NEED HELP! My bunny is obsessed with me!

[MaryM]

 I have had bunnies in the past and I have worked at a rabbit shelter for 2 years so I have some experience with rabbits. I have never seen anything like my current bunny Audrey before. Audrey is from a shelter and she seems to be a young adult. She was spayed in September. She has a large comfy pen in the house and is free to roam the apartment whenever my boyfriend or I am at home (so usually about 8 hours a day). When she was at the shelter Audrey  was the meanest bunny any one had ever seen. Even the toughest most experienced volunteers were scared of her. I agreed to foster her and when I got her home she immediately changed into a wonderful bunny. every day she became more and more friendly until one day she decided she wanted to hump my arms and legs (which is very painful because she bites you as she goes so you can’t pull away!) she did this for only one night and I pushed her off and put her into her pen. The very next morning she had done a complete 180. She began to bite me through the skin, lunge, growl. She was nice to my boyfriend but she was extremely mean to me. For a month this angry grudge behavior continued. Eventually we had to go home for winter break and gave her to another volunteer for 3 weeks (whose home she was not much nicer at.) When we returned and brought Audrey back into our home she was her old self again! She did 10 minute long binky sessions, she gave kisses, let us hold her, and even ran up to us and jumped on our laps! Eventually though, she began to exhibit the humping behavior again (towards me). I have not punished her because I do not want her to become an angry bunny again. Currently she does all her good behavior but on top of that she:

follows me everywhere,

cries, poops, and sprints back and forth if she can see me but cannot access me,

licks me and pushes onto my lap constantly,

does these weird nibble things that feel like rough grooming.

humps my arms

is in a constant state of anxiety, demanding attention unless I am holding/cuddling her

They don’t sound like a big deal but they bug me a little because she does them all CONSTANTLY which makes it hard to do anything else. However, what brings me here today is that she has also picked up a fur pulling habit !! We noticed fur in the cage when we had left town for a day. It was a lot so I knew she yanked it out. I gave her more toys to try to solve the problem. Then last night I was lying on the carpet doing homework (I can’t do it any where else or else she does the cry/sprint/poop routine) she was trying  to get my attention (sprinting around me in circles, jumping on me, licking, etc) and I had been petting her but I was trying to finish a problem to I ignored her for all of 2 minutes (no more i swear!) and she got frustrated and pulled fur out of her chest right then and there!!!!!! It was terrible and frightening! I immediately picked her up and soothed her and she seemed to be ok. I gave her even more toys last night b/c i was worried she would get bored and do it more. Today I was in class for a few hours and when I came back i found MORE fur in her cage.It wasn’t in a nest or anything. It was in clumps about the cage. . I don’t know what to do. She is not an attention starved bunny. She is constantly out and is ALWAYS with me ( I’m lying on the floor with her even now!) She spends the majority of her day being pet and talked to. I don’t understand. Please help! 

[LizzieKnittyBun]

That is crazy… all of this behavior strongly suggests an unspayed female, especially the hair-pulling. Are you absolutely sure she was spayed?

[Beka27]

It does sound like she is unspayed. Can you contact the doctor she went to make sure it was done and it was a complete removal of uterus AND ovaries? I have heard of vets JUST removing the uterus, but you want a complete spay or else the hormonal behaviors won’t be eliminated, only the risk of pregnancy.

I was also thinking, and I’ve never heard of this, but can rabbits get a form of separation anxiety like dogs can? My buns couldn’t give a hoot for me (lol) but I wonder if that’s possible.

[FluffyBunny]

I agree with Beka – you should call to make sure that all of her reproductive organs were removed when she was spayed.

Is there any possibility that you could bond her to another rabbit (or, at least, another animal)? One of my rabbits used to be almost overwhelmingly clingy and affectionate. As soon as he was bonded to my other rabbit, he got a lot calmer. He was never a fur-puller, though, and he never humped me.

[Beka27]

Very good idea about possibly bonding… that just might work, if you wanted a second rabbit.

