Becoming Bad

[grandparemington]

My rabbit, Henrietta, was the sweetest little thing when I got her. I got her at 6 months in February and within the past several weeks, her behavior has gotten worse and worse. I had her fixed a month ago, because when she started acting up, I thought that might be my problem.
I believe that she started to ‘become bad’ when my girlfriend stayed here for over a week and brought her two cats, whom Henri charged at. My roommate then got a cat who sometimes comes in my room and Henrietta always charges, despite their spending a lot of time together. Now she is hopping up on all of my stuff and has chewed my ottoman (though, believe me, she has PLENTY of toys). 

I have been away recently, helping my girlfriend move into her new apartment, and I feel bad because I want to see Henri more…but when I do, it is just irritating now. I need to know what to do to stop this behavior.

[Sarita]

It is a compilation of age and most likely the cats in her territory.

Is she free roam in your room? I think you need to keep the cat out of your room too – she feels threatened when the cat is there and it’s her territory.

You have to take the threats out of the room to help stop this behavior. She’s not being bad, she’s just feeling threatened. Also you need to keep a very consistent routine with your rabbit, they like routine, it helps them feel more secure and build trust with you.

[grandparemington]

Yes, she is free to roam in my room and I have always had a routine with her up until recently. I figured it was partly about getting back on track, but I also want to know if there’s anything else I can do (considering she was misbehaving a bit before all of that happened). I have been keeping the cat out of my room because I knew it was making her territorial. Thank you though!! I am open to more advice/comments.

[FrankieFlash]

Is Henrietta spayed? Rabbits hormones have a lot to do with their behavior and if she’s not spayed that could be part of the problem.

[grandparemington]

Yep, she got spayed about a month ago.

[Stickerbunny]

Spaying corrects hormones, but it can take a month (or a little over) for the hormones to then balance out. Throw in the cats to that equation while her hormones are still acting up, you have two very good reasons for a rabbit to be acting up. Females can be very territorial. You could try clicker training with her, to help her get back on her schedule and distract her from the bad behaviors. You can also cover up anything she’s chewing on like your ottoman with something to make it less appealing – I use crinkling loud paper because my buns dislike when they go to chew on something and it makes a loud noise at them.

[Rei]

Your bunny probably still has lots of hormones still left over! Molly had a surge of crazy hormones for nearly 2 months AFTER her spay. She is probably still dealing with that, and those pesky cats lol Get her back to a routine, keep the cats out, and above all, just have patience. I know Molly was driving me seriously crazy right after her spay, but she is finally calmed down now. Just keep telling yourself that it isn’t her fault, and you won’t get angry or loose patience as quickly.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

What exactly is misbehaving?

[Author]

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