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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Caring for a difficult bunny?

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    • Debby
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        My bunny is about 2 years old, I got him a few months ago. He used to live alone in a hutch. He’s a cryptorchid, if this all may be info you might want to know. I litter trained him (he isn’t neutered but doesn’t act like a non-neutered bunny at all!) and he lives in a cage inside now, (living world xl) but roams my room under supervision, and even though the door is always open he doesn’t go really far….he is also difficult to hold (I have held him to get him out of the cage when he never came out, which got him used to my room, but he seemed easier to pick up then even though it was still difficult, now I can pretty much never pick him up..) and groom, because when I try to pick him up he will just run away, or when I groom him, he won’t let me hold him, so the most I can do is pet him a bit in the cage until he gets relaxed and lies down, and then only brush his back. It’s also essential now since he seems to be shedding, not too much though, because he is a short haired bunny.

        But I have tried everything (other than trying to trance him because apparently that is too risky?) to try and get his nails trimmed and nothing has worked, but my local vet costs $26.50 to get the nails trimmed which based on my research, is pretty expensive for a nail trim, especially since it would be monthly. (they also don’t have the best reviews online, and cost $600 for a bunny neuter!) so…what do I do at this point? I got my bunny in November, the 15th I believe, so I’ve had him like 3 months without being able to trim his nails despite attempts…are there options that work for really difficult bunnies? Would getting him neutered also possibly make him more calm so I could pick him up with more ease, only when necessary of course? I can also barely get him in a travel carrier for starters, I can put some food in there but when I try to close it, he runs out before I can even get a chance to zip it up…I also want to be able to hold him with ease so I can move him to other parts of the house so he can have a bigger area to run/roam around, but I can barely even get him to stay still to even try a bunny burrito on him…


      • MissGabbster
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          I had to go check to see if you’d stolen Ox. I have a lot of the same problems with him. I don’t really have any tips for you. The biggest one I can think of is limit his space when you want to brush him and be prepared to give him lots of pets and treats to make it more bearable. Luckily your bun has short hair so at least you don’t have to worry much about matting.

          Are there no other vets you could go to?


        • LBJ10
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            I’m curious. How do you know he’s a boy with undescended testicles? Did a vet confirm this? The reason I bring it up is because there have been numerous cases of misgendered rabbits on the forum.

            As for the picking up part, most bunnies do not like to be picked up. It’s just a fact of life. Spaying/neutering really has nothing to do with it. Some people have come up with creative ways to groom without picking their bunnies up. Others just pick them up and their bunny simply doesn’t like it. I will pick mine up to groom them. They don’t like it, but it’s the only way to get them to hold still. They do get treats afterwards though, so no matter how angry they are they know a treat is coming.


          • Debby
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              I am still searching for vets, I actually just found one 12 minutes away that treats rabbit and has a 5 star rating on Google, I just emailed them asking about the cost for a nail trim and neuter, just in case I rethink getting him neutered.

              His previous owner said he is, but I’ve never flipped him upside down to see his testicles. I was thinking their stomachs would need grooming also but I guess not. Lucky my bunny is able to take care of most of his grooming so I just brush him occasionally, but like I said, its most essential now that he is shedding! And yeah, I know they won’t like being picked up in general but I was hoping to find a solution to picking him up when necessary, since he is a really shy bunny and doesn’t get used to new locations unless I take him to them. He stayed in his cage for the first whole month I got him, until I started picking him up to carry him out.


            • Megabunny
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                Good point LBJ. I’m wondering about that now, too, since you pointed it out, that it may be a female.
                Debby where the *bleep* do you live??? That’s INSANELY expensive on all counts…and I thought MY vet was $$$!!! I go to an exotics only vet in a very wealthy area (I travel there, I don’t LIVE there ha ha) and he charges, I think, $17 for nails, which I freaked out at (in my head) because I didn’t ask him to do them, he just did and I couldn’t bring myself to say “STOP! I can do that!”
                Rabbits don’t necessarily have to have their nails clipped on a monthly basis. Depends on the bunny… and the owner (ahem…me)
                I would think it’s worth it even if you can find a good vet within 30-40 min. but that’s just me. Hopefully your bunny will come to love and appreciate you, but some take a very long time, especially if they’ve been ignored a lot before you get them. Also, if it is a female, I THINK spaying might help, but I can’t say that with any certainty, as I normally get males.
                If you can put him up off the floor on a table, he might get just nervous enough to let you groom him up there, but careful, obviously, that he/she can’t go flying off.
                This probably doesn’t help a bit. A lot of rabbits are a work in progress and just need you to figure out a way to be their slave and keep them happiest, as they aren’t likely to change to make YOU happy 🙂 But treats and patience and spaying if it’s a girl could be helpful. Oh, also, was the $600 to neuter a chryptorchid? That would make a bit more sense, though I still cannot get over the nail charge, though I think Jack Rabbit was paying $20 at one point. Yikes!!


