Recently Spayed Female

Hi All,
This question may have been answered previously in the forum but please forgive me as I'm new member.:wave:
Guiness, my female Rex, started to bite and scratch anyone who went near her. Infact, she bit my husband and drew blood - which he wasnt amused about! It got so bad that you couldnt get the food bowl out of the hutch without her having a go at you. On speaking to our vet he suggested that she was spayed (she's just turned a year old) and hopefully this would calm her down. Last Friday, 30 May, she duly went to the vets and had her op. Over the weekend she was a lovely docile rabbit and even started to eat out of my hand. After her check up at the vets on Monday evening we put her back outside into the hutch - which by the way she shares with her sister, Marmite.
Guiness and Marmite bonded again straight away so there was no problem there. However, since Tuesday morning she is now back to her usual tricks and going for anyone that goes near her or who puts their hand in the hutch. The vet said it may take some time for the hormones to get out of her system - but does anyone know how long that could take and will the spay actually have worked. I just want her to be the family pet she used to be. At the moment we are trying to keep the children away from her. Any advice would be greatly received.

looby loo said:

does anyone know how long that could take and will the spay actually have worked.

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It'll probably take somewhere in the region of a month for her hormones to settle. The spay will definitely have "worked" because they remove the entire womb - it's like a hysterectomy - and her hormones will stop.

AMETHYST

Thanks for that - but I didnt realise it would take that long!!
I just hope that she will calm down and also that Marmite doesnt then start it. Marmite hasnt been spayed. She has always been really docile and never any problem.
I've always had boys in the past and had no problems with them.

well I'm glad she rebonded with her sister, presumably unspayed, after 4 days of seperation - I love to hear of exceptions to the rules :lol: They should have actually fought to the death in those circumstances, would you believe? :shock: So I'm wondering if she's actually defending her sister from all hutch invasions, since you said she wasn't aggressive at the weekend?

In any case there are ways to avoid getting hurt - I have been bitten by my bunnies and it was only ever at feeding time, due to being very excited and I didn't put the dish down quick enough - I never made that mistake again! This was a neutered boy too, so nothing to do with hormones.

I always wear a thick pair of gloves when feeding, just incase they get overexcited. I now use little plastic cat food dishes, which stack, so I can just pop in the new dish, and remove the old one when they have finished eating and are busy outside the hutch. With the girls in the shed I tip the food from a plate onto the floor, because it stops them defending a dish of food from each other - less chance of a fight - same with veggies.

And I never pick mine up unless they need medical or grooming stuff - I let them hop out of their hutch/shed onto the patio for a run, and it's all fenced off. If you can't do that then you could try putting a pet carrier in the hutch with a bit of food in, and let her hop into that to carry her - usually they are perfectly sweet natured once outside of their territory, if territory is the issue

I'm glad to hear that I have had a success in bonding the girls back together again.
I think, like you said, it may be a terrotorial thing with her. She has always been the dominant one. She does tend to get to the food bowl first and shoves Marmite out of the way from any nice veggies.
We will try the wearing of gloves like you suggest when feeding.

looby loo said:

I'm glad to hear that I have had a success in bonding the girls back together again.
I think, like you said, it may be a terrotorial thing with her. She has always been the dominant one. She does tend to get to the food bowl first and shoves Marmite out of the way from any nice veggies.
We will try the wearing of gloves like you suggest when feeding.

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it may help to get marmite done too ( remember that 85% of does unspeyed die of uterine cancer after 3-4yrs old) then let hormones re settle for a month or so. when re bonded possibly sooner as they are still happy now i would neutralise the hutch...it sounds like she is being both territorial and a bit possessive dora is very possessive of food and of snowy in the hutch but is loverly outside of it.... we have been saving to have her done and due to car problems last month had to wait another month...we hope that this will sort her (nb snowy is speyed)

We are thinking of having Marmite spayed as well, but like you we will have to save up for her op. We have spent a small fortune in the last week with both girls having their booster injections and then Guiness's op.
We also nearly ended up getting another rabbit when my husband went into the pet shop and saw a Minature Rex which he fell in love with! However, when I told him that if we got another rabbit we wouldnt be able to afford his new car - he quickly changed his mind. Men!!