Beauty has become so scared of me :(

[Lisa1981]

Since she has come to me she’s been through a lot

Move of home, 2 bouts of stasis with vets visits and meds with syringe feedings, really raging hormoans, seperating her from her friend Harlequine, the spay, new pen instead of hutch and now the vets and meds for the pastarella

Iv only had her 9 weeks.

Over the last week she has been biting me quiet visoisly and her heart now races so fast when I’m trying to give meds that I’m scared she’s going to have a heart attack.

I spend time in the evenings laying on the floor with the iPad ( volume off) in the hallway where she can come out if she wants to but she doesn’t any more where as Harlequin still does (mind she’s not been through quiet as much). She won’t take treats from me any more either and even if I’m putting them through the mesh of the pen she runs into the hall just to get away from me. If she can see me she always has the dirtiest of looks on her face

I feel like the big bad monster with the syringe and dont blame her for the way she sees me now. It just makes me so sad knowing I have to keep up with the meds for the next ten days which will only make her worse

Sorry for the long post I’m just feeling so down about it all.

 

[Zoobec]

It is hard giving them meds but they generally forget all about it once things are normal again. Some meds can be hidden in food - I managed to give Frosty metacam mixed in with a bit of vegetable baby food. He likes the Aldi carrot apple and parsnip pouch baby food and thought it was a treat getting that with medication in it. Other people have used a shreddie to put it on but he wouldn’t eat those :lol:

Sending lots of vibes and hugs xx

 

[Lisa1981]

I hope she does forget and we can gain some of the trust back with me. I feel if she was a human she would be swearing and threatening fisticuffs with the way she looks at me.

I hear rabbits are meant to like metacam can some one please give Beauty the heads up :lol: we tried all flavours of baby food from Tesco and there was no fooling her with it. I even tried leaving a small amount with no meds in it in the pen but she wouldn’t touch it. Oooo Iv not heard about the shreddie one befor. Will have to get some tomuz.

For the time being in trying to leave her alone as much as possible so I don’t make it worse.

Thanks for the vibes

 

[SREwaller]

So sorry to hear you're having troubles with Beauty!

Sometimes things can take a lot of time to get used to, and having an op, meds everyday etc can be very scary on a rabbit, and more so a female than a male. But please don't think you're doing anything wrong! Rabbits naturally have a higher heart rate than humans, so you don't need to worry too much about that.

Once, I let Lily roam around the house without her boys for a bit. When I tried to catch her she ran off and when I finally managed to catch her she actually did an awful scream and tried to scratch me. She was very scared so I took her on my lap, put one arm around her and placed a hand on her head, covering her eyes and just stayed like that for a bit more than 5 minutes, focusing on my slow breathing but most importantly making sure to make no sound. I made sure she didn't try and push out, its often best to hold them close and tight against you so they feel safe and secure. After this I slowly removed my hand and she was very docile and even licked my hands for the first time! - Maybe you could try this when you next take her out of her cage (preferably when you are not going to give her her meds so she can get used to the idea that you mean calmness).

also consider if she gets stressed when she is taken away from Harlequin. In which case maybe you could take them both out of their cage?

I've also heard that if you put a piece of your clothing, an old jumper or something that smells of you in the area where they sleep this helps them associate you with safety. Don't put something fresh out the washing machine though - the smellier the better in this case!

sometimes rabbits need a lot of patience and time to get used to you so don't worry too much if it is only week 9! I've had Onyx for about that time too and he never wanted to take food out of my hand but seeing Bear and Lily get all the nice veggies and treats made him change his mind. He can now even stretch up the length of my arm and let me rub his belly, something which he would never have done if he hadn't seen the others do it.

Last thing to try maybe is sitting inside their cage (if you fit) or in the area in which you let them run around in but make sure it is small enough so that they can't actively escape from your presence but large enough so that they don't have to be right next to you. whilst your there, bring a book, or your iPad, or something quiet you can do and ignore them. After you've let them get used to your presence and they start to go up to you, have food nearby on your lap so that if Beauty or Harlequin do come near you, you can offer them a tasty treat. This might take a few trials... one of my old rabbits would never come up to me and then one day I sat in their exercise pen with my laptop and I started to work. He then jumped on my lap and let me pet him!

hope some of this advice can help you! Fingers crossed it works for you x

 

[Zoobec]

Frosty wouldn’t eat the apple or apple and banana flavoured ones, but he loved the Carrot apple and parsnip one I mentioned. I think it’s a knock off of an Ella’s kitchen one, they are often recommended on here :thumb:

 

[Lisa1981]

Frosty wouldn’t eat the apple or apple and banana flavoured ones, but he loved the Carrot apple and parsnip one I mentioned. I think it’s a knock off of an Ella’s kitchen one, they are often recommended on here :thumb:

Some of the ones we got were Ella’s kichen pouches. Harlequin really liked the parsnip one and kept putting her mouth around the syringe for more :lol:

I just wanted a variety of flavours so we had options.

So sorry to hear you're having troubles with Beauty!

