teejay
Warren Scout
Hi all
I have a bunny, Bobo, staying with me at the moment, approx 2 years old, a lionhead, who was recently castrated. He's a house bunny (from what I can gather, he has plenty of free-range time at home) and he's a single rabbit. His owner made the decision to castrate him because he'd got a bit intolerant of her young daughter (about 6 years old) and a bit scrappy with her, and the owner also wanted to put an end to his spraying.
Bobo has stayed with us several times before, so we know him really well, and whilst he's never been the cuddliest rabbit, he's never been aggressive towards us, more just a bit stand-offish and not particularly bothered about having human attention.
After he was castrated (about 10-12 weeks ago, if my memory serves me right), he totally lost his appetite and quickly went into stasis for which he made a couple of follow-up visits to the vets for gut stimulant injections and pain relief.
The vet wasn't particularly bunny savvy, and basically told the owner to go away because that there was nothing more they could do for Bobo, so the owner turned to me for support and advice on how to tempt him to eat and what kind of things she should be trying him with.
As she was at a complete loss, I put together an emergency bag full of tempting treats (fresh forage, fresh herbs, etc) and a selection of different hays for the owner to offer Bobo. It was touch-and-go (the owner recently confessed that she feared he was going to die), and he required some pretty intensive nursing, but he made a full recovery from the castration and the stasis.
When he came to stay last week (first time since the castration) the owner warned me that, since his recovery, Bobo's aggression had really ramped up. He's just such an angry bunny....:evil:......he grunts, squeals and attacks whenever I go anywhere near his pen. He tries to attack through the bars of the pen and he even attacked the feed bag recently, when I was giving him his pellets, ripping it to shreds (good job it wasn't my hand!)
As he's the only rabbit we have boarding at the moment, we're allowing him to free range as much as possible. He's very happy just mooching around the house and he's also very happy to be near to me or my husband when he's free-ranging.....he'll happily climb all over me if I'm on the floor with him, and he'll tolerate a certain amount of nose rubs and fuss.......but the decision to have fuss and attention has to be his decision. If I approach him, for example, he spins, grunts, squeals and tries to bite me.
This is all very puzzling.....why would agression get worse after a castration? He's a sweet little thing, I really do like him, and he's obviously unhappy about something going on in his life, but what?
I don't think he's being territorial, as (according to the owner) he behaves the same when he's free-ranging at home and when he's free-ranging at our house (although he's definitely more mellow when he's out of the pen). Another thing I've considered is that he may be still in some pain from the castration. He does look well, he's regained the weight he lost post-op and he's a picture of health, but I guess there could be something going on internally.
I actually suspect the problem may be that he's lonely......but then that's not my call, and there's not much I can do to ease his loneliness while he's staying with me!
Any suggestions anyone?
Tracey
I have a bunny, Bobo, staying with me at the moment, approx 2 years old, a lionhead, who was recently castrated. He's a house bunny (from what I can gather, he has plenty of free-range time at home) and he's a single rabbit. His owner made the decision to castrate him because he'd got a bit intolerant of her young daughter (about 6 years old) and a bit scrappy with her, and the owner also wanted to put an end to his spraying.
Bobo has stayed with us several times before, so we know him really well, and whilst he's never been the cuddliest rabbit, he's never been aggressive towards us, more just a bit stand-offish and not particularly bothered about having human attention.
After he was castrated (about 10-12 weeks ago, if my memory serves me right), he totally lost his appetite and quickly went into stasis for which he made a couple of follow-up visits to the vets for gut stimulant injections and pain relief.
The vet wasn't particularly bunny savvy, and basically told the owner to go away because that there was nothing more they could do for Bobo, so the owner turned to me for support and advice on how to tempt him to eat and what kind of things she should be trying him with.
As she was at a complete loss, I put together an emergency bag full of tempting treats (fresh forage, fresh herbs, etc) and a selection of different hays for the owner to offer Bobo. It was touch-and-go (the owner recently confessed that she feared he was going to die), and he required some pretty intensive nursing, but he made a full recovery from the castration and the stasis.
When he came to stay last week (first time since the castration) the owner warned me that, since his recovery, Bobo's aggression had really ramped up. He's just such an angry bunny....:evil:......he grunts, squeals and attacks whenever I go anywhere near his pen. He tries to attack through the bars of the pen and he even attacked the feed bag recently, when I was giving him his pellets, ripping it to shreds (good job it wasn't my hand!)
As he's the only rabbit we have boarding at the moment, we're allowing him to free range as much as possible. He's very happy just mooching around the house and he's also very happy to be near to me or my husband when he's free-ranging.....he'll happily climb all over me if I'm on the floor with him, and he'll tolerate a certain amount of nose rubs and fuss.......but the decision to have fuss and attention has to be his decision. If I approach him, for example, he spins, grunts, squeals and tries to bite me.
This is all very puzzling.....why would agression get worse after a castration? He's a sweet little thing, I really do like him, and he's obviously unhappy about something going on in his life, but what?
I don't think he's being territorial, as (according to the owner) he behaves the same when he's free-ranging at home and when he's free-ranging at our house (although he's definitely more mellow when he's out of the pen). Another thing I've considered is that he may be still in some pain from the castration. He does look well, he's regained the weight he lost post-op and he's a picture of health, but I guess there could be something going on internally.
I actually suspect the problem may be that he's lonely......but then that's not my call, and there's not much I can do to ease his loneliness while he's staying with me!
Any suggestions anyone?
Tracey
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