              • Debby
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                  In New York (not in the city though!) practically all the reviews say they’re generally overpriced though, and I live in like a middle class area! Definitely not upper middle class! No, that price for neutering was what they told me through email without my mentioning of him being a cryptorchid.


                • JackRabbit
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                    My vet charges $22 per bunny to trim nails, meaning $66 for me! One of their vet techs does bunny sitting and will do house calls on the side for nails — $15 total to come to my house and do all three buns. Never hurts to ask.


                  • Beka27
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                      Since this is a new bunny and his health history isn’t sure, he should be examined by an exotics vet, whether or not you choose to neuter. Hopefully this vet you found is good and you can get him in there for a baseline exam.


                    • Megabunny
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                        I’m originally from near Rochester NY up until 6 months ago. I don’t know what the exotic vet there charged. He wasn’t taking any more patients and I just went with my local one at the time. They were fine for normal things and neutered Gus for probably under $100. Glad I have an exotic vet here now for his ear problems, though


                      • Paradigm
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                          Woah, is animal healthcare also vastly inflated in the USA?

                          I paid £6.50 to have his nails clipped. He got a voucher for his vaccinations and neutering but those would have been £14 and £40 respectively. 0.o

                          Anyway, it might not be the most pleasant thing to do but I do trance Mr Roger for nail clipping. He recovers pretty quickly, about as fast as from the Hoover.

                          He’s overdue a clip now, but my wife is too busy to help and he’s difficult to do alone.


                        • Debby
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                            Maybe I should trance my bunny, even picking him up can be difficult but I need to figure out a way to get this done…His nails are just terribly long now and I know it may also make him uncomfortable :/ His flooring in his cage is blankets and towels and he is outside of the cage on carpet a lot, so he at least has traction and a cushion for his feet, so no sore hocks or anything,


                          • JackRabbit
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                              I agree with Beka on the health exam. Since his nails are long, it might be a good idea to let the vet trim them, at least the first time.

                              Here’s a video of a vet tech picking up a bunny. When our tech trims our bunnies’ nails, she has me hold the bunny the way the person on the video is holding the bunny — one hand holding the front end (except one of the bunny’s arms is between my first two fingers and my thump is supporting the other arm), and other hand is supporting the bunny’s rear and holding the bunny’s back feet. Bunny’s back is, against my chest.

                              http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jdt0XKNlfRY


                            • Debby
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                                I try holding my bunny like that but he is always struggling out of my grip which makes i extremely difficult. I have probably tried ever position possible and seen like every video on how to pick bunnies up, but mine just isn’t cooperative and the bunnies in the videos are nothing like mine. :/ Bu you’re probably right on that I probably should see a vet first if possible. Then again, he would naturally be more calm at vet since he would be scared/stressed from the travel anyway.


                              • LBJ10
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                                  Nothing like a trip to the vet to make even the brattiest buns turn into complete angels and then the vet thinks you’re crazy when you say you can’t hold onto them at home.


                                • Debby
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                                    This is what makes me question, why even go to a vet to “see how they hold your bunny” when they are only calm from the stress of the car ride and new location? It makes me feel like there is really no point in just going ‘at least once’ when his behavior won’t change in terms of finding a way to get him to struggle less when it comes to trying to find ways to trim his nails and just groom him overall. But I guess I will have to make vet trips for nail trims a bimonthly occurrence if absolutely eeeverything fails me.


                                  • JackRabbit
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                                      My bunnies struggle at the vet, although not quite as much as at home. Our vet warns the techs that Marlee will jump right off the table or out of their arms no matter the height, and even calls her “wild woman”. It helped me to be shown at their office — once you actually do it (and not just see it), you have more confidence. I’m not saying it’s suddenly easy, but it helped. My bunnies still don’t want to be picked up and they hate nail trims, but they don’t hold grudges for a long time afterward like they used to!


                                    • tophdade
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                                        Posted By Debby on 2/07/2015 3:24 PM

                                        My bunny is about 2 years old, I got him a few months ago. He used to live alone in a hutch. He’s a cryptorchid, if this all may be info you might want to know. I litter trained him (he isn’t neutered but doesn’t act like a non-neutered bunny at all!) and he lives in a cage inside now, (living world xl) but roams my room under supervision, and even though the door is always open he doesn’t go really far….he is also difficult to hold (I have held him to get him out of the cage when he never came out, which got him used to my room, but he seemed easier to pick up then even though it was still difficult, now I can pretty much never pick him up..) and groom, because when I try to pick him up he will just run away, or when I groom him, he won’t let me hold him, so the most I can do is pet him a bit in the cage until he gets relaxed and lies down, and then only brush his back. It’s also essential now since he seems to be shedding, not too much though, because he is a short haired bunny.