[MaryM]

Thanks for the advice! It is shelter policy to spay/neuter as soon as we receive a rabbit. The first time she displayed the humping behavior,I called the woman in charge of the vet records and she said that the records indicate Audrey was spayed. Of course this doesn’t 100% prove she was spayed. I’m sure accidents happen. I never heard of vets only removing the uterus. I will deff check up on that! I was thinking a second rabbit may help but there is yet ANOTHER funky thing Audrey does that makes me hesitant. When I come home from working at the animal shelter, she goes insane sniffing me. She climbs all over me making little noises, thumping, and pooping. I took it as a sign that she was distressed by my “infidelity”. Do you think maybe she is actually expressing excitement/happiness about the smell of other bunnies?

I have an UPDATE for you guys as well!
My boyfriend decided this morning to just leave the fur in her cage and actually gave her extra hay outside her litter box to see what she would do with it. She promptly started making a nest. Looks like I may have a false pregnancy on my hands. However, She is still very friendly towards me and I kinda felt around her belly. She doesn’t feel like she is carrying anything in there. Also, she doesn’t really even have a dulap so she has started pulling fur from her back. I am kind of worried though because it was almost exactly a month since she has been at the other volunteer’s house for winter break. They have lots of other bunnies (all shelters so presumably neuteres/spayed) could just smelling a male or seeing one make her think she is pregnant? And in case she actually is going to have babies, what should I do if I wake up to babies this week? Should I alter her food or shelter in any way? Do I need to look out for anything?

[MaryM]

Another question…Does a pregnant bunny socialize/leave the nest? While at class, Matt (BF) let me know about the nest and said Audrey did not want to be disturbed and was consumed with her baby task. I came home and she immediately stopped with the nest. Completely forgot about it. She is out of her pen and is just flopped over next to me right now as if nothing is going on. It seems as though the nest is something she does when we cant hang out. Give me hope! Please tell me this is atypical for a bunny who is actually pregnant!

[Michelle&Lolli]

I would try getting her a plushie and see how that goes. If she has something to keep her company, she might calm down. I’m just thinking it may be easier for you than adopting another rabbit and trying to bond them.

[Isabelle]

I was told by my vet that vets tattoo (at least for females) the lower belly with their initials if the bunny has been spayed to signal any other vets or adoption places that the rabbit was spayed, so they don’t go in and try to spay again and put the bunny through that and find the job has already been done. Is it possible for you to hold her in such a way where you could perhaps search for any tattoo markings? That might help.

Some of that behavior, like the humping, seems to be dominant behavior. Whenever Dutchess tries to growl or bat at me, I grab her and flip her upside down and hold her until she calms down/’submits’ to me. She could be trying to dominte you, telling you that she is top bun of the house and it’s her way or the highway.

[RabbitPam]

I think she needs to be checked by a different vet. First, you need to confirm that a full and successful spay was done. She couldn’t be pregnant if it was, but everything points to her not having had a good procedure. A false pregnancy tends to be when a bunny is hormonal and not spayed, and if she hadn’t been properly done, then if the pregnancy is real from the other bunnies than you have a different set of problems. I think a thorough exam would make that determination.

But on occasion a bunny has a behavioral problem. It might be helped with a plushie companion. You could also try clicker training, but with her issues that will be a slow process. Might ultimately work, though.

[Beka27]

After a thorough health check and finding out for sure that it was a complete spay, I would consider bunny dating, if you’d be open to getting another rabbit. She sniffs you when you get home because you smell like strange rabbits. I have no doubt that you’d still have to go thru a full bonding process with her and another bunny, but hopefully, within a couple weeks or so, they should be good. Obviously, keep us posted on how long this behavior continues. I don’t know if I recall seeing anything on spayed buns having false pregnancies, altho I’m sure fur-pulling could be a psychological “nervous tick”.

[jerseygirl]

Audrey is one complex bunny!

I just want to clarify, she is your foster bunny or you have now adopted her?

I agree with the other posters ^^ it appears like she’s having a false pregnancy typical of an unspayed Does. Maybe a blood panel can reveal some hormone levels? Also a check of her adrenal gland.
She does seem to “swing” in mood and behaviour a lot.

If it turns out her behaviour are not due to hormones then it’s going to be more tricky!
Do you know much about her history before she came to the shelter?

