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Fighting females

22 10:57:09

Question
Hi,I have 4 rabbits, 3 females and 1 male, all of which are spayed/neutered. They've been living together happily for the past 5 years, however two nights ago 2 of the females started fighting for no apparent reason. I can't leave them alone together any more as although they're fine together for a while, one will suddenly go for the other one pulling great chunks of fur out. I'm not sure why this has happened or what to do about it, any ideas?

Answer
Hi Lisa,

there are several things to do right away.  Separate the two females from each other, first, so they don't injure each other or the other two rabbits.

From what you have written, it is really not possible to determine why they aren't getting along.  It could have been something building up over time where one finally had it and started responding to something.  It could have been a specific event, such as one of them being removed from the group for awhile (vet visit, surgery, etc) and the one gal wasn't wanting her back, or the one returning wanted to be more dominant than before, etc.  

You should keep them separate for the immediate future because you don't want the stress to brek up the existing duo (or trio if one of the gals is still with the other two).  I'd give them a month break, keep them in separate cages within visual range (a few inches apart would be okay), swap some used litter between the pans daily, and when out exercising separate the offenders by at least one gate (two gates with a few inches gap if they try to bite/fight across a single gate).

After a month you'll need to start re-bonding exercises, but only if they appear to be able to get along okay across gates from each other., and when they are in their separate cages.

Instead of rehashing bonding info, I'd jsut go to the House Rabbit Society web page and at the top of the home page (www.rabbit.org) search on "bonding", "bonded groups", etc to bring up excellent articles on bonding.  The trick is to go slow so that you don't push too fast and fighting occurs.  If fighting occurs you usually have to go back to square 1.  Also you need to know the difference between dominance settling and real fighting.  Fur pulling, chasing, mounting are dominance settling and need to not be interrupted by you; real fighting like growling, ears back, lunging to bite, biting, kicking with back feet, rolling around and tussling, this is fighting that need to be broken up.  It is true you always have to watch the dominance issue behavior because it can turn into fighting (usually when both want to be dominant, or when the submissive one gets annoyed and fights back).

Lee