Spraying

[Godwit]

I haven’t had a problem with Ralphie and hormones once since I got him. That is, until today when he started spraying all over his cage. I haven’t done anything different except put a new Renuzit air freshener cone out… and I got a new kind of hay for him. Could these be the cause? Trying to rule anything out before I neuter him. I do intend to get him neutered but only if his hormones become an issue, otherwise I don’t want to put any undue stress on him or myself (i don’t have a car so logistics can be tricky). What do you think?

[BlueMoods]

How old is he?

That is usually hormonal and, all mature males and, a lot of females will spray. It’s simply marking the territory. Really the only way to minimize it is to have him neutered. Now leaving it sprayed (not washing his cage) would minimize it temporarily but, then you have to put up with the smell of a buck with a well marked territory and, that can be unpleasant in a house, to say the least. I’d advice making the appointment and having him neutered. It isn’t terribly hard on males and, is easier on the when they are younger rather than older.

[Megabunny]

Ha ha. Yeah I’d say his hormones are now officially an issue. Neuter ASAP and life will be good and pee free. At least on the walls, although my male/female pair got naughty and someone sprayed at one point. I blame Charlie, but they won’t tell me for sure.

[Godwit]

I cleaned his cage with diluted vinegar like usual and took the air freshener out of the room. Ao far so good, he’s kept the cage clean and is using his litter box like a champ! I wound up doing my own research and finding that smells can indeed cause a rabbit to become a little more territorial, resulting in some spraying behaviors.

I do appreciate the concern and suggestions to neuter him but as I said in my original post, I wanted to rule out any other causes for his sudden behavior first. I know the benefits of neutering, but it is not on the top of my to do list right now. It is very expensive here and I’d rather save that money for emergency vet care should I need it. I am always on the lookout for hormonal behaviors and plan to neuter him when those behaviors get to be too much for me to handle. He’s not even a year old yet and I have yet to have any problems with humping or territorial behaviors, he’s sweet and loves to follow me around and snuggle up for a good brushing or some kisses. His health is of utmost importance to me and I need those few hundred dollars I’d be spending to prevent things that have yet to happen just in case he goes into stasis or any of the many other serious problems that can occur with these sensitive little creatures. I only say this because I’ve noticed on this site there is a lot of “neuter neuter neuter! hormones!” without considering the actual question that is being asked. The intentions are great but not always helpful.

[Imbrium]

If you do end up deciding to neuter, I would call around to shelters/rescues that accept rabbits and see if any of them can recommend a good low-cost neutering option – “a few hundred dollars” sounds awfully high for a neuter (I paid around $465 for two spays and neutering is usually a good bit cheaper).

 

Spaying is incredibly important because of females’ proclivity towards reproductive cancers; however, any potential health benefits of neutering males are negligible at best, so intolerable hormonal behaviors and/or wanting to bond them to another rabbit are really the only reasons you’d *need* to neuter a male.  Fair warning, they can potentially spray pee six feet into the air (and many males like to aim for faces), so you might want to be ready to book him for neutering in the event his spraying escalates .

 

In this particular situation, I suspect the air freshener is probably to blame.  If the new smell is what set the spraying off, then it’s entirely possible that it won’t continue.  Failing that, from what I’ve heard, once they reach the one-year-old mark, most unaltered rabbits’ hormonal behaviors tend to die down quite a bit.  If he’s freshly hormonal (3-6 mos range), then there’s a decent chance the behavior will escalate… however, if he’s closer to a year old, the chances are good of hormonal behaviors remaining minimal for him .

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