V. Frightened bunny

Question
Hey Katie
My neighbour's young daughter got bored with her female rabbit and having lost my male rabbit last year this bunny came to live with me. She is extremely nervous though. When i attempt to pick her up she thrashes, if i stroke her she immediately moves away. I've tried covering her eyes to try to calm her down, but it seems to make her even worse. She won't take food from me either and if i invade her space too much she makes a whining noise. She's clearly terrified of people, and i think my young neighbour may have mis handled her. Dixie lives in a two tiered hutch wiv a run for day times and is about 2 years old. Any ideas about getting her to trust me? i think my bumbled attempts are just makin her worse.At the moment if i need to move her she hops into a bucket wich i then carry..its not ideal and i'd love to handle her Any advice wud be appreciated! thanks  

Answer
Hi Charlotte,

At 2 years old she needs to be spayed. This will calm her down and will hopefully enable you to handle and stroke her. This also rules out the very high risk of uterine cancer. This is the very best thing you can do, aswell as that try to spend as much time as possible with her. Sit next to her and dont try to touch her, just let her sniff you, she'll hopefully realise that you are not a threat. Then you can gradually begin to stroke her whilst sitting with her. Never rush as it will only make things go slower. Another thing that has proven successful is to wear a plain cotton t shirt for a day, then leave it in her cage. This will get her used to your scent. http://www.beal-net.com/chandra/rabbits.html this lady has written a book on massage for your rabbit. This has been a great success with bunnies who hated to be touched. The results were a dramatic change in the rabbits behaviour. One last thing you can try if  everything fails is rabbit telepathy. This may sound strange and very weird! But I have witnessed this work, and know other people who it has also worked for. For more information on this e-mail lorna.field@virgin.net, she is in touch with a very gifted man who will help you.

Hope this helps! Let me know if it goes well

Katie