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Memory loss???

dasiychain

dasiychain

Young Bun
Does anyone know whether or not a rabbit forgets their owner?? Silly question but minute Lucy is fine and the next she's scared of us and runs away thumping?? We will have her a year in December and she's neutered and has a companion neutered biscuit?? I'm not sure what to do as she will eat treats out our hand and jump on us and then 3 hours later she's scared of us? She's an Indoor rabbit as well?


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It's more likely that she's not realising it's you she's running away from. Possibly some vision or hearing impairment and you are startling her, or could you be doing something that effects your scent (if you're close when she runs away)?

Can you think of anything that links the different way she reacts, for example does she always run when you walk into the room suddenly or she's been napping?
 
If I'm honest it seems to be a mixture of things? Like if she's awake and I sit down next to her she"ll get up and look like she's about to run away. Or if she's laying down and I walk anywhere near her she runs away. Of it can be if I'm stroking her she looks petrified? But the day before or an hour or so earlier or later she"ll be fine??


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How is she about being picked up - that's the other thing that can be a trigger for some bunnies. They see you do something they think means you might pick them up and run off quick.

You could try having a verbal signal that you're about to approach/interact with her - it can be a noise or phrase "Hi bunny!". I click at Scamp (like you do cats) and sometimes if something startles him me clicking will be enough to halt the panic - it's sort of a 'hey, it's just me' signal.

Rabbit's tend to react quickly to a noise or movement rather than taking a moment to work out if something is really a threat/scary, so giving them pre-warning something is going to happen but knowing that signal means it's not a bad thing, can help. It might take a few times for the association to build up :)
 
Tamsin said:
How is she about being picked up - that's the other thing that can be a trigger for some bunnies. They see you do something they think means you might pick them up and run off quick.

You could try having a verbal signal that you're about to approach/interact with her - it can be a noise or phrase "Hi bunny!". I click at Scamp (like you do cats) and sometimes if something startles him me clicking will be enough to halt the panic - it's sort of a 'hey, it's just me' signal.

Rabbit's tend to react quickly to a noise or movement rather than taking a moment to work out if something is really a threat/scary, so giving them pre-warning something is going to happen but knowing that signal means it's not a bad thing, can help. It might take a few times for the association to build up :)
Click to expand...

Good advice. I use a phrase in a comforting tone of voice so one of my rabbits doesn't run away thinking it's danger ..
 
She's fine when we pick her up but catching her is a problem. But she's a long hair so we have to groom her a lot and she knows when I'm cleaning their house out she gets groomed so she runs and hides cos she knows it's coming but she's fine til she sees the brush lol. But I just walk in the room and she's scared. And it's the same with my partner. It's really weird cos in July I moved to my nans for 6 weeks and I shared a room with them, their free range and they slept on my bed and ran to me when I called her name but we moved to Germany nearly 2 months ago and one day she's running to me and I mean jumping on my head while I'm asleep lol and when I call treats she runs to me but then something changes and she gets scared and runs away even though nothing's changed. We've never hurt her or shouted at her or anything? With our other rabbit biscuit the amount of times he's run in front of me and I've accidentally kicked him he's fine and loves me lol


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