Nuetered Male Spraying when excited/angry

My 5yr old male rabbit is developing a really annoying habit.

He used to only have the occasional accident, such as weeing on the sofa or my lap due to excitement, usually accompanied by his 'excited' noise which a quiet grunting. He finds the stairs exciting and started to chase us up the stairs, leaving droppings all the way up and then flicking wee up the wall. At first I ignored this, and then started to carry him back down and dump him in the litter tray, if he is returned each time he hops out he will usually do a wee after a couple of minutes.

Now he has learnt to not climb the stairs after me, but will often flick wee at the bottom of the stairs when I turn around and make I make eye contact, he will flick if he was eating your trousers and you push his head away, he will leap onto the sofa and sprint across the back whilst weeing in excitement. Any excitement or discipline seems to trigger this. He seems to be aware of the things he is not meant to do (jumping the gate into the kitchen, jumping on the sofa) and the result is he just does it anyway, but does it quickly so I can't stop him. A few minutes ago he ran across the back of the sofa but didn't stop and fell straight off the end, he was upside down as he went over the edge so I assume thats how he landed. He certainly looked a bit sorry for himself.

He doesn't appear to have the same problem with my wife, he will sit on her lap without wetting, but its almost guaranteed if he sits on me. I spend a lot more time with them as I am home during the evenings and normally sit on the floor with them in front of the TV. I've tried ignoring it completely but it doesn't seem to help, but I spending increasing amounts of time wiping down the walls/carpet/my trousers and its getting a bit tedious!

I guess there is nothing I can do about this, but thought I'd ask anyway. They love attention but if this carries on they might have to move into a hutch in the summer so they can acclimatise for next winter.

It's a natural behaviour.

Obviously something about you excites him and he acts accordingly.

Yes, they often know exactly what they should and shouldn't do and then do it anyway because they can; normally with a glint in their eye because they know exactly what they are doing.

I'm not sure you'll be able to beat this to be honest.

Does he have a bonded friend? When was he neutered?

Are you absolutely certain he's neutered? Is his partner neutered? Are you around other animals on a regular basis that he might be able to smell on you?

It sounds a bit like he's viewing you are a threat and is trying to warn you off from his partner. I would do your best to ignore it, no discipline, try to keep things calm when he is around you. I'm not sure what else I can suggest, maybe someone else has some ideas.

It's odd if he's five and neutered, unless it is recent, for him to suddenly start spraying. It does sound behavioural but I wonder if it would be worth getting a vet check and ruling out a bladder infection or nerve/muscle changes that could be effecting his bladder control. If he just normally happens to be more bouncy/excited around you, and that's when he loses control, it could be that it just seems its aimed at you.

Thanks...we got them from a rehoming centre and he is meant to be neutered. His mate is a 6yr female.

He does lots of humping, and is getting increasingly hyperactive and over-excited. He's just managed to pull down the barrier to the kitchen, wee'd on the floor and then flicked everywhere when I approached him. He has just flicked up my trousers as I lifted my foot out of the way as he was eating my sock, and now has run up the stairs which means they will be covered in droppings within a couple of minutes and there will probably be some new stains on the landing wall.

I will have to get him checked over properly at the next vet visit, I'm almost hoping that he hasn't been done as at least there is then some hope in sight! They've only been out for 90 minutes and would normally be out til 10pm, but at this rate he will be going to bed very early.

The female on the other hand, good as gold. Even jumped up for a rare cuddle earlier, which is great as she will not be picked up and cannot be persuaded to budge even a couple of inches without running for her life.

Elena said:

Are you absolutely certain he's neutered? Is his partner neutered? Are you around other animals on a regular basis that he might be able to smell on you?

It sounds a bit like he's viewing you are a threat and is trying to warn you off from his partner. I would do your best to ignore it, no discipline, try to keep things calm when he is around you. I'm not sure what else I can suggest, maybe someone else has some ideas.

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Ooh, good question. I hadn't considered that.

How long have you had them? Neutered rabbit's will tend to mark a lot in the first few weeks of a new home because they are a bit unsettled, but that's scattering poops and maybe the odd puddle, not the spraying you are describing.

It might be worth checking with the rescue if they had him neutered or he was brought in and they were told he was neutered. Also have a look for yourself underneath, if he's got testicles they are usually fairly obvious, they are pink, furless and sit one each side of the base of his tail. It doesn't completely rule it out if you don't find them, as he could have undescended testicles in his abdomen - but it's rare for both not to drop.

His behaviour doesn't seem to change rether animals, I'm not in regular contact with other animals. We took them to my parents over Christmas and he enjoyed chasing their cats out of the kitchen at every opportunity, but the spraying habit from before christmas remained the same during the stay, and since we returned home.

The weeing seems to be an extension of his pooing, i.e. if he goes upstairs without us, he will still leave droppings everywhere. Some days the droppings are under control and generally in the litter tray, other days within an hour the floor will be carpeted in them.

Unfortunately he has run me ragged the last 60 minutes, I now have a headache and he is back in his cage.

We've had them a few months now and this habit has definitely developed over the last couple of months. My sister-in-law is a vet and gave them a quick check at Christmas and there were no testicles to be seen, but also that they could still be there if not descended.

I would try some extra litter trays for the droppings, go a bit crazy at first, as you can thin them out later, but put a tray in every area that he tends to leave droppings so one on the landing/top of the stairs, one in each room, if the sofa is a favourite spot then even pop a tray on there when he's out. Then move any droppings not in the tray to the nearest one. Scent is really important to rabbits, a litter tray is a bit like a rabbit version of an air freshener, it makes the surrounding area smell like home. If he has a tray in each room he is less likely to feel the need to refresh the scent marking by scattering droppings all over. Once you get him back in the habit of always using a tray, you can then reduce the number of trays and he'll find the nearest one because it's become a habit.

