My bunny panics when i try to hold her :(

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kaylicourt

kaylicourt

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Joined
Dec 19, 2012
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Location
York, Yorkshire
Hello, just something thats been really confusing me recently!
Basically my bunny, about 10 months old, she is amazing and is not scared of me in the slightest. She's always next to me for strokes, licking me, sleeping in my bed etc.

But i feel like i have tried everything now, she simply will not let me pick her up. As soon as i even go to grab her she panics and kicks/scratches/grunts. I wouldn't mind but i can't clip her nails or anything! I have started to accept that maybe she's always going to be like this, but was just wondering if anybody else has had this problem and overcome it somehow?

:bunny18
 
Is she spayed? Not that this would solve all your problems but sometimes you'd be surprised how much homones can impact things. Also, with buns sometimes they can also be somewhat like that if they have not been handled a ton since a very young age.
 
Yeah she is spayed, only about 3 weeks ago though.
I attempt to handle her as much as i can without stressing her out too much, but there's just no improvement! Even when she's completely calm after loads of strokes and i slowly go into picking her up, she goes crazy!
 
I'm wondering how you pick her up. Some bunnies just despise being picked up certain ways.
 
Unfortunately, some bunnies just are not fond of being picked up :( Our mini lop Carrot, we got him at 8 weeks, till the day he died did NOT like being picked up! Our 3 1/2 month old, was raised in a classroom from birth to 10 weeks of age! She is super friendly like Carrot was as well, just does NOT like being picked up! She is not old enough to be spayed yet, so I am hoping that helps...but she is a Carrot wanna be...looks and acts like him...so I am not holding my breath. We continue to try...and just pay as much attention to her in other ways. Good luck!
 
I support her properly, have watched many many videos on handling, as well as owned many rabbits before so i don't think i'm doing anything wrong there :/ She just hates it!
 
mochajoe said:
Unfortunately, some bunnies just are not fond of being picked up :( Our mini lop Carrot, we got him at 8 weeks, till the day he died did NOT like being picked up! Our 3 1/2 month old, was raised in a classroom from birth to 10 weeks of age! She is super friendly like Carrot was as well, just does NOT like being picked up! She is not old enough to be spayed yet, so I am hoping that helps...but she is a Carrot wanna be...looks and acts like him...so I am not holding my breath. We continue to try...and just pay as much attention to her in other ways. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yep, im beginning to think she's just one of those bunnies! She loves attention and cuddles, and i don't want to ruin that by trying to pick her up all the time so it's difficult. ah well, maybe it's just a very slow process with this one :)
 
We feel your pain!!!! Funfetti is super sweet and cuddly (once you have her) and we are resolving ourselves to the same thing! It is really tough given that our other two are ultra cuddle bugs...my Reeses is 6 months old and he will fall asleep in the crook of my neck and practically begs to be picked up! He has a bell on a string in his cage....sometimes I think he "rings" it just to say "Hello, here I am pick me up!" And our Cheerios thinks he is a parrot and loves to "perch" on your shoulder! We just want to cuddle with Funfetti like that too...she is okay ONCE you pick her up. Like you, I don't want to impact our relationship with her otherwise, by forcing the issue either! We tried for many years with Carrot and never succeeded :( They are who they are and they like what they like AND they are really good at letting us know! :)
 
Faith is my bunny that can't be handled. She can't even be petted without taking off. She's a sweet bunny, but even after a year she hasn't changed. For the first 3 weeks that we had her, hubby could pick her up. Then when she was spayed that was the end of that. She was already 6-7 months old when we got her and she came from a rough situation. She was the pet of a co-worker/friend's daughter. The daughter got bored, the floor was covered in poo, feces, and filth, she had numerous animals in her bedroom. Sad.

Anyway when it's time for nail trims, check-ups, and so forth I scoot Faith into a carrier, then take her to the dining room table. Hubby gently restrains her on the table and I do the maintenance. I got the idea from when I see my vet handle my bunnies. They don't put up a struggle there. My table is glass so she can't get any traction to run away. This is the only chance I get to pet, brush, cut nails, check scent glands and give Faith a good feel over. It works out really well with minimal stress to her. Then I scoot her back in the carrier. Easy peasy. Faith is definitely one of those bunnies so I work around it. I still love her :)
 
In general I try not to pick my rabbits up if I don't have to as it can be a stressful experience for them. However, for me it is imperative that I am able to pick them up and restrain them not only for things like routine nail trims, but also in case of an emergency. It may take a firmer or lighter hold to get her comfortable. Taking her somewhere new and scary can definitely be helpful as well as she'll see you as familiar and comfortable (there are a lot of animals that seem much better behaved at the vet than they ever are at home when it comes to being restrained).
 
Maybe they way you're picking her up she doesn't like? My Dwarfs despise being picked up. But my Lop doesn't mind. Some buns just don't like it. =)
 
3 of my buns HATE being picked up but the other 2 are fine. Cutting the nails of the 3 that don't like being picked up I stroke them and wait for them to flop or lie down and then I stroke then clip stroke then clip and they don't notice one bit.

However one of the buns that is fine with being picked up only likes to be held away from me strangely. If I hold him the way people tell you to ( with both feet on your chest) he goes mental and acratches and kicks but if I just hold him out then he's fine :)
 
I managed to pick her up for a few minutes earlier, at first she was breathing really heavily but i calmed her down and after a while she started panicking again so put her down. Funny thing is, she hasn't stopped licking and grooming me since so she knows i wasn't doing it to be mean and still likes me ha. Very strange bunny
 
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