Agression towards each other after being spayed U/D Making friends...pics added

As some of you know Lola and Mimi went in to be spayed on Friday. Both ops went fine and they are now recovering at home, and starting to get a lot better.

For the first 24 hours they were back, they were huddled in their cage together as normal keeping each other warm. However last night things took a dramatic turn for the worse...I think.

We went out to the shops and when we came back there were clumps of Lola's hair all over the cage, so we don't exactly know what happened in the first place. However now Lola keeps thumping at Mimi, and then Mimi keeps chasing Lola all round the cage, and fur is flying.

This has been going on all through the night, after about 30 seconds they calm down again, but then sit on opposite sides of the cage having a stand off.

I am now starting to get worried that they are going to hurt each other, or damage the wound from the op if they dont calm down.

They have been bonded for 18 months with no problems, when we first bought them home there was some humping dominance behaviour but all has been fine until now.

I can see them going at it again now, it always seems to be Lola, Mimi is flopped out in the cage, but Lola keeps thumping at her very loud.

I don't want to split them up unless I have to, but I don't want them to damage each other....

Please help.

is there some neutral space that they can go in for a few days like your bathroom? As they've had a bit of a tiff they will be unsettled & neutral space may help. Also if you've put them on cage rest they may be getting a bit stirr crazy so the extra room of a bathroom would help them get some more excercise & tire themselves out a bit more.

I don't know how big your setup is but it may be because of a lack of space. My girls will fight when locked up in a small space but when they have more room they are fine.

They have a lot of space, they have a big constant run but seem to be staying in the cage (we have the door open).

I will put them both in the run, and close off the cage for a while, and see how they are with each other.

Here's what happened to us when we had our girls speyed.......

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=157668

Probably not what you want to read, but you should be prepared!! The wee tykes can do each other a fair amount of damage if you leave them to it

We now have 2 pairs and things have settled down again. I'm going to try and bond the 2 pairs in July. Having 2 sets of rabbits isn't an ideal situation.

if the space is there for them to jump out of the cage they might not be doing so because they are a bit sore. To begin with they are often not good at hopping in and out of high sided trays. Can you take the cage lid off & perhaps layer a yellow pages wrapped in a towel or something at it's edge so they have something to step out on to? Make sure they have a cardboard box or something to feel safe in outside the cage. Are they eating & drinking well?

They are getting in and out of the cage no problem, but no matter where they go they are constantly nipping and chasing.

We put them in a neutral space in the living room, and Mimi bites Lola's bum and starts chasing her.

They have now seperated themselves, Lola is sitting out in the bed in the run, and Mimi is flopped out in the cage, I will see how they are overnight.

Well after another night together, things maybe calming down.

There didnt seem to be any fighting over night, everything was how we left it. However the girls are now not willing to go near each other it would seem.

Everytime that Mimi goes anywhere near Lola, Lola just runs away, we are now in a situation where one is constantly sat in the cage, and one is sat in the run.

Should we just give them more time? I know there is advice to just leave them and let the chasing happen, but I worry about them....I never thought I could get this attached to rabbits, the girlfriend is definately seeing another side to me

I'd still watch them very closely and keep them apart in some way when you're not there to watch over them. We would have one in the hutch and one in the same room at first. We let our guard down and that's when they had a fight that resulted in Sophie having to go to the vet to be stitched up!

Our experience was that they would be fine for a while, sometimes a few days, but the peace wouldn't last.

After the bickering towards the end of last week, post spaying. It seems that the girls are now starting to make friends again. This is what we woke up to this morning