Craig 1965
Warren Veteran
I'm going to throw this open to everybun for your feedback and honest opinions please. Because I'm 4 hours in here with Flo and I'm scratching my head. Something isn't making sense. And I'll tell you why. Flo's 'reported' background is as follows: she was with a family, plus 2 other male bunnies. She is reported as spending hours and hours just sitting on the childrens laps being stroked and cuddled. The male bunnies passed within a few months of each other and it is being claimed the family then moved and could no longer look after Flo. So she was placd in the care of the rescue centre.
She's broken free from the outside hutch, broke into a neighbours garden and had to then be placed in the puppy kennels at the centre where she's been the last 2 weeks. She was reported to have been spayed but when the rescue centre scanned her (due to her behaviour), they discovered she hadn't been spayed at all. The rescue centre contacted local vets and none have any records. The former family 'thought' they had got her spayed but don't recall when or which vets.
That's the claimed background. So where are we after 4 hours?
She eats healthily enough - she's demolished a handful of select pellets. She likes celery and dried apple. And she has had plenty of drinking out of her bwol of water which is nice and positive. Looking at her, there seems to be a hint perhaps of dutch about her due to the colour seperation but I might be wrong. She seems to have long back legs - dare I say almost hare like, but I could be entirely wrong. I would say she is a young bunny - so the claimed age of 2-3 years would seem about right.
But I'm getting gut twitchy feelings. MAinly due to the fact that she is extremely anxious of hoomans. She's boxed me a couple of times as I introduced my hand slowly towards her. She refuses to allow any touching but she will approach for a sliver of dried apple. She's hacking lumps out of the cardboard boxes so goodness knows what state they will be in by the morning. She has gone through periods of being extremely relaxed and chilled and sploofing so she presents as being comfortable in the area - in fact she has now semi sploofed in front of me about 6 feet away and she is a very long rabbit.
She is investigating everything but I almost feel as if she's trying to work out how to escape? And she's not shown any interest or inquisitiveness in Leo through the glass in the door. Leo, on the other hand, is very nervous.
Now, I'm sure that some of this can be put down to settling in. I've suggested that she's been through a fair bit of upheaval the last 3-4 weeks and by any stretch, this will take an emotional toll. I get that. What I don't get is the complete distrust of hoomans from a rabbit who it is claimed, would spend hours and hours with.
I'm wondering if she has been used for breeding - hence the lack of corroberative evidence to support when and where she had been spayed (which of course she hadn't - and she went into stasis after the spay so you'd sort of know if you'd had your rabbit spayed). And I'm now doubting the absolute willingness to spend hours and hours being stroked by the children. It just doesn't seem to add up.
I'm not suggesting she has been mistreated - her coat looks beautiful (although I can't get near her to check) and she's active, keen to groom, happy to eat and very very relaxed in front of me. I'm talking away to her to make sure she is reassured and gets used to my voice.
You see, Leo was the complete opposite. He was happy to be stroked and would crave hooman interaction from the day we got him. But Flo? She's a complete opposite.
We'll clearly devote as much time and patience and care with her as we can. We're not going to rush anything but I'm nervous I have to be honest. I'm very nervous about the bonding in 5-6 weeks time and nervous about how she feels.
As I say, I think she is a pretty rabbit but golly she has some emotional issues for sure. She's ahppily grooming herself so she's clearly healthy in that respect and physically I can't see any concerns with her. Of course she has no medical history that we can trace - so we're starting from scratch now. She is fully vaccinated and we've got 5 days of panacaur left to administer.
All my bunnies have usually been much more hooman friendly from the outset but Flo here is very much the opposite.
Thoughts anybun?
She's broken free from the outside hutch, broke into a neighbours garden and had to then be placed in the puppy kennels at the centre where she's been the last 2 weeks. She was reported to have been spayed but when the rescue centre scanned her (due to her behaviour), they discovered she hadn't been spayed at all. The rescue centre contacted local vets and none have any records. The former family 'thought' they had got her spayed but don't recall when or which vets.
That's the claimed background. So where are we after 4 hours?
She eats healthily enough - she's demolished a handful of select pellets. She likes celery and dried apple. And she has had plenty of drinking out of her bwol of water which is nice and positive. Looking at her, there seems to be a hint perhaps of dutch about her due to the colour seperation but I might be wrong. She seems to have long back legs - dare I say almost hare like, but I could be entirely wrong. I would say she is a young bunny - so the claimed age of 2-3 years would seem about right.
But I'm getting gut twitchy feelings. MAinly due to the fact that she is extremely anxious of hoomans. She's boxed me a couple of times as I introduced my hand slowly towards her. She refuses to allow any touching but she will approach for a sliver of dried apple. She's hacking lumps out of the cardboard boxes so goodness knows what state they will be in by the morning. She has gone through periods of being extremely relaxed and chilled and sploofing so she presents as being comfortable in the area - in fact she has now semi sploofed in front of me about 6 feet away and she is a very long rabbit.
She is investigating everything but I almost feel as if she's trying to work out how to escape? And she's not shown any interest or inquisitiveness in Leo through the glass in the door. Leo, on the other hand, is very nervous.
Now, I'm sure that some of this can be put down to settling in. I've suggested that she's been through a fair bit of upheaval the last 3-4 weeks and by any stretch, this will take an emotional toll. I get that. What I don't get is the complete distrust of hoomans from a rabbit who it is claimed, would spend hours and hours with.
I'm wondering if she has been used for breeding - hence the lack of corroberative evidence to support when and where she had been spayed (which of course she hadn't - and she went into stasis after the spay so you'd sort of know if you'd had your rabbit spayed). And I'm now doubting the absolute willingness to spend hours and hours being stroked by the children. It just doesn't seem to add up.
I'm not suggesting she has been mistreated - her coat looks beautiful (although I can't get near her to check) and she's active, keen to groom, happy to eat and very very relaxed in front of me. I'm talking away to her to make sure she is reassured and gets used to my voice.
You see, Leo was the complete opposite. He was happy to be stroked and would crave hooman interaction from the day we got him. But Flo? She's a complete opposite.
We'll clearly devote as much time and patience and care with her as we can. We're not going to rush anything but I'm nervous I have to be honest. I'm very nervous about the bonding in 5-6 weeks time and nervous about how she feels.
As I say, I think she is a pretty rabbit but golly she has some emotional issues for sure. She's ahppily grooming herself so she's clearly healthy in that respect and physically I can't see any concerns with her. Of course she has no medical history that we can trace - so we're starting from scratch now. She is fully vaccinated and we've got 5 days of panacaur left to administer.
All my bunnies have usually been much more hooman friendly from the outset but Flo here is very much the opposite.
Thoughts anybun?