Is My Female Bunny Actually A Male Bunny Going Through Puberty?

FORUM

What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 3sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 10 months ago by Mikey.

Viewing 3 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 05/19/2017 at 1:29 PM
  knnguy
  Participant
  26 posts
  So I currently have a 13 week old female Holland Lop called Cinnamon. Or so I was told that she was a female. But these past 2-3 weeks, I’ve noticed some signs that make me suspect that Cinnamon is actually a male bunny going through puberty. These are the signs:
  
  – Cinnamon is litter trained but she will still sometimes poop outside the litter box. However, I’ve notice that recently, she poops a significant amount outside her litter box. It’s basically all over her cage now. It’s a huge difference from before.
  
  – I’ve noticed that her poop stinks now. Usually before, it didn’t smell at all. Now the poop itself has a very stinky odor to it. And I’m not talking about the cecotropes.
  
  – Her whole litter box stinks now. I use pine pellets and I remember saying in the beginning how they did such a good job at covering the odor and how her litter box doenst smell at all. Well, now it does. I can smell it just by standing near it.
  
  Is this her going through puberty? Or is it because of her recent sickness? She had a head tilt last week. She’s fine now, but her head is still slightly tilted.
- 05/19/2017 at 1:52 PM
  tobyluv
  Participant
  3312 posts
  At 13 weeks of age, Cinnamon, whether a male or a female, could be starting puberty. That may very well bring on a loss of litter box habits and also cause the pee and poop to be stronger smelling. Spaying or neutering will help with both problems. If Cinnamon is a male, you should be able to see testicles soon (if not now). Some rabbits can hide them, though, so that doesn’t always help with gender identification. Males can be neutered when their testicles drop, although some vets may prefer to wait another couple of months. Females are usually not spayed until they are around 6 months of age.
  
  I don’t know how often you are cleaning the litter box or getting up the stray poops, but until Cinnamon can be spayed or neutered, you will just have to clean it more often, even more than once a day, if the odor is bad.
- 05/19/2017 at 2:06 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  I’m confused as to why you think smelly poop and pooping outside the litter tray are male bunny traits?
- 05/19/2017 at 4:21 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Male and female buns go through puberty pretty much the same. Theyll both start marking with stinky poo and/or pee, which looks like failed litter box skilled. They might start biting and become territorial over their cage/pen/toys/litter boxes/toys/ect. They might start mounting or trying to court you with their bunny mating dance. Ect
  
  Unless you see testicles, you likely have a girl
Author

Messages

Viewing 3 reply threads

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.