Back to square one?

[indianavex]

Hey RO, I've posted a couple times usually asking for relatively simple advice on behavior and stuff. This time is a little less... happy.

I'm a young adult often thrown into temporary housing situations. As it stands, I'm having a slight conflict with my landlord over my rabbit. She's spent the last while at my parent's house because of this. They live 3hrs drive away and I am in school, so I can only come by for a couple days every couple weeks. Last time I was home, I spent an hour snuggling and grooming with Cassie, and after an initial 5-10 minute warming up period, she acted like nothing happened.

This time, she's (even right now) staring at me long and hard like I'm a complete stranger.

It's been a couple weeks, and I'm worried that she forgot me? I know that sounds silly and rabbits are supposed to have better memories than that, but she used to respond to my voice and calls and we'd spend hours grooming and petting, and now she won't come to my voice and ducks into her hide if I move near her cage at all.

Am I more concerned than I should be? Are we back to square one when it comes to bonding, or is she miffed with me?

 

[agnesthelion]

I've heard rabbits have a two week memory. Not sure where I read that or where they came up with that number but that's what I read. For example, if two rabbits are fighting you are suppose to seperate them for a couple weeks so they forget" about each other. After two weeks it's like they haven't met.

So it sounds as though you may just need to bond with her again. Does she react okay to your parents? Are they handling her and interacting with her? If not she could be lonely and getting isolated so human contact is "scary" to her again too.

 

[LakeCondo]

What's the conflict with the landlord? If Cassie were in an xpen all the time & you had a couple layers of flattened cardboard boxes over the floor [plus a waterproof tarp under the cardboard}, maybe the landlord would see the setup protected the property. Could you get permission to try it for a couple weeks?

It's hard to tell if Cassie is upset with you for going away or not, but I'm sure she'll get over it once you're back together again.

 

[qtipthebun]

Her memory isn't that short. I would be gone for months at a time, and my dad's bunny would remember me every time. Last time I saw her, it had been over 8 months,and she came bounding to the front door when she heard my voice. So I doubt she'd unbonded that fast.

She's probably just giving you attitude. They do that so well. :rollseyes

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:

 

[indianavex]

Well, I suppose the attitude I deserve! She would take treats from my hand, then go back to sulking under her hide. And my parents don't interact with her much at all aside from feeding her and cleaning out her water bowl. They aren't exactly pleased with the situation, but thankfully they're willing to help me out.

As for the landlord, they refuse to let me have pets other than aquatic animals that cannot get out of the water in a 10-gallon or less tank. They're being incredibly unyielding on the topic and threatening a termination of my lease and default of deposit if I bring her back (they only were alerted to the "issue" because of vindictive ex-roommates). Needless to say it's been incredibly stressful, and I've been trying to work out a different situation. I miss my little lovemuffin, even when she's being bratty!