HELP! Older neutered rabbit started mounting and marking

[Chii]

I could really use some advice!

My bunny is turning 8 this January. He has been neutered at age of 3 months, and had no hormonal behavior since, except for very rare mounting / chasing legs. Literally few times in all the years.

We moved  2 years ago, and Muffin doesn’t really like the place – he stomps every other night, and so has to be moved to the furthest room for the night. He’s free roam, but in a single room, where I work. In the evening he chills with me in a big room. Shortly after moving he started to occasionally leaving small urine puddles on the corners of the carpet. I brushed it off as him marking his new territory. We have no other pets.

But now, 2 years later, it’s spiraling out of control. He now literally pees everywhere he goes, and it’s not incontinence – he goes to a spot, sits there for a moment, then raises a tail and pees. All the carpets, corners, couch – everything. I wash his blankets – and he soils them literally in first hour. I had to confine him to smaller space, with litter box and toys. When I come to check on him or play, he starts nipping, circling and mounting my legs, his tail is twitching. Nothing was changed in the room, no pets, new smells, guests or anything to make him nervous or defensive.

He has no major health issues, he eats, drinks and flops around as usual otherwise. Doesn’t seem to be stressed or in pain or anything.

I called my vet to ask if maybe this is hormonal health issue, but she’s out of the office for the holidays and I’m at my wits end. I couldn’t find anything on internet.

 

Anyone had anything similar? Any advice?

 

TLDR:

Very sweet 8yo free roam bunny, who was fixed at age of 3 month, started to mark, mount and pee everywhere he goes. There are no other pets. Any advice?

[DanaNM]

I also have a senior male bun that is prone to hormonal behaviors (excessive mounting and peeing all over)!  I did have the vet check him thoroughly for bladder issues, as there have been some cases on BB where an older male bun had a bladder stone that was triggering these types of behaviors.

In my case, the vet could not find any issues, but I did realize that his diet had a lot of dandelion in it, which is a diuretic. I cut out the dandelion and parsley, and things improved a lot.

I also am curious about the fact that he had a hard time adjusting to your new place. Could there be something going on that only he is noticing? I recall one member who’s bunnies were picking up on the fact that a house had mice and were reacting to that.

I had also looked into adrenal cancer in my case, because it’s common in older ferrets and is suspected to be a thing in older male rabbits sometimes. There isn’t really a treatment for it in rabbits, so I didn’t pursue that diagnosis (I just started ruling out everything else I could ).

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Chii]

Thank you for your reply!

His hay has some dandelion in it (Burgess) and he gets romaine lettuce and celery stalks as daily greens, with some carrot/cabbage/beet very sparingly, carrot slice and apple slice as an occasional treat.

We live in apartment, it’s freshly built. We have a dog in the neighboring flat who barks a lot, but Muffin doesn’t seem to be bothered. I also had pet rats on and off, in the same room (they did not interact) – and he was absolutely indifferent.

Behavior seems very hormonal, and I did a quick google about the adrenal cancer. The paper I found said that average age of diagnosis is 7 years 6 month, and it’s very close. But since the behavior started few years back, I wonder it is possible for it to progress slowly and cause those behaviors to worsen over time. I guess this is a question I’ll ask to my vet, once she’s back. That, and bladder issues, just in case.

[LBJ10]

Hormonal behaviors in an older neutered male can also be a sign of adrenal issues.

[Chii]

Just wanted to post an update.
I reached to my vet, and she also said it sounds like adrenal issue. She is going to take a blood test for the hormones this Sunday, and then see if levels are elevated. She said it can be treated surgically (by removing adrenal gland, but only 1 side can be removed, other is too close to some major vein) or by horomanal implant. He might be a bit too old for the surgery, as it comes with a big risk, so she’s going to try with an implant. They can also do ultrasound, but as she said it might not prove useful, that gland is quite hard to see in bunnies. So for now I sit tight and wait for the Monday, when blood test results will be in.

Muffin still marks everything, and charged on my hand once when I was cleaning up near his corner. He’s never done that before.. He wasn’t mounting anymore, but let’s see if he has health issue or is just acting out.

[Chii]

We got the blood test results, and vet said she’ll be in touch. I have the numbers, but I don’t have the reference, so it’s hard to tell if there’s an issue.

