Extreme Destructive Behavior After Neuter

[rachellf214]

I made an account on this just to get some answers on how I can help my bunny (Bon Bon) not chew/dig/eat/destroy our apartment. 

A little back story, Bon Bon was recently neutered on June 29th. Prior to his surgery, he would occasionally chew and dig up the carpet in one specific spot. He would also play normally with his toys and would jump on the couch to hang out with my Fiance and I. Since the surgery, he has been EXTREMELY destructive and kind of reclusive. Every time we let him out, he will go to his normal carpet-digging spot and rapidly chew up the carpet and will completely ignore the presence of any toys. He will completely ignore my fiance and I and will dart right to his carpet-chewing spot; we have to go up to him for him to even realize that we’re there. When we’d spray water at him for his destructive behavior, he’d crawl under the sofa to continue chewing up the carpet. After 3-4 days of this behavior, we decided to block off his carpet-chewing area. I believe this led to him getting stressed out. So now he digs and chew up the areas leading up the his ex-carpet-digging spot. We have tried laying blankets over the spot he now chews, but he will chew hard enough to pull up the carpet under it. 

I am worried that my poor Bon Bon is getting depressed or lonely. For the past 2 days, the fiance and I have been out of the house for several hours and have had little time for our Bon Bon. I normally spend 2-3 hours cuddling, playing and relaxing with him on the floor. 

My fiance and I don’t know what to do. We were thinking of getting him a little buddy to alleviate some of his boredom and/or loneliness, but we do have a relatively small apartment and 1 hutch large enough for only one bunny. So any information or help is greatly appreciated. 

Thank you in advanced! 

[Bunny House]

Hi!
So hutches are not recommended for bunnies as they are way too small, pens are often the minimum size for housing a bunny as it gives them a small amount of room to run. The small cage is probably giving him anger to want to rip up the carpet but often times buns love to rip up carpet in general because it looks like grass.
After neuteres there is often a spike in hormones that makes the buns go crazy, it will go down after a bit but in the mean time it is annoying.
As for his destructive behavior, do you have cardboard boxes he can rip up? Often buns love to shred them to pieces and it passes time for them, you can buy apple or willow sticks, and bunny hay houses that will let them dig and rip it. You can put nic grids where he is digging but also tile pieces on the spots he digs at and after a while he might forgot he even digged there and you can take them away but he might love to lay on them as summer can be very hot and buns love cold places to lay.

[Bam]

This sounds like a post-neuter craze to me . Many buns go through this and it tends to last 2 3 weeks post neuter, but it can go on for 8 weeks. The bun is on a hormonal rollercoaster during this time and all adverse hormonally driven behaviors get exacerbated. It is temporary though and there’s not a lot to do except wait it out.

[Author]

Messages