Traumatized Rabbit after recovery

Question
Hello,

I have several house rabbits (all fixed), and recently one had an accident.  A relative pushed back (or set down) a chair without looking, catching the tail of my fuzzy lop, Gouda, underneath.  I heard her scream and ran to her.  Her tail was degloved, and I promptly took her to a rabbit-savvy vet.  Given the injury, he advocated amputation of what remained of the tail, which we agreed to.  She's recovered physically, and is eating, drinking, and eliminating normally.  She is still sweet and gentle towards me.  But her personality has changed.  However, whenever someone (especially a man) comes near, she screams, falls over on her side and kicks her legs.  She also has bit some of my other rabbits, to whom she was bonded to (she bit, and than chased one of my N.D.s to the point he was screaming before we could intervene).  We've separated her, but feel terrible and I'm hoping there is something we could do to help her out (I've tried Bach's with no success this time).  

Answer
Dear J,

Wow.  That's about the strangest post-traumatic reaction I've ever heard of in a rabbit.  And I'm not really sure how one would deal with this, since it's so very unusual.  Please read the tips here, for ideas on how to deal with the aggression:

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

I have to wonder if she has residual pain.  But a de-gloving shouldn't be *that* bad:  we've had a couple of bunnies suffer this (at the teeth of other rabbits!), and no one ever had a personality change.

There's also the chance that this has nothing to do with her injury, and that she has another condition causing her enough pain/stress to elicit aggression and fear like this.  An abscess?  Molar spurs or other dental problem (very common in lops!)?  Itchy mites?  A foreign body stuck in a foot or other delicate area (scent gland pockets)?  In many cases, there is a medical reason for such behavioral changes, and you'll need the help of a good rabbit vet who can do a complete check of *all* systems to find out if the de-gloving is just a Red Herring.

You can find a rabbit-savvy vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps, and that your poor, traumatized girl will find relief with time and treatment.

Good luck,

Dana