Spayed bunnies getting worse!!

Betty and Clover spayed last Friday (8 months old, had started spraying and mounting each other so got them done quickly!).

All went well, kept them indoors for two nights then back into their outside cage on Sunday. They have been fine and seemed very settled until this morning..... uncovered their cage and Clover was chasing Betty round the cage in a frenzy, knocking food bowls over!! Managed to calm them down, later in the morning put them in their run and the same happened with clumps of poor Betty's fur flying! She has spent most of the day hidden in the little hs inside the run.

Back in the cage later, all seemed fine but have just gone out to check them and Clover is off again!

I know the hormones will take a while to settle but this behaviour is worse than before the op...what to do?? Have a double story hutch and could separate them if needs be and they would still be near enough to smell eachother.

Would really appreciate some advice please

I had kind of a similar problem and I couldn't find any proper advice about it anywhere. Even when I phoned the vet they said 'uh... that's very uncommon. Their behaviour is supposed to improve'.

I got Riley spayed at around 7 months and while she displayed some very occasional aggressive behaviour towards me, there was significantly more sexual behaviour. She was a very friendly bunny (although she did the occasional lunge!) who spend a lot of her time following and circling me. I decided to get her spayed more for health reasons (and because she kept weeing on my bed) than behavioural ones.

I didn't have another rabbit at the time, just Riley, but immediately after her spay her behaviour completely changed. She was incredibly angry and as soon as we got in the door, she ran and hid from me. Whenever I approached her she lunged and tried to scratch and bite me. This went on for about 2 weeks. She was a changed rabbit. I to this day do not know why this happened - I put it down to her being furious with me for putting her through the operation but who knows.

Anyway, Riley did eventually calm down - although it took around 2 and a half weeks - and forgave me. The hiding and lunging stopped, and she started to trust me again.

If the rabbits are going to be a danger to each other I think it might make sense to separate them? There is obviously the risk of breaking the bond by so doing, but this might happen anyway (and forever) if they have a serious enough fight. I don't think it would be a problem if they could smell each other, but I'm not entirely sure.

If it was anything like Riley's case, they should calm down after the initial shock of the surgery in a short while. Then maybe try putting them back together and seeing how that goes?

My other suggestion is that the operation might have made them smell strange to one another. This can often cause fighting in a bonded pair, and when Roger (my other rabbit) came back from the vet Riley couldn't recognise him by smell, leading to an altercation. It seems odd that this would only come on now, days after the operation, but perhaps before they were feeling too weak and sleepy to react. The vet advised me to keep them separate for a couple of days.

I hope this helps somewhat - obviously I'm no expert and there are people on here who know much more than me about this kind of thing. I just thought I would tell you what my experience has taught me.

I wish you the best of luck with your two!

It can take 6 weeks for the hormones to die down. As long as there is no blood or serious fighting then I think they should be fine. Maybe leave them together for the time being and watch them carefully and check for blood and scabs, if it doesn't improve after the 6 weeks then maybe split them..?

One of my pairs seem to be chasing and pulling fur at the moment and they have both been done for well over a year :roll: I think it is something to do with the time of the year because they only seem to do it around spring with me!

If they fight, seperate them. In 4-6-8 weeks (depending on bun, as everybun is different) you'll need to completely rebond from fresh, with neutral territory, small space etc and totally neutralise their existing home.

i had a similar problem with my 2 girls. they started fighting so i seperated them until they were old enough to be spayed. i waited 8 weeks after the spey for the hormones to settle and tried them again but it didn't work.

my vet said 8 to 12 weeks for the hormones so i left it a few more weeks then re bonded from the beginning again.

things seem ok now though they are still indoors as now they are in it is too cold to put them back out yet. one still gives the other the odd nudge or nip but nothing serious, no fur pulling or attacking.

maybe you just need to give it a bit longer..

Thanks for the replies.

They are not actually fighting, just one chasing the other round, but not constantly.

Think I will keep an eye on them and only seperate if it gets worse. Seems such a shame because the rest of the time they are still really close, cuddling, grooming etc...

Just another thought... they are used to running free in the garden but the vet told me to keep them in the run while they are healing. Could it be that when I put them back outside they expected everything to go back to normal and they are feeling a little cage crazy?? :?

I've got exactly the same problem with my two, who were spayed last week. I have separated them for the moment. They have their stitches out tomorrow and I will speak to the vet about the best way of re-bonding them.

If its just chasing they may have a touch of spring fever. All my bunnies are crazy with it at the mo.