Sometimes things can take a lot of time to get used to, and having an op, meds everyday etc can be very scary on a rabbit, and more so a female than a male. But please don't think you're doing anything wrong! Rabbits naturally have a higher heart rate than humans, so you don't need to worry too much about that.

Once, I let Lily roam around the house without her boys for a bit. When I tried to catch her she ran off and when I finally managed to catch her she actually did an awful scream and tried to scratch me. She was very scared so I took her on my lap, put one arm around her and placed a hand on her head, covering her eyes and just stayed like that for a bit more than 5 minutes, focusing on my slow breathing but most importantly making sure to make no sound. I made sure she didn't try and push out, its often best to hold them close and tight against you so they feel safe and secure. After this I slowly removed my hand and she was very docile and even licked my hands for the first time! - Maybe you could try this when you next take her out of her cage (preferably when you are not going to give her her meds so she can get used to the idea that you mean calmness).

also consider if she gets stressed when she is taken away from Harlequin. In which case maybe you could take them both out of their cage?

I've also heard that if you put a piece of your clothing, an old jumper or something that smells of you in the area where they sleep this helps them associate you with safety. Don't put something fresh out the washing machine though - the smellier the better in this case!

sometimes rabbits need a lot of patience and time to get used to you so don't worry too much if it is only week 9! I've had Onyx for about that time too and he never wanted to take food out of my hand but seeing Bear and Lily get all the nice veggies and treats made him change his mind. He can now even stretch up the length of my arm and let me rub his belly, something which he would never have done if he hadn't seen the others do it.

Last thing to try maybe is sitting inside their cage (if you fit) or in the area in which you let them run around in but make sure it is small enough so that they can't actively escape from your presence but large enough so that they don't have to be right next to you. whilst your there, bring a book, or your iPad, or something quiet you can do and ignore them. After you've let them get used to your presence and they start to go up to you, have food nearby on your lap so that if Beauty or Harlequin do come near you, you can offer them a tasty treat. This might take a few trials... one of my old rabbits would never come up to me and then one day I sat in their exercise pen with my laptop and I started to work. He then jumped on my lap and let me pet him!

hope some of this advice can help you! Fingers crossed it works for you x

Thank you for the advice. Most of these I was doing and having really good progress with but I think it’s that she’s been having so many meds and syringe feeds from me that she’s become distrustful.

It’s really nice to see that my daughter can still hand feed her though which gives me hope that maybe one day she will trust me again to.

I had to split them up a few weeks back as Beauty was obsessively humping so unforchantly at the moment I can’t let them out together unless I rebond and right now I’m not sure that’s a good idea as she’s been nipping Harlequine through the mesh of the pen Iv decided up.

 

[Graciee]

Ah I'm sorry it's really upsetting isn't it I went through something similar with both Atticus and Clementine it's also frustrating because you're just trying to do your best and you get no thanks for it [emoji38]

All I'll say is, it gets better even though it doesn't feel like it will, and once you stop having to medicate they move past it, and you can work on earning trust again

Atticus had a lot of issues after he was castrated, he was super aggressive and used to bite, whereas before he was so loving and gentle.. He went through quite a time of it too. He doesn't bite anymore tho it just took a lot of time and patience.

You'll get there, hugs xx

 

[Lisa1981]

Ah I'm sorry it's really upsetting isn't it I went through something similar with both Atticus and Clementine it's also frustrating because you're just trying to do your best and you get no thanks for it [emoji38]

All I'll say is, it gets better even though it doesn't feel like it will, and once you stop having to medicate they move past it, and you can work on earning trust again

Atticus had a lot of issues after he was castrated, he was super aggressive and used to bite, whereas before he was so loving and gentle.. He went through quite a time of it too. He doesn't bite anymore tho it just took a lot of time and patience.

You'll get there, hugs xx

Thank you Graciee. All I want to do is make them happy but being my first buns it’s hard to know what to do to achieve the outcome but also to get them back on track with their health.

Beauty was always the more cautious shyer one but she would climb up on me for pellets and treats. Since her hormoans kicked in it’s been problem after problem to the point I’m checking poop every hour just to make sure she is ok.

I’m glad Atticus has stoped biting and is back to the more gental loving rabbit he was. It gives me hope for beauty to.

I know she’s never going to be a cuddler but just for her to be happy and inquisitive again would be great.

 

[Graciee]

Thank you Graciee. All I want to do is make them happy but being my first buns it’s hard to know what to do to achieve the outcome but also to get them back on track with their health.

Beauty was always the more cautious shyer one but she would climb up on me for pellets and treats. Since her hormoans kicked in it’s been problem after problem to the point I’m checking poop every hour just to make sure she is ok.

I’m glad Atticus has stoped biting and is back to the more gental loving rabbit he was. It gives me hope for beauty to.

I know she’s never going to be a cuddler but just for her to be happy and inquisitive again would be great.

She'll get there as soon as you stop having to do things like medicate, you'll become way less annoying she'll come around I know it's hard tho x

 

[Lisa1981]

Just got scratched by one then scratched and cuddled and groomed by the second they couldn’t be much more diffrent but I love them both to bits