diff --git a/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health.lua b/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health.lua
index 22916ad6f84cd..643c01ee27414 100644
--- a/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health.lua
+++ b/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health.lua
@@ -21,9 +21,12 @@ if obj.status ~= nil then
       end
     end
 
+    -- Treat transient/initial 'Unknown' condition as Progressing instead of Degraded.
+    -- The RabbitMQ operator sets these conditions to Unknown briefly while forming the cluster,
+    -- so mapping Unknown->Progressing prevents false Degraded states during normal reconciliation.
     if clusterAvailable.status == "Unknown" or allReplicasReady.status == "Unknown" then
-      hs.status = "Degraded"
-      hs.message = "No statefulset or endpoints found"
+      hs.status = "Progressing"
+      hs.message = "Waiting for RabbitMQ cluster readiness (conditions unknown)"
       return hs
     end
 
diff --git a/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health_test.yaml b/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health_test.yaml
index 7e7c44e4b57ce..bdec7067789ef 100644
--- a/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health_test.yaml
+++ b/resource_customizations/rabbitmq.com/RabbitmqCluster/health_test.yaml
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ tests:
     message: Unknown 'foo' parameter
   inputPath: testdata/degraded_badconfig.yaml
 - healthStatus:
-    status: Degraded
-    message: No statefulset or endpoints found
+    status: Progressing
+    message: Waiting for RabbitMQ cluster readiness (conditions unknown)
   inputPath: testdata/degraded_cluster_unknown.yaml
 - healthStatus:
-    status: Degraded
-    message: No statefulset or endpoints found
+    status: Progressing
+    message: Waiting for RabbitMQ cluster readiness (conditions unknown)
   inputPath: testdata/degraded_replicas_unknown.yaml
 - healthStatus:
     status: Progressing