my rabbit hates me now

[fittiesweetie]

She is 4. 5 months old. She has a respiratory infection. She likes the taste of her oral meds, but I have to hold her down to take it. It is 4 out of 14 days for her twice a day. Now she hates me. She runs and grunts and lunges at me constantly. I know her hormones are kicking in but my vet won’t spay until 6 months. So I have to deal with this for another 6 weeks? She used to have the best loving personality and now she is a grouch. I walk into the room, and she runs at me from afar and bites me. I try to be around her and not bother her and give her some fresh fruit as a treat, but it doesn’t seem to be working as well.

I also have to brush her everyday as her coat is getting so long. She also hates that with a passion. She grunts and bites. Doesn’t matter if it is a slicker brush or a wide tooth comb. It comes near her she freaks out. Sigh. Such an emotional and complex girl.

[lorree]

Oh rabbits are such emotional creatures aren’t they.
My Boonie, who is 4 years old now, has hated me on and off at times during her lifetime. Especially when it comes to giving her medicine.
Currently she hates me again as I’ve been treating her eye infection and she hates me putting stuff in her eyes. She runs away, kicks at me, grunts and ignores me. But you gotta give them their medicine when you got to.
So I try to show her I’m not evil, by just being near her without hassling her, patting her if she let’s me and giving her a treat each day.
Maybe you can try the same.
I think rabbits are more about trust then anything. If you are the person that just comes in to give her medicine and that’s it then she learns to not like you. So you have to show her that you are more than that and keep trying to show her that whilst this medication period is happening

Hopefully once she doesn’t need the medicine anymore, she’ll realize you’re not so bad again and return to her normal self. Thats what happens with Boonie, it’s like she hates me for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden we’re friends again lol

Good luck

[Sarita]

Perhaps she just doesn’t feel good – it’s not hate or grouchiness it’s not feeling well.

[tobyluv]

I once told a vet that I was afraid my rabbit hated me for continuing to force medicine down her throat. The vet said to me that the important thing is to get the rabbit well. She told me that I could always repair the relationship with my rabbit later, if there was a need to do so.

I hope that your bunny’s infection will clear up soon.

[lillian]

I fully agree that getting your bun well is the most important thing!

I know its hard. I have 2 buns, plus I’m currently caring for a friends bun. 2 of them seem to hate me right now (lol!) as my female bun got injured and has to get a foot soaking twice a day (ahhhhh shes like a cat in water!) and my friend’s bun was just fixed and wants to hide and sleep all day. My friends little bunny is slowly getting better but its a slow process! My female is…on and off with love/hating me XD. I also had struggles with tummy troubles with my female, and, all during that, she would fight me, hide from me, box at me, anything to stay away from me. Once she got better, it was like a miracle and she was just the cuddliest bunny ever.

Your bun will likely get better once the treatment is over, just give her plenty of space! Spaying will help some too when she is at that age but I think a lot of it for her is just being upset about treatment!

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