Change after spaying

[Trixies Mommy]

Help!! Ok so i have a 10 month old female mini lop. I got her spayed a month ago. Her behavior and personality seemed to have drastically changed since i spayed her. There were a number of things that the spay has helped though.
Before the spay:
-friendly, not so much into cuddling but liked her head rubs
-constant circling my legs and nipping
-was litter box trained then all of a sudden, one day that all went downhill
-constant digging
-her urine smelled awful
-she would wake me up numerous times during the night by digging, most nights I’d have to go sleep in another room
-always playing, binkying, running around

After her spay
Pros: her urine doesn’t smell so bad, barely any accidents outside the litter box, digging has calmed down, sleeps throughout the night (and then some)
Cons:
-she’s started to lunge at me for everything. It’s impossible to give her food in her cage if she’s in there because she’s always lunging
-she’s now started to growl…which she’s never done and it’s quite scary may i add
-she is constantly sleeping. She just seems so uninterested in everything, her toys, tunnels, and even me. She always looks bored. I barely get her to play for 5 mins before she decides to lay down.
-she eats like a pig. Which I’ve cut her pellets to 1/4 cup like they suggested even though she’s no where near fat (2 pounds)
-things she loved before no longer cares about: she loved laying on the bathroom floor between the rugs when i was in there, doesn’t care for her Timothy apple treats anymore, running and exploring outside of my room (she’s free range in my room, there is a cage but she’s never locked in, except for the week after her spay)
-I’ve caught her taking bites from our couch and furniture now. That was never an issue before

I guess my biggest concern is how bored and lazy she’s become. She would run and play for 4-6 hours a day before her spay but now she just doesn’t seem to want to play or explore. Has anyone else gone thru this with their bun bun after spaying? Is this normal? Will she stay like this or is it just still too soon after surgery for her to get back to herself?

Does anyone have suggestions on different toys or games to get her interested in? She loves boxes and tunnels so she has a bunch of those. But it doesn’t keep her interested for very long these days. She has a bunch of the wood blocks and shapes to bite and throw around. I give her the woven balls and Timothy carrot. I bought her a cardboard cat house she likes to sleep in. I also bought a bed for her at ikea. She has a plastic bin so she can dig. My latest and greatest find: little tikes activity toy garden. Lol. She rubs in and out of there, opens/closes the door, sits on the slide..she really enjoys it but I’m sure she’ll soon lose interest in that also. It’s safe to say she may be a little spoiled. Any suggestions on toys would be much appreciated!

[Sirius&Luna]

After spays, rabbits have a hormone surge as their body readjusts. For female bunnies, it takes between 1 – 6 months for their hormones to balance out. Most will be back to normal after a month or so, but some do go on for longer. So it’s totally normal for them to become more aggressive and difficult after a spay, but it’s a bit concerning that she seems lethargic and lazy. Have you noticed any signs of pain (hunched, teeth grinding, not eating)? I think it may be worth discussing the lethargy with a vet. It could of course just be that at 10 months, her spay coincided with her becoming an adult and calming down anyway.

1/4 a cup of pellets is actually quite a lot for a 2 pound bunny. All bunnies are super greedy for pellets, so I wouldn’t worry about that. My 4 pound bunnies only get a tablespoon a day. Whats the rest of her diet like?

Honestly, it sounds like you’ve got pretty much all the toys a bunny could want! My bunnies favourite things are cardboard boxes, so I get tons of cardboard boxes and cut doors in them and place them round the room. You could try a treat ball, that she has to roll around to get pellets out of. You could also try twigs, my buns love apple and willow twigs and will devour the entire stick.

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