'It's my room, not yours'

Hi all,

Months ago we brought one of our buns Blossom inside, as she wasn't doing too well outside.

She's now living in our bedroom and is very clean, so has progressed from a pen to full use of the room. She has lots of toys, a tunnel etc and has pretty much taken over.

Herein lies the problem.. she thinks it's her room!

It's particularly bad at food time. She will charge me from across the room and I've been bitten before. Yesterday was a bad one because I got between her and her food and she sunk her teeth into the palm of my hand :shock:

We can't walk across the room without her chasing us and she will claw at your legs and hang on! My ds is too afraid to walk in there.

If I touch anything of hers or move anything she gets feisty and if I want to clean she has to be shut in a carrier because she freaks out.

She's not spayed as we have decided (with vet advice) that it's not worth putting her through it at her age (she's 6 or 7) and currently lives alone. Although we have thought about bonding her with Spud (who's in the next room) once he's neutered.

Any advice? TIA x

unfortunately I think that is likely your main issue, her not being spayed. she will be extremely territorial, and along with that she might be lonely have no other bunny company. but even so, bonding without spaying would be very difficult and I don't think having company would fix the territorial issue, which is what this is.

if you're 100% against spaying her, then I think your only option might be to put up with it as harsh as that sounds :? perhaps find a room that nobody has go go into if that's possible, or create a large penned area so you & your family are safe.

Luna has always been food territorial, but thats due to previous instances due to being starved. I'm not sure if she is a rescue, but it might be playing into it too. its stupid, but I do think at times rabbits can suffer from PTSD so to speak. I've overcome this with well, working with her. being bitten, showing her food won't be in short supply.

recently on the forum there was suggestions of a hormone implant for a buck who couldn't be neutered, I think due to a heart issue. I'm not sure if it can be the same for does, maybe somebody else can swing by and offer some advice.

I've experienced some territorial behavior like that from an unspayed doe and unneutered buck. I just had to put up with it, move them when I cleaned them out etc. Though I did get my buck neutered eventually and he was never territorial again. My doe I eventually moved back to where she was used to (outdoors with her male friend, instead of free ranging an area of my bedroom without her friend). She was never territorial after that. It was probably a mixture of hormones and stress/fear with her.

I'm not sure if I would agree that it's not worth spaying a 6/7 year old doe. I understand your concerns with it but I think I'd be afraid of health issues from not spaying, especially uterine cancer. My unspayed doe mentioned above (Chloe) died at 6+ and I feel it was possibly from uterine cancer.

Thank you both for responding.

Blossom had her Rhd2 today, so I took the opportunity to have another chat about spaying.

I described how she's been and also this morning when I had to put a towel over her to be able to get her in the carrier. She hid under the bed and was being so aggressive and making sort of growling noises and lunging.

We both feel that it's probably best to get it done, so she'll be having the op next Monday and with my favourite vet. I can't say I'm not worried if it's the right decision, but I can't deny that everything is pointing to it being for the best x

I can understand that you will be worried about her spay. Would it be worth considering having blood tests done prior to the op to ensure as far as possible that she is OK to have a GA? I think this is what I would do. I would definitely be wanting to get her spayed though if I could. I would consider this to be the best decision for her. As William said, there are definitely health risks by not having it done. Also I would imagine that she would feel much happier within herself without the hormones controlling her behaviours.

I will be thinking of you both next Monday.

a brave decision but i feel a good one. She'll have so many RU vibes behind her. I'd opt for spay too xx

Thank you xx