Cage guarding

My little foster bun Daisy is a nightmare!!
She is approx 5 months old and is a mini rex rescued from PAH store room. She has been diagnosed with epilepsy, which seems to be much much better than when she first came home.
Only problem is she is a hormonal nightmare!!!! From day 1 she has cage guarded. She has a normal indoor cage which is open 24/7 for her in the living room. She is normally fine until you go near her cage to top up her litter tray, then she will fly at you! The last couple of days she has started living room/object guarding! If you move from the sofa she growls and launches at you, this morning she stole an empty salt and vinegar crisp packet from the table and would not let me near it without attacking!

She needs spaying... urgently.... only problem is she has gut problems, we don't know what or why, we have done faecal samples which have come back as normal, but her poops can be quite squishy and her belly grumbles loudly, she is on a hay only diet (with pro fibre pellets and fibreplex) so the vet is reluctant to spay her until the gurgling settles. I am getting to the point where I will have to shut her in the cage as I cannot use my living room at the moment as she is a nightmare, I am going to have to buy some puppy pen panels so she can have some space but is segregated from my feet, but I have no car as my husband crashed his in the snow and has taken mine to work. Any ideas/is there anything I could do/try apart from wearing wellies to protect my ankles???

What a difficult situation for you both.

Does she make your adrenalin pump? Are you anxious and nervous around her incase she attacks? If you are, then you need to try, however hard it is, and lose that, because that will make her worse and she will feed from that.

I think, from her POV she is anxious and her hormones make her fiercely protective of 'safe' things. Could you maybe try flowers rescue remedy? Maybe using a lavender scent around to try and keep her chilled?

Sky-O said:

What a difficult situation for you both.

Does she make your adrenalin pump? Are you anxious and nervous around her incase she attacks? If you are, then you need to try, however hard it is, and lose that, because that will make her worse and she will feed from that.

I think, from her POV she is anxious and her hormones make her fiercely protective of 'safe' things. Could you maybe try flowers rescue remedy? Maybe using a lavender scent around to try and keep her chilled?

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I am trying not to be anxious about it, but her teeth really hurt!! lol!

She is such a sweetie at times, but literally turns at the smallest things, she is quite nervous at times too.
I have an oil burner and some lavender oil, is that the right sort of thing? I might take a trek to the shops later and try to pick up some rescue remedy.

To be honest, I'm not sure about the oil burner. I know you can use dried (and maybe fresh) lavender plants, but that's not obviously practical when you have no car. I'd get confirmation from someone who does know either way before using it.

I used to have Cloud who was vicious due to blindness and anxiety. My trick was to shove something he loved in his mouth before doing anything because if his mouth is busy and occupied, it wasn't amputating my hand. Maybe it's worthwhile trying a trick like that or something?

But yes, they do hurt. You can't always avoid it, but watching her body language and learning about her will help you to avoid it. Cloud died nearly aged 4 and whilst he was still vicious, I didn't get bitten very much at all in the last couple of years og his life (as opposed to multiple times a day when he was younger and I was still learning). The key for him was the ears flicking. if the ears flicked, I had to move fast. They went before anything else (tail up or wiggling, tense body, lunging, etc).

Sky-O said:

To be honest, I'm not sure about the oil burner. I know you can use dried (and maybe fresh) lavender plants, but that's not obviously practical when you have no car. I'd get confirmation from someone who does know either way before using it.

I used to have Cloud who was vicious due to blindness and anxiety. My trick was to shove something he loved in his mouth before doing anything because if his mouth is busy and occupied, it wasn't amputating my hand. Maybe it's worthwhile trying a trick like that or something?

But yes, they do hurt. You can't always avoid it, but watching her body language and learning about her will help you to avoid it. Cloud died nearly aged 4 and whilst he was still vicious, I didn't get bitten very much at all in the last couple of years og his life (as opposed to multiple times a day when he was younger and I was still learning). The key for him was the ears flicking. if the ears flicked, I had to move fast. They went before anything else (tail up or wiggling, tense body, lunging, etc).

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Guess I need to take my time and learn more about her, I have a couple of "aggressive buns" and I have learnt with them, but they live outside and not in "my space", I keep out of their way and they keep out of mine generally.
Hopefully she can be spayed in the next couple of weeks. Currently she is sitting inside a "christmas present" shaped small animal bed looking very sweeet and innocent :lol: