Daisy the Grinch... Its not too urgent, but whats wrong?

Question
Hello Dana,

Back last year in April, we got 2, 2 and a half month old "female" bunnies (Daisy and Rose). They lived separate from Lilac, our 3rd female bunny. They lived apart (Lilac being alone, them together) until August 18th, when we discovered Rose should have been named Leonardo... The next day, we discovered 7 baby bunnies in Lilac and Daisy's cage. Daisy was the mother because her bottom was covered in blood. She was 5 months old, Lilac being 9 months. We removed Lilac.

2 days later, with as much knowledge as we could have possibly learned in that time, we discovered Daisy's babies were crying and unfed... one had bleeding nail marks in it done by Daisy. (She was so worried about possessing them, she didn't actually care for them.) So, we took them away and kept them comfortably warm and fed every 2 hours with rich milk for 7 DAYS STRAIGHT. They all died, at almost the end of it Lilac had 5 stillbirths. Lilac, Daisy, and Leonardo have been separated ever since. Daisy is highly possessive about her cage--if ANYTHING enters it, it gets stomped at/on, and bitten. We have to use a long stick to keep her busy while we go into her cage quickly to grab her food bowl to fill it.

Anyhow, we gave her a box one night, with timothy grass in the cage. That was the biggest mistake we have ever made... With it, she pulled out her fur, put timothy grass in with newspaper, and she started nesting. She's a 10 pound bunny in a HUGE cage, with tons of things to do, but she operated around this box. So we took it out, because she wasn't eating or drinking either. We gave it back for just ONE NIGHT a week later; she did the same thing, this time with a bundle of grass and fur in her mouth, just sitting there. We took it out again. She still sits in the middle of the cage with a bundle in her mouth, not eating or drinking. Never in a million years would we breed her again (on purpose, last was an accident)... she's a horrible mother--too possessive, even though she's older. We also couldn't handle it. So, what was she doing? What can I do to help this current problem? She still does it, even with no box. We CANNOT go to the vet... we just had another emergency with mice that had us pay $300. Any ideas? :-|   

Thank you,

Lydia

Answer
Dear Lydia,

Sorry for the delay.  I had meant to put my self on "vacation" on Allexperts, but got the dates wrong.  Busy with advising here at UM!

The last sentence of your email is a problem. Because there is NOTHING you can do to help Daisy except have her spayed as soon as humanly possible.  She is miserable and suffering, and unless you take action and get her to a good vet, this won't stop.  She may even have an unborn baby inside, and is nesting and not eating because of this.

It's actually not normal for a bunny to be covered in blood after a birth, though there may be some blood upon a first birth.  So I have to wonder if all is normal inside poor Daisy.

All three bunnies should be spayed/neutered for their health and sanity.  Please read this:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

There is no magic treatment I can tell you.  Only the truth and reality.  Daisy is hormonal and will continue to have false pregnancies (and possibly real ones, if there's a brief accident, since it takes only seconds for the male to impregnate the female).  She also may be grieving at being separated from her mate.

Having all three bunnies fixed will allow you to gradually and carefully reintroduce them so they can live better together.  But in a bigger space that allows movement and social interaction that's more normal.

Rabbits are social, intelligent and active. They should NOT be kept in a cage that's too small for a nesting box and a rabbit, even if the rabbit is large.  Please visit:

www.rabbit.org/

for the proper information on keeping your bunnies happy and healthy.  You can find an experienced rabbit vet in your area here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps, and you'll do the right thing for Daisy and her companions.

Dana