very territorial which can be made worse if kept in a space to small which she previously was.

ETA: And well done for rescuing her and giving her a much better home than the one she had :wave:

No hun shes not, she was fed once every two days by the sounds of it and generally not cared for.. x

What she lived in was a wooden box same size as a crisp box with chicken wire on the front it was heartbreaking... we had 35 rabbits when i was little and i had a rabbit who was same but cant really remember what we did ive still got scars from my rabbit lol

I would definitely think about getting her spayed in that case. It will help her temperament, make her easier to litter train and most importantly protect her againster cancer as 80% of 5 year old female rabbits have either uterine or mammary cancer.

Poor thing not being fed, mine mug me for food if I'm an hour late with their food never mind a whole day

Definitely spaying is the way forward. Then potentially a relaxed boyfriend.

It may be behavioural due to the neglect she suffered and it may be that it will settle when she feels more secure, but a good way to start that is to get hr spayed.

She is very lucky to have come your way

Yes i will phone up the vets, i really do think she is also having trouble adapting to all this freedom she now has... we have another rabbit at the side of her and they are fine together. its just people.

staceyh1989 said:

Yes i will phone up the vets, i really do think she is also having trouble adapting to all this freedom she now has... we have another rabbit at the side of her and they are fine together. its just people.

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Is the other rabbit neutered? If so it might be worth trying to bond them on neutral territory once they have had tme for hormones to settle. I think that would definitely help relax her.

It will take time for her to trust people but once she knows that you won't hurt her and you are the one providing the yummy food she will come round.