Male Rabbit Becoming aggressive

Question
Hello,
I have a rabbit that has recently showed very agressive behavior. he is about seven years old and we think it might be because he is getting older and becomming more agressive. I was wondering how to stop this behavior and why he is acting like he is? Usually when i got to check on him i will be putting food and water in his cage and he will lunge at me growling and scratching me with his front paws i usually just shove him out of the way without hurting him or anything but i cannot keep getting all kinds of scratches on my arms and hands. Do you know how i can stop him from doing this?

Answer
Dear Kelly,

Your bunny appears to be exhibiting what's called "cage aggression".  It's not really aggression so much as defensiveness born of fear.  Has anything changed in his environment lately?  Guests in the house?  A new pet?  Your being too busy to give him the love and attention he needs?  These types of things can trigger emotional insecurity that results in aggression.

There are several excellent articles here on how to deal with aggression in rabbits:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/aggression.html

and

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-1/HRJ4.1_Letters.html

But you will probably also want to have him checked by a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to be sure that there is no medical problem causing him enough pain/stress to act out like this.

I hope this helps get you started.

Dana