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Advice needed for new rabbit who is very stressed!

A

Alice in Wonderland

New Kit
Hi me and my partner just got a rabbit on Monday night (we are new rabbit owners) and brought him home in quite a noisy car. Once home we kept very quiet and left him alone to get used to his new home. He is a Netherland Dwarf, four months old and not yet desexed. After the stress of the journey he didn't eat for 20 hours so we hurried him to the vet for a total check up and she said he is very healthy just really really stressed. Unfortunately the trip to the vet would have stressed him out more, and as he still hasn't been eating properly we have been having to syringe feed him oxbow critical care to keep his stomach moving, which I am sure has stressed him out even more. As he has been calming down he is now eating a tiny amount of hay, drinking water, and eating celery covered in the critical care mixture. He won't leave the bedroom of his hutch though unless we are nowhere near it and I am worried that he is still not eating enough food! Do you have any advice for ways to help him get used to us and ways to help him to calm down so he will eat on his own? He was lovely and friendly when we chose him from the breeder and she said she handled him a lot but he was an outside rabbit so I wonder if all the new noises are a stress for him now that he is inside with us? Any tips on how to bond with him after his traumatic experience would be great too!
 
If he's starting to eat I would try and keep as hands off as you can for a few days and let him settle. I would leave the food in the bedroom so he doesn't have to venture into the scary part for food.

In my experience Nethies can be particularly nervous but they are fantastic fun and energetic little souls once they settle.

You can buy a product called seren-um which helps relax them but I'm not sure I'd advise it given his non eating incase its too much for his gut at this stage.

I use a couple of drops of rescue remedy on some of mine if necessary and personally feel it helps but again because of his non eating I would double check with a vet that's ok.
 
Thank you so much Amy! We will look into those remedies and ask our vet what she thinks too! Yeah I think now that he seems to be eating a bit by himself we will stop syringe feeding him and let him have some time to relax! It seemed like a bit of a catch 22 with the syringe feeding because he needed to have food in his system but now he is even more afraid of us! It's good to know that he will come round eventually, it's very distressing to see him so scared and I can't wait till he is eating well and we can start winning his trust!
 
It sounds like you have the right approach. I'd just keep your distance as much as possible and really allow him time to start to feel safe. With rabbits it can be really, really slow progress - days/weeks instead of hours. But they're worth it!

Are you feeding him the same pellets that he had at the breeder's? Just thinking if they've changed he might not recognise them as something he should be eating. If he's started to eat his hay now though it sounds like he's on the right track.
 
Thanks Esupi he is on the same pellets that he had at the breeders and we haven't tried him on any new vegetables either (she told us he went crazy for celery so that's been our go to!) but we will need to start mixing in some new food too by next week as we don't have a very big supply of the food he was on at the breeders. Hopefully he will be eating better by then! I can hear him munching away as I write this so that's very encouraging! The vet recommended that we don't let him out of his hutch for a week, do you think that will be long enough or should we take it very slowly? I don't like the idea of him being only in his cage but if that's where he is happiest, he has a fair amount of room to move about but we always intended that he would be free range most of the time once settled and desexed/litter trained.
 
aw! when I took on Neville, he was extremely quiet and frightened for a while. I just left him to it.

you could leave his hutch door open, to see if he feels like venturing out? give him the option.
 
In the past when I have taken on very frightened bunnies, that would only have become more upset by trying to handle them, I have always found an excellent way of starting to bond with them, is to sit and read to them.

You will probably find quite quickly that your buns natural curiosity will start to get the better of him, and he will start to approach you on his own terms, and to be honest, that is exactly what you want to happen, as if he is choosing to come to you, then he will cease to see you as the enemy so to speak.

When he does, don't be tempted to lift your hand to make a fuss of him, because he will instantly retreat, and probably be reluctant to approach you again.

I tend to hold the book with one hand, and just keep the other hand on the floor a little way from my body,so that bunny can sniff and touch it, which is great progress. I would let that happen a few times, and then try holding a little piece of food inbetween your thumb and forefinger, still on the floor, but so that bunny can take it, because that again is a great result as he is in effect taking food from you.

I always give my bunnies a teddy as well, which is often a source of comfort to a nervy bun. Make sure you get one for a baby that tends to have eyes embroidered on, and not one with eyes etc that could be chewed of and swallowed.

When your bun is quite happily coming up to you and sniffing you, taking food from you, you could very slowly and carefully, just lift a finger slightly so as to actually touch say the side of his face, but you really must try not to lift your whole hand or make any sudden, quick movements that will scare him.

You will soon find that your bun will start to climb on you that kind of thing, and even with very traumatised, scared rabbits, it is amazing how quickly they will actually get quite forceful in how they start to demand attention from you, and it is only when the bun has got to that stage with myself, that I will then start to very slowly and quietly make a fuss of him or her.

