Bunny behaviour over last week

[Andrew]

Hi all, long time lurker posting for the first time 

Me and my partner have a female mini lop that we’ve had since about 12 weeks old. She’s now about six months old.

She lives outside in a nice big hutch, full of toys and stimulation to keep her from getting bored. Each evening when we get home from work we bring her in the house. She has the run of the living room, kitchen and the stairs (we close the bedrooms upstairs so she just has the upstairs landing). We bring her litter tray in with her each night and put it on the living room floor and over the past few months she’s been using it all the time. Sometimes she’ll poo on the floor but she never ever wee’s anywhere other than the litter box.

Over the weekend just gone, she has jumped up onto the sofa and wee’d 3-4 times which was accompanied by some heavy digging! She wee’d on the upstairs landing carpet too. This is out of character for her because she’s been so good at using her litter tray over the past few months. There was also one day where she done a white looking wee on my lap and there was a white liquid on the walls of her hutch I noticed yesterday…almost like she’s been spraying?

Does this behaviour sound like anything in particular? Could it be perhaps her coming into sexual maturity. We’ve talked about getting her done but we’d rather avoid it if we can as we only have her.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Bunny House]

Hi! And welcome! Female buns can start having hormones at 4 months and by age 2 they have a 75% chance of developing uterine cancer so for her life to last the longest, it’s best to have her done by a rabbit savvy vet, as long as they are rabbit savvy and do blood work there is a very very high success rate. I know surgery is scary but it’s not bad.

Her behavior is caused by her hormones. It’s best to keep buns inside the house so animals and parasites can’t get to them unless they have the proper securing around the hutch but as long as it is proper secured, she should be fine but should probably be on flea and tick meds. And of course because they can get sick at the drop of a pen, it’s best to have them in a table environment.

[Andrew]

Thanks for your reply. Wow that’s eye opening.

Based on what you’ve said, we think we’re going to get her spayed. We genuinely didn’t know the risk of cancers were so high if we don’t get her spayed!

[Bunny House]

Wow, somehow I forgot how to spell haha.

Let us know if you have any more questions!

[kurottabun]

Normally if the bunny is a male solo bun, then it wouldn’t be very necessary to neuter them if there are no plans to bond them with another bunny. Many people neuter their male buns to fix hormonal behaviours while others just neuter as a general precaution.

But for female bunnies, like Bunny House already said, there is a high chance of them getting uterine cancer, which would then require an emergency spay anyway with lower odds of survival because of the illness. Spays are more invasive than neuters, but if the bunny is young, healthy and spayed at a rabbit savvy vet, the chances of surviving the surgery are very high.

[earlygirl]

I have an 11 month old female holland lop… not spayed yet but will be soon. She is mostly litter trained except she keeps peeing on my bed. Hopefully the spaying will help with that, but I’ve also read on these forums that bunnies just really like to go on couches and beds even after they’re fixed. I recommend buying some reusable pee pads to use on your sofa… that’s what I’m using to protect my mattress, but I’m also trying to teach her that she’s just not allowed on my bed. You might also want to add an extra litter box or two to your house for now.

As for the white pee, I believe that could be a sign of calcium buildup. She might need a different diet now that she’s getting older. Definitely do some research and/or check with your vet on that one.

[Author]

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