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rabbit habits

22 10:27:10

Question
Hi we are the proud owners of a new (we think) dwarf rabbit but never having owned a pet before I am an anxious mother. She has a beautiful outside cage and she comes into a smaller cage at night inside the house. Occasionally as she wakes up in the morning she jumps on a very expensive lounge and wees and poos everywhere can you tell a rabbit off does it understand the tone of my voice? She also does not come to us much yet she has free rein of house but sticks to one back area only which i am pleased about.She has bitten us also a few times how do we deal with this??She has a box full of hay and newspaper that we assume she thinks is her litter box is this the correct way to do it? Lots of questions but we are a bit frustrated with any answers from the pet shop as they do not seem to know correct answers?? Thanks for your help all the way from Australia.

Answer
Dear Donna,

The first step to help improve her litterbox habits and aggression is to have her spayed.  Not only will this calm her, but it will remove her very high risk of uterine cancer:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

You should be able to find a good rabbit vet (though they're more scarce Down Under) with the list linked here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Once she's had a chance to heal and calm down, you can begin the training in ernest with the tips here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/training.html

In the meantime, you also can start to address her aggression with the information and tips here:

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

Since you're a first-time bunny parent, please also be sure to read House Rabbits 101:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/new-bunny-index.html

I hope this will get you on the road to a long, happy relationship with your new pal.  Good luck!

Dana