                                        But I have tried everything (other than trying to trance him because apparently that is too risky?) to try and get his nails trimmed and nothing has worked, but my local vet costs $26.50 to get the nails trimmed which based on my research, is pretty expensive for a nail trim, especially since it would be monthly. (they also don’t have the best reviews online, and cost $600 for a bunny neuter!) so…what do I do at this point? I got my bunny in November, the 15th I believe, so I’ve had him like 3 months without being able to trim his nails despite attempts…are there options that work for really difficult bunnies? Would getting him neutered also possibly make him more calm so I could pick him up with more ease, only when necessary of course? I can also barely get him in a travel carrier for starters, I can put some food in there but when I try to close it, he runs out before I can even get a chance to zip it up…I also want to be able to hold him with ease so I can move him to other parts of the house so he can have a bigger area to run/roam around, but I can barely even get him to stay still to even try a bunny burrito on him…

                                        I have a girl like your bun. For the shedding, she gets a fleece blanket that we wash once or twice a week. Basically a hair magnet. A lot of petting, sometimes with damp hands. These two things get most of her fur. Brushing is really ineffective, she’s too skittish. I’ve often expressed that nail clipping isn’t a big deal, especially if he has solid ground to run on. My girls have a very coarse wooden floor I’m their play area. Their nails are never sharp, and we check them all the time for any irritation, splits or damage. I think a lot of people just find them painful for a house bun to have. Others please chime in though. Holding has to be practiced daily. Usually takes a ton of attention right before a lift just to get a second. Keep practicing and make sure you’re close to the ground before he’s comfortable.


                                      • Debby
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                                          Thanks for this, I do need to practice holding him more, and for the most part, he lets me pick up his front paws like half the time, but as soon as my hand is under his stomach/front side and he feels my other hand on his butt area, it’s like he knows I’m about to pick him up and he flees out of my grip. Anyone have tips or videos & links on getting him used to me trying to pick him up? I got a clicker, maybe I’ll try click training for touching his butt area and giving him carrot pieces whenever he stays still as I touch his butt, because he always gets really sensitive there (like when trying to brush him, he moves when I get to the butt area but doesn’t mind be brushing his back.)

                                          By the way, my bunny has a fleece blanket lined cage and it’s covered in fur already so I guess that’s already helping, also the fur comes loose when I pet him, I guess I should try petting him til as much fur as possible comes lose when he is in the cage.


                                        • LBJ10
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                                            Slow doesn’t work with Leopold. I basically just have to grab him. LOL It helps that he can’t hear me coming, so I always try to approach from behind or while he’s distracted.


                                          • JackRabbit
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                                              I know this sounds weird, but the easiest way for me to pick my lops up is like a ball of bread dough — a hand on either side and finger tips underneath at the edge of their feet. I can lift them out of the litterbox or off the floor and get them onto my lap or in the carrier this way with no struggle. The struggle comes before I get my hands on them and once their feet touch my lap and I start to rearrange my hands to hold under the chest and rear/feet. They seem perfectly content as long as they are bread dough loaves!


                                            • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                                                Jackrabbit that’s exactly how I do it! They are almost standing on my hands-and very comfortable with it! When I put my hands down to pick them up they almost step up onto them like a bird would!


                                              • Toni
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                                                  I wish I lived near you, I’d come right over and teach that bunny-boy some manners! lol. Seriously…. I’ve gotten to a point after having held dozens and dozens of rabbits at this point that NO bunny can outsmart/out-rabbitude me when I hold them now. I’ve figured out the magical bunny hold for even the most stubborn and difficult bunnies. And believe me, I’ve dealt with some very stubborn and difficult bunnies.

                                                  My first option is always using a bunny burrito (wrapping bunny up like a tightly swaddled baby…adjusting the wrap to expose 1 paw at a time), but only so many buns will tolerate the wrap and not flail/kick until they loosen/break free. If you can’t bunny burrito, try the below.

                                                  First – you need to have confidence in yourself. Yes…. you CAN hold that rabbit….. no matter how much he’s trying boss you around and call the shots….. you have to realize that you are a. bigger b. stronger c. smarter …..and most importantly…..d. have the use of opposable thumbs. So – recognize that you are superior to him when it comes to calling the shots of whether you can hold him or not.

                                                  I’m going to give you some tips that might help you. First – before doing this, wear a big, thick, fluffy long sleeved fleece or thick sweatshirt. This thick layer will buffer you from sharp nails and biting teeth. I’ve been bitten dozens of times during medication administration, and rarely has the bite gotten to skin… if they plan to bite, they are usually satisfied with biting the sweatshirt and you can ignore them with the task at hand while they busy themselves with carrying out their protests.

