Bunny behaviour after neutering

My rabbit was neutered a week and half ago, she was very good, she ate and drank, she didn't nibble at her stitches and she cooperated with me when I had to give her her medicine.

However, the day after I stopped the medicine she's been gnawing at her cage from the inside, quite a lot, even when her door is open and she's free to run around the flat! And occasionally she wees outside her litter tray, the day of her operation and days after she always went to her litter tray, as I said she was extremely good.

I've read a lot about neutering and after care but I can't seem to find anything about behaviour after the operation, is this normal? Is it withdrawal symptoms from the medication? I'd love my bouncy, honking bunny back or will she be stuck in menopause phase forever

FYI: I didn't have her neutered because of any previous bad behaviour, mainly for health reasons and the possibility of getting her a little boyfriend in the future.

Thanks for any help and information

Coly

That's an enoying problem.
It's like she'd loved the attention of you taking care of her. The care taking is intensive contact. When you quit the medicine, the intensive contact quit. The gnawing is a sign of wanting to have attention.
I have seen it with my bun Kismo, he's also very people orriented. It's like they miss it or something.
I think with a lot of TLC, she'll be herself again. 'Cause I don't think it's a drawback from the meds, but to make absolute sure you can always contact your vet.

It will take time for her hormones to settle down, she's all over the place at the moment.

If she chews the bars of her cage just flat out ignore her - it's the only way to break this behaviour. Any attention from you will just reward it and reinforce it. I'm sure she will settle down, she's been through a lot and had her routine changed... just give her time. Spring is also begining (light levels increasing) this will be stimulating her retina (eye) and hypothalamus in her brain - yet there are now no ovaries left to stimulate so it's a very confusing time for a girl bun being spayed so close to Spring.

Thanks for the replies, I did her weekly complete cage clean this weekend and so far she hasn't weed anywhere she's not meant to and the cage gnawing has subsided but I've noticed that she's now really nervous and jumpy, one creak of a floorboard and she freezes or runs off. I'm hoping that it is her hormones and that she'll settle back to her old ways as you mentioned. She just seems depressed at the moment and has stopped following us everywhere and hopping up on the sofa like she used to, it's heartbreaking, sometimes I wish she could let me know what's wrong.

I'm considering getting her a little boyfriend for company but I've got a lot of thinking to do before committing, I'm also going to create a huge NIC cube cage system so that she has more room to roam when I'm not there, sad I know but I'm getting quite excited about it. Hope she likes it!

Colyflower said:

Thanks for the replies, I did her weekly complete cage clean this weekend and so far she hasn't weed anywhere she's not meant to and the cage gnawing has subsided but I've noticed that she's now really nervous and jumpy, one creak of a floorboard and she freezes or runs off. I'm hoping that it is her hormones and that she'll settle back to her old ways as you mentioned. She just seems depressed at the moment and has stopped following us everywhere and hopping up on the sofa like she used to, it's heartbreaking, sometimes I wish she could let me know what's wrong.

I'm considering getting her a little boyfriend for company but I've got a lot of thinking to do before committing, I'm also going to create a huge NIC cube cage system so that she has more room to roam when I'm not there, sad I know but I'm getting quite excited about it. Hope she likes it!

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I can empathize with what your saying ; my bunny girl Princess is just over 9 months old and before we got her spayed she was always hopping on our sofa and being much more loving than she is now. It has been nearly 4 months since she was spayed and although she is much better , she doesnt jump on the sofa anymore or let us fuss her as much.

She does now have a boyfriend Shogun, we have had him a few months now so maybe shes more interested in him.

I hope she gets back to her old self!

It's been about three weeks now and she's still quite nervous and jumpy around us, although she's absolutely fine with me when I sit of the floor (not good for my back or knees though!) I did end up building her a huge 4 x 4 cube cage set up (a whole corner of my lounge!!) with 2nd floor yesterday, complete with toys, more hay baskets, box to dig in etc and that's seemed to perk her up a bit, she did seem very appreciative towards me last night which I'm very happy about as it was a lot of hard work to make and have war wounds to show for it! She still hasn't made her lovely little honking noises like she used to but I'm hoping over time she'll be back to herself.

Colyflower said:

It's been about three weeks now and she's still quite nervous and jumpy around us, although she's absolutely fine with me when I sit of the floor (not good for my back or knees though!) I did end up building her a huge 4 x 4 cube cage set up (a whole corner of my lounge!!) with 2nd floor yesterday, complete with toys, more hay baskets, box to dig in etc and that's seemed to perk her up a bit, she did seem very appreciative towards me last night which I'm very happy about as it was a lot of hard work to make and have war wounds to show for it! She still hasn't made her lovely little honking noises like she used to but I'm hoping over time she'll be back to herself.

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You're doing your best. Bunnies can take time to trust, im afraid its all time based.

Re the honking, she may not ever make those again, as they can be a mating noise i believe and caused by hormones. Biccy, my buck used to make them ALL the time before he was neutered, now we rarely hear it, unless he's REALLY excited at some food times :wave:

I'm sad about the honking but the main thing is that she is comfortable with us again, as long as we get there, we'll all be happy I will update on any future improvements or otherwise. Thanks

Update on Peanut – just to report that although Peanut is still a little bit timid, she's not as nervous as before and she's started chasing after me again when I go down the corridor, she's also showing signs of wanting to hop up on the sofa again which are all good signs. She's just moved into a bigger cage and she has lots more room and more toys so this may have helped perk her up as well.

Awwww that's good news I'm sure she would appreciate a little neuterd husbun in the near future

I'm going to visit a little bunny boy on Saturday, I found him through this forum, he's only 10 weeks so hasn't been neutered yet but I'm hoping we can bond him with Peanut when he's ready. I hate leaving Peanut when I go to work in the morning so it would be really great to get her a little friend. Fingers crossed