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Forum BEHAVIOR My bunny (female Dutch rabbit) changed behavior after spay — please help explain

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    • munchiemunch
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        Hi there BinkyBunny forum goers:

        We have a female Dutch rabbit Lily, got her September 1, 2012 and she was 2-3 months old at the time. She is the most cute bunny and we got her spayed on March 26, 2013. 

        Before the spay, she would let us pick her up and hug her and she used to like it. She could be in our arms for several minutes and relish in it. She would lick us too while holding her. When she didn’t want to be held anymore, she would squirm a bit and we would put her down. She used to run after us as we would walk in the living room, and she would follow us around. She used to run around our legs as though we were a pole, and she would run 5-6 laps around our legs. Sometimes she created the lap consisting of our legs and some other object, like a leg of the coffee table and run around the coffee table leg and our legs, again maybe 4-5 laps.

        She used to hop up on our couch more much often, to kind of chill next to us when we used to sit on it. She would also jump up on us as we were sitting and let us pet her while she sat there for 10-20 minutes. And she would also lick us while sitting. We used to say, she is such a reciprocating bunny. She would always show a lot of love and affection back to us, as we showed her tons of love.

        She also used to mark us, our laptops, shoes, books, the coffee table, anything she could reach with her little under chin. She also used to be a bit of a scaredy bunny, where sounds coming from the outside would make her very attentive and sometimes scared and sounds could get her running for a second or so.

         

        After the spay, she doesnt let us pick her up nearly as often or nearly as long. She doesnt want to be picked up and it is hard to get her back in her cage when we need to. Sometimes we need to use a carrier we have and trick her to get into it utilizing treats. She is much more of a scaredy cat. Reactions to sounds inside our apartment such as scrunching paper, or sounds from the outside make her scared and sometimes run. Much more than before. She also stopped running after us as we would walk, and stopped running around our legs. She also used to make more binkies before and charge from one side of the living room onto the other side. She jumps less on the couch, and whenever she gets on top of us, she only stays for maybe a minute or so. She also stopped marking things. She would always mark our fingers whenever we put them close to her, in particularly when inside her cage.

         

        So in short, she exhibits much less affectionate behavior. It is quite obvious that the spay is what made her this way. I am looking to understand why it happened and if there is anything one can do to make her more like she used to be.

        My thinking is that some possible answers are:

        1) The hormonal change from having no uterus/ovaries has led to this behavioral change

        2) She is more enclosed after the surgery, as it was invasive, she had to recover and was held in the cage for 2-3 weeks and obviously then did not receive as much affection as she was healing. She could not run around etc and be her happy self. People say animals remember. Could this be the reason? Like, the experience made her change.

         

        Other explanations? Anyone else had experience with this?

         

        Obviously, these pre-spay behaviors are desirable, cute and affectionate. Are there any “remedies”? 

         

        Thank you for tips/pointers and helping me undertand what could have caused this behavioral shift.

         

        Attached is a picture of our Lily! This was taken on the day we got her.

         

        -MunchieMunch

         


      • LBJ10
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          Age might be a factor as well, especially with the holding part. Young bunnies tolerate being held. Then one day they snap and realize being held is not a good thing. It is completely normal and it often happens literally overnight.

          The circling was probably hormonal, so the spay would explain that.


        • Beka27
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            I agree. Most of the behaviors she exhibited before were either hormone or age related. This is the natural progression from unspayed baby bunny to spayed adult rabbit.


          • Deleted User
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              I would give your bun some time to become more affectionate. My little girl was extremely affectionate before he spay too. She just held a really long grudge afterwards for having to have undergone the surgery. It took her a couple of months to get over her hurt feelings and return to her affectionate self. As for being scared of noises, how quiet is your house? I noticed with my skittish bun leaving music playing softly in the background when we are gone and have T.V. or radio playing while we are home helped him not be as affected by noise.


            • tanlover14
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                The running around your legs was definitely a hormonal behavior – typically called the love dance. As cute as it may seem at the time it really means she loves you and wants to mate with you. Not just because she’s happy to see you. Her spay would definitely make that behavior go away which is much better for her in the future as buns not spayed have a drastically high chance of dying of uterine cancer. She will be much healthier and happier this way.

                Age is definitely a factor as well. In their teenage months they are very hyper and typically don’t mind being held. Then they hit their teenage months where they become terrors. And then kind of slope down again to not being quite as active as when they were babies. Sleeping a lot of the day and such. Your bun is much more likely to interact positively with you early in the morning and towards night-time. This is when a bun stops sleeping and is more alert and active.

                An excellent way to get past these behavorial changes and connect with your bunny in a way she can understand is clicker training. You can teach her all types of tricks. Buns LOVE being mentally stimulated. I did it with one of mine who would never sit still. He became slightly aggressive after his neuter also. And I was losing my relationship with him. He instantly became very intrigued by the new game. It was amazing because I knew we were connecting and he enjoyed it. As he became less aggressive and more interactive with me I gradually was able to stop the clicker training. It only takes about 15 minutes of training per day. But it WILL work. Buns LOVE the interaction and mental stimulation. It’s great for problem bunnies or bored bunnies. I would definitely suggest trying it as it seems you definitely feel disconnected from your bunny now. It really helped me gain back a relationship and trust with my bun!


              • tanlover14
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                  Btw, she is gorgeous!

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              Forum BEHAVIOR My bunny (female Dutch rabbit) changed behavior after spay — please help explain