                                                  My favorite difficult bunny-hold for nail trimming is what I call the opposing feet-flail. It allows complete control over the body with access to all 4 feet. It is likely he WILL kick/flail/do an impression of a bunny trying to fly. As long as you keep confidence and good strong hold, he won’t hurt himself and will eventually tire and rest. If you keep doing this regularly – he will get used to it and will know what to expect. I’m not saying he will ever like it… but with consistency, rabbits are SMART and learn to adapt/accept. This hold will place his back directly against your stomach/chest (his shoulders at your chest, bum at your belly). Sit down so you have a lap to rest your arm on if you need it. Do this in a room of your house he is not familiar with – this way, he’s not in a big giant rush to jump down and go hide and is slightly distracted with wondering where the heck he is. Your right hand will be up/across his chest/front leg area as this area is where you will need to maintain the most control (I guess you would reverse the hands in this if you are a lefty)….. left hand will cup/grip the bottom of his bum. Hold your elbows back so your arms/hands are out of the nail-scratching zone. When/if he flails, let him. If his bottom starts to turn sideways where he might get a foothold, don’t be afraid to grip his bum and turn his bum so it stays straight. DON’T be afraid to hold GOOD, FIRM pressure on him … it is what will keep him from taking off and hurting himself. With this hold, you should be able to keep him pointed straight-forward without any give….. keeping him from being able to get a foot-hold into anything, but keeping your fingers/arms out of harms way. You can DO this!

                                                  If you want to practice this hold a few times and get really confident/good at it BEFORE attempting to trim his nails… then that’s a good way to build confidence. Snack him after a successful session with him, after you put him down.

                                                  I suggest that you get 2 other people to help you, if that will be easy to do. At least one other if so.

                                                  Once you have a confident hold on him, he is secure and stops struggling – give him a small bit of his favorite treat. He may take it and it might calm him a bit. Some rabbits are so mad/angry at being restrained, they won’t take the food. Let’s hope he’s not the kind to hold a grudge. Have another person then trim the nails as you maintain your hold. White nails are easy to trim…. you can see exactly where the quick is and you want to trim in front of that. If you can get some nail quick-stop, that is security as they do sometimes kick while trimming and you might nick the quick. They bleed like crazy if you do – it looks traumatic but don’t worry – never seen a rabbit bleed to death from a nail break – it just takes a long time for it to close up and it bleeds a lot – but it’s not that big a deal. Quick stop will stop the bleeding immediately – it’s security just in case. Now, if your bun has black/dark nails – this is harder! I found that I get a really strong (LED works awesome) small flashlight. We hold the paw out and put the flashlight right beneath the nail. It illuminates the nail and shows you exactly where the quick is and allows you to cut in the right place. Moistening the nail slightly makes the light work even better.

                                                  So – you have to use patience as there will possibly be intervals of him kicking and thrashing in-between each nail trimmed (it’s ok! let him tire himself out and take out his frustration.. as long as you continue to maintain control) – but be patient and you will get it done. So… 1 person to hold him…. 1 person to flashlight and trim nails (third person to continuously snack him small bits of treat to distract him if he’s willing to eat. person number two can do this if 3 aren’t available).

                                                  If you can do this successfully – I guarantee he will get used to it and it will get easier over time. They really do learn fast. My 9 year old was a REAL handful when she was young…… now, I can do it all alone and she will just sit in my lap and let me trim them myself (and she HATES to be picked up). She knows she’s getting banana after, she’s huffy when I’m doing it, but she puts up with it as she knows there’s a reward at the end.

                                                  It’s important you learn to hold him in a safe manner no matter what. If anything (god forbid) happens to him where he’s hurt or needs medication… you’ll need to be able to hold him to treat him properly…. and you don’t want to lose control over your hold on him if he is injured or needs some sort of help or meds. If you learn this or some method that works for you….. then you are ahead of the game if anything does ever come up that he needs to be held.

                                                  Good Luck!!!!! I have a pic of the hold, but I can’t connect to my server to upload it right now. Will try again later.


                                                • Debby
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                                                    I haven’t really been on binkybunny lately but am still having issues trying to hold him no matter what, and I think this is what will be the most successful thing for me to try, thank you for putting the time into writing it all out for me! If you have a picture of the holding or a video that demonstrates it the same way you do it on youtube, I’d love to see the example. Thanks! 


                                                  • Beka27
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                                                      If I’m understanding Toni’s explanation correctly, that’s how I trim nails. I hold her with my left hand under her arms/across her ribs so she is upright and trim with my right hand.


                                                    • Debby
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                                                        I think I understand how you do it through the description, but how would you do the feet this way?


                                                      • Deleted User
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                                                          I just watched the video (thanks JR!) and that is how I have always picked Henry up – if I can catch him……. Lol!

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                                                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Caring for a difficult bunny?