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Date Posted: 20:30:36 03/21/04 Sun
Author: Lea
Subject: Re: Help! My rabbit is hurting me!
In reply to: Martha 's message, "Help! My rabbit is hurting me!" on 21:21:01 12/10/03 Wed

Hi there ... I'm sad to read the rough time you're having with your bunny ... we've had three Netherland Dwarf bunnies over the past seventeen years, all kept indoors. I think we've learnt quite a bit over the years, so if you're interested, I'll give you a little of our story. Your bunny very much reminds me of our first bunny, from whom we also copped much painful biting. There's several things to always keep in mind with bunny behaviour:
* Obviously bunnies feel all the emotions we feel, fear, vulnerability, as well as happiness and joy, but they feel so intensely, as we can try to imagine, because they don't have any critical thinking to rationalise that they'll be okay in half an hour or such ... this is why they're impulsive too.
* Bunnies feel vulnerable, because they don't have any defences at all, when they're worried about danger, except to be sure of where everything is in their territory, and to run. This is also why bunnies are by necessity such creatures of habit, and like/need routine for security.
* Females tend to be more territorial than males, and to feel the urge to protect their territories more too.
So, your verandah is your bunny's territory (her 'warren') and unfortunately she's seeing you as an intruder. Even when you put your hand in the burrow/cage/hutch to feed her, she feels that you're an intruder, she feels threatened and scared, and so she bites. Our first bunny, Sweetnin, had an entire room to run free 24 hours a day, and we think now that because she was often there by herself, when we tried to go in she saw us as intruders! I've come to realise that we can never force bunnies to do anything, even to pat or groom them, you have to wait until they're sure they want to relax and be patted! You might convince them by stroking them behind their ears (where they can't reach and so love!) when they're relaxing (but obviously this firstly requires them to relax around you, and I'll get to some suggestions on that in a sec). But the minute they want to run off, you can't try to stop them, because then they'll just get resentful (when I say they don't have rationality, I don't mean that bunnies aren't very intelligent and quick-witted, because they are!) And they so much live in the moment, that lack of rationality I mentioned ... which is really endearing, maybe humans should try to live in the moment more instead of worrying about the past and the future! But I digress ... this is quite a long message, but I really do want to make the effort to pass on our experiences ...

Advice on how to treat YOUR bunny right now ... I empathise with how very upsetting it is, really hurts emotionally ... that's exactly how we felt with Sweetnin. The way she runs away when you enter the verandah? Try sitting there for several hours, maybe reading, eating, just relaxing, and seeing how she starts to behave around you after a bit of time ... hopefully she'll be a bit curious and come to see you after a bit of time passes (don't be too still, or she might forget you're there, and you don't want to give her a fright when you get up!) ... move enough so that she's aware of your presence! Talk to her gently and constantly. Also if she begins to associate you with food, that's always a good incentive to know that you're her friend! So take some crunchy carrot or a slice of apple (only small bits if she's only used to grain - don't want to give her diarrhoea - but her stomach will gradually get used to more fibre, especially good for moulting season, and she'll love the variety and taste), our bunnies have always absolutely adored a tiny slice of banana :)
Be patient, give her gentleness, and plenty of your time in her company ... good luck.

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