I find it is usually a case of challenging their way of thinking towards ourselves, and making full use of things like their natural curiousity, that then prompt them to do exactly what we want them to do, but because your bun has done it all himself when he wanted, he won't then be scared about things he has chosen to do himself :roll::roll:
 
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RogerRabbit999 said:
In the past when I have taken on very frightened bunnies, that would only have become more upset by trying to handle them, I have always found an excellent way of starting to bond with them, is to sit and read to them.

You will probably find quite quickly that your buns natural curiosity will start to get the better of him, and he will start to approach you on his own terms, and to be honest, that is exactly what you want to happen, as if he is choosing to come to you, then he will cease to see you as the enemy so to speak.

When he does, don't be tempted to lift your hand to make a fuss of him, because he will instantly retreat, and probably be reluctant to approach you again.

I tend to hold the book with one hand, and just keep the other hand on the floor a little way from my body,so that bunny can sniff and touch it, which is great progress. I would let that happen a few times, and then try holding a little piece of food inbetween your thumb and forefinger, still on the floor, but so that bunny can take it, because that again is a great result as he is in effect taking food from you.

I always give my bunnies a teddy as well, which is often a source of comfort to a nervy bun. Make sure you get one for a baby that tends to have eyes embroidered on, and not one with eyes etc that could be chewed of and swallowed.

When your bun is quite happily coming up to you and sniffing you, taking food from you, you could very slowly and carefully, just lift a finger slightly so as to actually touch say the side of his face, but you really must try not to lift your whole hand or make any sudden, quick movements that will scare him.

You will soon find that your bun will start to climb on you that kind of thing, and even with very traumatised, scared rabbits, it is amazing how quickly they will actually get quite forceful in how they start to demand attention from you, and it is only when the bun has got to that stage with myself, that I will then start to very slowly and quietly make a fuss of him or her.

I find it is usually a case of challenging their way of thinking towards ourselves, and making full use of things like their natural curiousity, that then prompt them to do exactly what we want them to do, but because your bun has done it all himself when he wanted, he won't then be scared about things he has chosen to do himself :roll::roll:
Click to expand...

I think this is excellent advice.
 
There is lots of to take in for any new bunny but you've got plenty of time. I think leaving him in the hutch for now is a good idea. It shouldn't effect him in the short term and you can extend his space as he gains confidence. Depending on the size of his hutch, it might help to add more hiding places eg a cardboard box. Rabbit's are prey aniamls and being undercover and having somewhere to hide makes them feel safe so the more access he has to that the braver he'll feel. Making sure he has food/water without venturing out is a good idea. It's likely he'll start by being braver when he's alone at night and that will gradually build on once he's feeling more settled.

I couldn't agree more with things like reading to him. You want to give him the opportunity to get used to having you around but as much as possible (I know it's tough while your syringe feeding) always let him be the one to initiate the interaction :)
 
Thank you everyone for your advice, as a worried new bunny owner it is a great comfort to know that there are so many bunny lovers out there to help! he has a little cuddle toy and we just got him a willow tunnel so he can have an extra hiding place. He is already chewing it to pieces! I think he is slowly improving so we will just be patient and keep giving him space! I am very worried though because a notice just went up in our building that they are doing construction work on our street tomorrow, should we put a towel or something over his hutch to help block out the noise? Hopefully it's not too loud!
 
My lot (I have eight outdoor rabbits) dont seem to mind noise at all. Even fireworks dont scare them (unlike our poor labrador ... ).

Some of them have been house rabbits and were fine with new household noises so he may well be ok.
 
Our house rabbits aren't bothered by most noises - fireworks, thunder - no problem. They really don't like the door bell or the ice cream van though! Seems like bangs and crashes don't bother them, but music does.
 
Luckily the works were very quiet! He still won't leave his bedroom if we are around though poor thing! If I ever catch him out in his living area he freezes and then bolts! I hope he will be ok!
 
Can I ask if he came from a situation where he had other buns around him and now (if I am reading right) he is all on his own? That will be contributing a lot to his stress.
 
Yeah I was wondering if that is part of it. There were definitely a lot of other bunnies but I'm not sure if he was living in a cage with them. The breeder recommended that we start with only him and then think about a second bunny after he was desexed, but then there are so many ideas about whether it is better to have one rabbit or more!

I'm thinking that in a couple of days now that he is eating well I will let him out into a pen with me and ignore him and read a book and see how he goes. He still won't leave his bedroom when he can see me in the room but maybe he just needs to spend some time with me in neutral territory to realise I''m not going to hurt him?

Also just as an update, when I go into his bedroom to give him fresh food and water he seems curious, and nervous but not terrified like before, and comes over to see what I'm doing and even seems to want to come out which is weird cos he won't come into his living room while I'm around. He is a funny bunny! I can tell once he starts coming out of his shell he is going to be a lot of fun!
 
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Thank you again to everyone for your advice Henri is doing really well, he is healthy and happy and even though I still haven't patted him he is now running to me instead of away from me, eating out of my hand, and using me as an obstacle course to leap and climb over!
 
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Wow, that's really great progress - well done! These things take time so I expect a few months down the line he'll have come on even further and hopefully he'll be demanding nose rubs too :)
 
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