Phantom Pregnancy?

[moss]

Hi all,

My female mini lop, Belle (18 months old), was spayed on Friday. The night before she was spayed, she started making a buzzing noise as she hopped around and she also was circling my other half's feet and climbing up his leg - my other female rabbit used to do this before she was spayed too, so I didn't really think much of it.

She took a couple of days to start eating and pooing properly, but she was back to normal by Sunday. It now seems as though she's made a nest in her cage... she's flattened all the hay and is sitting in the corner of her cage, with the hay around her. Every now and again, she tucks the hay underneath her. She's never done this before! Also, when I put my hand in to get her food bowl out, she nipped my hand - she's never bitten me before!

Is this likely to pass soon? I'm just a bit worried that she was spayed as she was about to have this phantom pregnancy - could it have done her any damage?

 

[sdf76]

Sorry I can't give advice but bumping this up in the hope someone else ca help you -sue:wave:

 

[Daisylop]

It takes a while for hormones to die down after neutering,I wouldnt let her lie or sit on hay as it can irritate her spay wound.Best to keep to just paper bedding,or a towel or something soft.Give hay to eat though.

 

[Harry Simon]

Phantom Pregnancy

Hi,

I also rescued the mother of the 7 babies I rescued. She has been in the house now for 8 weeks. Suddenly this morning when feeding her I noticed she had pulled out fur and was making a nest. It is not possible for her to be pregnant since as of November 20th at the vet she was not, and has not been out of my house since. All my boys were neutered at 9 weeks which was last September.

The vet said to just keep treating her the same and it should just go away.
Does anyone know anything about this. Why would she be doing this? What do I do to make her happy? Is she all right? Her name is Juliet and I am worried about her very much. She usually likes to be out and run around but today she just wanted to be back in her hutch. I felt so badly.

If anyone can give me some advice I would appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

 

[Rosamund]

In my experience, phantom pregnancies are really quite common. As your female has been recently spayed, moss, I think this behaivour is not uncommon, as her hormones are obviously changing quite rapidly after her spay. Her hormones should settle down within four to five weeks, and as they do this her phantom pregnancy should go away. I know the aggressive behaivour is a little difficult to deal with, but it should pass quickly. I've had experience of females doing this before and shortly after their spay and it's not usually a big problem.

Harry Simon: has your female been spayed? If she has not been spayed, she will continue to have phantom pregnancies until she is spayed, and may continue to be aggressive and protective of her space. Unless you get her spayed this behaivour will not go away. However, if she has been spayed, it can take some time for her hormones to settle down, so if her spay was recent it should stop in a couple of weeks.