One other thing that has just crossed my mind is that Nutmeg took a long time to accept an area as her territory enough to stop marking. It took several months for her to stop leaving puddles around the room they are in now and even now if she spies the lops will start again for a few days. Nutmeg was spayed when she was already two or three years old and I suspect that she is an ex-breeding doe. I wonder if sometimes those rabbits who have been bred from several times and not neutered until later have a higher hormonal drive and neutering sometimes comes a bit too late to stop the negative behaviour. Or it may take a lot longer for them to accept that they don't need to continually reaffirm that an area or person is theres.

I'm sorry I can't help but this sounds like my single house rabbits behaviour, he is however unneutered and has stopped the poo'ing everywhere after a week or so of being here (we found him as a stray) I am hoping his spraying will stop after he's settled from his neuter but I have read it can continue but is rare in the severity you are describing. I have read the longer they do it before neuter the more likely it will develop as a habit after neuter.

Thanks for all the tips. Unfortunately I don't think this is a territory thing. It appears to be a reaction to anything that puts his nose out of joint i.e. denying access to a room, not allowing him to eat holes into your trousers, or just plain excitement that you have decided to walk into another room and he decides to follow. He has followed me into the garden before and literally soaked my trousers (and the fence and shed) simply because I started to hang out the washing.

You can even see him contemplating it as his tail goes straight up if something catches his attention.

Just done a little experiment. Rabbits out whilst we have dinner and watch TV, all fine, no problems.

Wife sits on floor and they both come up for a stroke, still relatively calm.
I sit on floor, male diverts straight to me, nuzzling trousers, chin rubbing, starts nibbling on the zips on my work trousers which he has always done without damaging them. Then he hops over my leg and shoots wee along my leg and across the floor. I completely ignore him, he turns around, puts his front feet on my leg and then squirts, scoring a hit on my wifes leg. During all this he appears affectionate towards me.

I then return to sofa and within a minute he's calmly back lying on the floor enjoying a stroke. Once he has settled I get back on the floor, once my wife stops stroking him he comes back to me and the whole episode repeats, this time I stay dry and my wife gets the spray twice more, but his attention is on me. He then turns around and starts licking the urine back off her trousers?!

So now whilst my wife puts her stuff in the washing machine and I'm waiting for the shower, I brush out their cage which he finds highly exciting, and he gets me all up the arm.

So, plan of action is to call the rehoming place to double check the neutering situation. The only other change that can possibly be the cause, is we changed their feed from the normal Excel food, to the Excel 'mature rabbits 5 years +' stuff which apparently has Cranberry for Urinary Tract Health. So despite having just bought a second bag of the stuff I'm going to try going back to the standard stuff...unfortunately I can't recall if the spraying started after the change so its a stab in the dark at the moment.

Rabbits spray to mark territory, which is when the hit the walls, but also other rabbits during courtship, rabbits do sometimes transfer this to human companions. It actually means he really really likes you if that's any consolation. Again, these are unneutered behaviours normally though.

They can spray during aggression, but as he's not showing any other aggressive actions I doubt that's it. Nibbling and grooming is normal exploration/affection behaviour.

The saga continues...he is unfortunately on his last warning.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but we rehomed him from a centre.

They were told he was neutered, he has had a thorough examination from a vet and he cannot feel anything in the abdomen that could be raised testicles, but...we phoned the vets recorded on his vaccination card, they have a record of the female being neutered, but the male is recorded as coming in for a pre-op check but was a no show for the operation. Now, their records could be incorrect, or the owner could have taken him elsewhere.

But his current behaviour is insane, and its got worse since we took the rehoming centres advice to stick him back in the cage as soon as he sprays.

He is spraying almost constantly when I am in the room. If I leave the room he will immediately jump on the sofa and spray across it. If I put him in the carry crate because he has sprayed, he will often spray as soon as he is let back out. He constantly mounts the female, to the point she is jumping up on the furniture to keep out of his way.

If I completely ignore it for several days, he gets better, but will still spray if I am in the room with him. When I am out and he is free range around the house, he is fine, just a few droppings.

Is there any way we can get a definite answer as to whether he is neutered without putting him through an op to check?

You could have scans done to see if he has undescended testicles, or maybe have hormone level tests run to see if it's obvious if his hormone levels are high.

Thought I'd do a quick update.

He had a hormone test, results came back that he has high levels of testosterone. So he went in for an 'exploratory op' and they couldn't find any tissue left from the previous neuter, they shortened the 'horns' that used to lead to the testicles in case there was any tissue here creating hormones.

This was a few months ago and there has been no improvement. We have had to confine them to the front room, and shut them in the cage when we are in the room. Sometimes they are out for 10 minutes or so but it always ends the same way, spraying and then getting shut back in.

They went to a friends whilst we were on holiday...he didn't spray at all out of the cage (but did leave droppings everywhere) but the cage was against a patio door and he completely covered the window in urine, presumably he could see his reflection as the sofa on the other side was unscathed.

Since the holiday they have been confined to the cage and garden, they never roam the house anymore. The male evens sprays us through the bars occasionally. We can't use the garden at the same time as them as we get sprayed. The level of contact has dropped to the point where they might as well be garden rabbits, so a hutch is on the drawing board and they will be outside asap, possible back inside in the autumn depending on how they cope.

Shame as they crave attention, but sometimes I run out of clothes to wear in a single day and it can't go on like this! We've even tried a calmer that is added to his food, but he tries to eat round it and although it might be making him calmer, it hasn't reduced the spraying.