# Fighting bunnies



## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

Hi everyone

I have 2 lop eared rabbits, a boy and a girl, both neutered who live together and are very happy. I have another girl rabbit - a giant continental cross lionhead who is not neutered. My intention was to let them all play together, however, when the 2 lops so much as see the giant lionhead they start fighting, so I've never dared put those 2 with her. 

I'm worried that they would all start fighting and it would get out of hand but its no fun having to seperate the garden and take it in turns for them to play out. Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this problem? Should I just put them all together and hope for the best? When the 2 lops fight, the girl lifts her tail and goes low to the ground, she also sometimes sprays the boy. Not sure if its just jelousy? I'm sure they can smell the other rabbit all the time, its literally as soon as they see her they start fighting.

Thanks


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## Paws&Claws (Aug 29, 2009)

I THINK the smell from the unneutered female might be 'upsetting' the other too.

DO NOT put the unneutered rabbit in with the other too, they WILL fight and possibly get injured.

I personally would get the female neutered. Wait about 8 weeks for hormones to calm down and then read up on bonding your 3 rabbits.

My personal experience was similar. I had 1 unneutered female and a male and female neutered which were happily living together. IF the unneutered female got anywhere near the other too, the male would chase the female and visa versa. There would be alot of humping too to show dominance. I got the unneutered female spayed and began bonding and now all three live happily together..  x


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, it's really odd as I thought that as those 2 are spayed/neutered it should stop them getting stressed out about things like that. I think I need to get the lone female spayed but I'm really nervous about doing it as she gets stressed out really easily.


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## Paws&Claws (Aug 29, 2009)

harper_jo said:


> Thanks for the advice, it's really odd as I thought that as those 2 are spayed/neutered it should stop them getting stressed out about things like that. I think I need to get the lone female spayed but I'm really nervous about doing it as she gets stressed out really easily.


Well my 3 are happily bonded so i decided to get another female. It started it all off again but i knew what was going on so the new female has just been neutered and in a few weeks she will be bonded with the other 3 :lol:

Your rabbit will be fine at the vet. Keep everything calm, put a fleecy blanket in the pet carrier or transport box and she will settle. The vet will look after her and she will be home the same day :thumbup: x


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

She does need sorting, she has been building nests so I think her hormones are all over the place. It would be lovely to bond them but I've been putting off getting her spayed because I worry. My friend lost her rabbit when she took it for this procedure and I've been too nervous ever since (


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## Paws&Claws (Aug 29, 2009)

harper_jo said:


> She does need sorting, she has been building nests so I think her hormones are all over the place. It would be lovely to bond them but I've been putting off getting her spayed because I worry. My friend lost her rabbit when she took it for this procedure and I've been too nervous ever since (


Im sorry to hear about your friends bunny, rarely it does happen.
But your rabbit will be fine and the building nests is down to her hormones  x


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## crofty (May 2, 2008)

Oh crikey do not put them together!

First of all you need to get your giantx spayed and let her hormones settle, buns, buns dont just play together you have to bond them properly, they are extremely territorial even when spayed. Your current two will go for eachother, this is called referred aggression because they can smell your other female and are frustrated.

If you want to bond them you need an small completely neutral space, you'd need to supervise them 24/7 for several days and intervene before they fight, they will nip and fur pull thats normal they need to establish a pecking order. Once your female is spayed we can help advise you on how to bond them.


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

It's good to have an explanation for whats been happening, I thought them being territorial was all down to hormones and that neutering would sort this but obviously not. We'll definitly get the giant x sorted and then try to bond them from there. 

My brother had 2 girl rabbits who were sisters from the same litter, they were both spayed and got on really well until he came home one day and they'd literally ripped chunks out of each other, one of their ears was hanging off. He tried to reintroduce them but they started fighting every time so never managed it. Any idea what might have caused this?


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## crofty (May 2, 2008)

harper_jo said:


> It's good to have an explanation for whats been happening, I thought them being territorial was all down to hormones and that neutering would sort this but obviously not. We'll definitly get the giant x sorted and then try to bond them from there.
> 
> My brother had 2 girl rabbits who were sisters from the same litter, they were both spayed and got on really well until he came home one day and they'd literally ripped chunks out of each other, one of their ears was hanging off. He tried to reintroduce them but they started fighting every time so never managed it. Any idea what might have caused this?


How old are they and how long had they been spayed for? Had they been seperated at all? They always need to be re-introduced in a small neutral area and start from scratch, with a figh that bad i would give them at least two weeks to settle down and forget it.


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

They hadn't been seperated at all, think they had been spayed for almost a year. It was odd because there was nothing significant that changed or happened it literally seemed like one day they just turned on each other. And it was scarey because it seemed like neither one was going to back down.


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## crofty (May 2, 2008)

harper_jo said:


> They hadn't been seperated at all, think they had been spayed for almost a year. It was odd because there was nothing significant that changed or happened it literally seemed like one day they just turned on each other. And it was scarey because it seemed like neither one was going to back down.


Have they been checked by a vet? Bunnies will turn on a poorly bun, so can be a sign somethings wrong with one of them. Had anyone touched another rabbit that day? Any smells of other buns can also set them off.


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

They hadn't been checked by a vet and seemed nice and healthy, they were checked after and other then their injuries from fighting they were healthy. No one had touched another bunny, my brother and his family let them out in their run as usual, went out for the day and came back to carnage. There was no little fights beforehand or anything, it just seemed to happen out of the blue. One of the bunnies has passed away now due to other reasons so not thinking about them bonding again, am just curious as to whether anyone has experienced similiar or has an explanation.


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## crofty (May 2, 2008)

harper_jo said:


> They hadn't been checked by a vet and seemed nice and healthy, they were checked after and other then their injuries from fighting they were healthy. No one had touched another bunny, my brother and his family let them out in their run as usual, went out for the day and came back to carnage. There was no little fights beforehand or anything, it just seemed to happen out of the blue. One of the bunnies has passed away now due to other reasons so not thinking about them bonding again, am just curious as to whether anyone has experienced similiar or has an explanation.


Why has one of the buns died now? There is always a reason for them to fight.


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## harper_jo (Oct 10, 2010)

Quite a few months after they were seperated one of them was scared by a dog whwn she was asleep, she jumped up and ran but ran really hard in to her run fence.... it paralysed her back legs (although a vet checked her and said nothing was broken). After a while her back legs were wasting away and she couldn't move so was soiling herself and had no quality of life so my brother had her put to sleep (. She didn't seem ill before this so don't think its linked.


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