Spayed Bunny Aggression?

Hi all,

Haven't been on here in a while but wondering if anyone has come across this:

A local rescue has been tasked with putting to spayed females together by the owner. The owner, who is extremely experienced and is amazing with bunnies agreed to have a go. She has a few bonded females together and didn't think much of it until they came in............

One bunny is lovely but the other is VERY aggressive. VERY territorial and will lunge, bite and swipe. She doesn't cower and act in the normal bunny way of being scared. The rescue owner has had her thoroughly vet checked (eyes, teeth, the lot) and even asked to see the vet papers for her spay. The rescue owner has (sadly) has all states of bunnies in over the years and is very used to dealing with unsprayed females but this one has flummoxed her, the bunny isn't showing the usual signs of mistreatment and the other female is a very friendly bun.

The rescue owner has had them three weeks and has made a little progress with this bun by talking to her and is managing little nose rubs but bunny will still just march up and bite and growl. She is totally acting like she is unsprayed. Maybe the rabbit's owners aren't giving the whole story.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had a bunny like this and if its possible for a bun not to be spayed correctly or if it could be an imbalance of hormones? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks x

I think you can check for hormone levels with a blood test (or maybe urine?). That might be an option. Did the owner get the rabbit spayed themselves? If she came spayed it could be she was given the wrong information.

Sorry, I got a bit confused is the aggression towards people or a rabbit she's trying to bond with it?

Sorry! The bunny is showing aggression to the rescue owner and humans. The owner of the rabbits has admitted the bunny is aggressive. The rescue owner has queried the spay and the bunny owner has produced a receipt for the spay and says the bunny had it done in her care.

Thanks Tamsin x

I've an article on aggression here: http://www.therabbithouse.com/behaviour/problem-aggressive-rabbit.asp

Although fear aggression (attacking makes hands go away) is maybe the commonest, they can learn aggression as a tool to help with anything. It might help to quiz the owner on what the triggers are in their normal environment e.g. the bunny might use it because it speeds up food delivery (throw the food in quick before you get bitten) or the owner lets the bun somewhere she likes to go (pop her in the spare room to play because it's safer on your ankles) etc.