I have heard of fur pulling as a displacement behaviour when suffering from something else. Some of her other unwanted behaviours could even be displacement behaviours.
For example, I have heard of mange causing aggression (due to discomfort) but not showing the other visible symptoms. Another scenario is the site owners rabbit Jack. He was behaving like an intact male when she introduced a new rabbit. Somewhat expected but this was over the top behaviour. It turned out he had a bladder stone and they think some of his behaviour was due to this.

[MaryM]

Thanks for the additional info! Starting from the top of the responses:
1. We got her a toy plushie bunny friend this weekend. She put it in her nest. She hasn’t played with it or anything.
2. She has been spayed. I will check if it was a full/partial spay and report back
3. Last time she exhibited this behavior we immediately addressed it by following advice online about how to act dominant. It resulted in a month long grudge fest and extreme aggression.
4. We originally thought it was a tic until she started to organize the fur. At this point we think it is a false pregnancy. She has been collecting soft materials (her plushie, her own fur, bundles of hay, pieces of my blankets..) and putting them into this little hut in a pile. However, she only behaves this way when she gets frustrated with us. So it does seem to be more emotionally driven rather than hormonally driven.
5. Audrey is a foster. However, we are thinking we may end up adopting if we cannot find her a forever home in 4 months. Vet visits can be a little complicated since we are on the shelter’s budget. No one wants needless vet bills in this economy. Our shelter follows a “better safe than sorry” policy however, so we probably could get her an appointment for blood work etc.

Does anyone have experience with false pregnancy? when should I remove her nest? We know its not needed but we don’t want to upset her by removing it. She has her plushie toy baby rabbit sitting in there with her but no real babies. It’s so sad. poor little Audrey.

[jerseygirl]

For intact females I think it just has to run it’s course. I suppose when she starts to show disinterest in the nest it would be ok time to remove it.

With partial spay, I have heard this sort of thing could occur if just a small amount of ovarian tissue was left. If that was the case and her spay not being that long ago, I’m not really sure this would be the resulting behaviour. ????

[FJL]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I’m getting almost exactly the same thing.

We had a house full of rescued guinea pigs for many years, plus various other small furries – but the rabbit is new (just so you know where I’m coming from). It was an accidental rescue rabbit. You probably know the score there – I was walking past and she perked up when I went near and said “take me home”. We have no idea of her age but I’d guess three to seven. She was a bit thin when we got her, which made her look elderly, but she’s filling out now. All we know is that she was abandoned. The vets at the shelter say she was neutered (policy) and say she’s female (or was). I’m not expert on rabbits, so I’m taking their word for it.

Anyway, the first day she acted nervous, and spent the evening snuggling on the sofa. For the next two weeks she was clearly territorial. The in the third week she became very friendly, bouncing on the the sofa and trying to lick me (in particular) to death before settling down for a long snuggle. I could live with that.

Then the fourth week she went back to her cantankerous self. I’m not sure why; it could be associating being picked up with being put back in to her pen, so I stopped. Now she’s back to week three behaviour, but with a vengeance! When I go in to the room (which she never leaves, even with the door open) she’ll rush up and circle, or if I get to a chair first she’ll take a flying leap on to my lap. Then she’ll start licking, and then try to climb up my arm, with front paws flailing away, and nip my arm quite hard – just short of drawing blood but it hurts. My arms are now scratched and very sore. She only does this with me, not the ladies in the house – although she’s friendly and licks them.

I’m not in rush to get a second rabbit.She’s very territorial, and may be too old and cranky for company. We had a few guinea-pigs like this – they loved human company but never got on with other GPs. The females were worst in this respect.

If I know anything about furries, the body language of the beast is happy and relaxed, and secure. This is currently one contented bunny, and I don’t want to spoil that.

This is very suggestive of male behaviour, but I understand that female rabbits can mount to show dominance too. If she was originally male, I can’t find anything left. I don’t read this as aggressive in any way – it’s comes across very much as a bonding thing, and I’m flattered (but badly scratched). When I calm her down (by pressing on her back sho she can’t climb) she settles down for a snuggle and clicks her teeth happily.

Short of getting a leather jacket (against my principles anyway) or spraying myself with bittrex, what can I do about the scratching and nipping? At this rate I’ll end up with arms suggestive of a junkie!

[Author]

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