While we were at the vet’s, she did an X-ray at him, and found the sludge in his urine and in the bladder, and she told me she pressed some of it out. When Muffin got home, he was non-stop peeing with that sludge (I occasionally saw it before, but not in such amounts and didn’t think it was some problem). He also stopped eating and drinking, and seemed to be in a lot of pain.

I reached to the vet, and was instructed to give him Loxicom (meloxicam) (1.5mg/ml strength), 1.2ml orally once per day for 3 days. I gave him romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber bits of banana and apple – he barely touched anything at all.
Today I mixed his pellets with warm water, and also meds seemed to help as today he’s munching on his greens and water-pellets like a champ, but still doesn’t drink, doesn’t eat hay or pellets, and just pees a little bit all the time, and overall seems to be a bit off.

I wonder what suddenly could have happened to him? He was totally fine before appointment, and is very sick now, he’s never been like that before.

Perhaps anaesthesia was bad for him (they put gas mask on him for bloodwork), or maybe his bladder hurts because of the sludge. He’s not having it coming out anymore, though.. This is all very strange, I feel bad for taking him for a checkup.

For now, I give him water in syringe, water-pellet mix, wet greens, cucumber and bits of fruit. Fingers crossed this will pass and he’ll get well soon.

[LBJ10]

If she squeezed his bladder, then yes, it could be irritated now.

[Chii]

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@LBJ10, that sounds very reasonable..She mentioned that in passing, and did not give him any pain meds after, which bothers me. Perhaps he was not supposed to be in lots of pain after that, but he seemed on a verge of dying after we got home.

@GlennTheLionhead, thanks for your reply! It’s very interesting that Bella had the same thing. I’m glad to hear it stopped after 4 days, hopefully it will be like this for us, too. It’s a very good idea about the smoothy – I’ll try to mix it for Muffin. He doesn’t like to drink from syringe (can’t blame him!) but watter-pellets are good enough for him.

 

Today he acts a lot more like usual – small puddles here and there, no sludge and he is not all puffed up and sorry looking anymore. He was excited for his breakfast and even ate some dry pellets at night. Not drinking on his own yet, so I keep giving him very watery pellets and syringe water. I also added some squished carrot juice into water, but he won’d budge.

===

Vet replied about the hormones – she said numbers are extremely weird, and it’s not sounding like adrenal issues after all. She’s not sure what to do next, and reached out to the colleague. I’m a little bit upset, but also happy Muffin seemingly gets better. He was not displaying any hormonal behavior since we got back – no mounting or charging, but he keeps peeing all over the place. Could it be his bladder issue? I wonder if there’s something to test for there. I asked vet if we need to do anything about the sludge and she said no.

I can post his hormonal results, just in case, but I don’t have reference and vet said they are atypical. I translated them (English is not my native language), so might be a little bit off:

Progesterone => 5.6 mmol/L
17 – OH progesterone => 0.61 ng/ml
Androstendion => < 0.24 ng/ml
Testosterone => <0.0250 ng/ml
Cortizol => 32.0 nmol/L

[GlennTheLionhead]

Poor muffin, hopefully you get some conclusive results soon!

Funny that you mention about the not drinking on his own, my bunny Bella recent went under anesthetic and stopped drinking water on her own for about 4 days. I guessed this was related to the anesthetic. I had to syringe her water and make her watery cucumber and banana smoothy to encourage her to keep hydrated- maybe those are things you could try if he’s really refusing to drink on his own.

[DanaNM]

Poor Muffin! What an ordeal!

I do think his bladder (and soreness from having it expressed) could be at least partially to blame for the peeing. There could be some small crystals that ended up in his urethra that are causing him to dribble urine for some reason. Since a lot of the sludge was removed, hopefully things will improve a bit more. Keeping him really well hydrated and encouraging him to move around will help (when they move it helps the sludge get resuspended so they can pee it out).

I don’t know enough about the hormone levels to give any feedback on his levels, sorry 🙁

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Chii]

@DanaNM, Thank you for the reply!

Muffin got better it about 4-5 days, he’s now eating and drinking on his own, and back to his usual self. He does not have sludge anymore. However, we are back to square one with his initial problem – I need to keep him in one zone and wash his blankets, as he keeps peeing and marking. He does not dribble urine or strain to pee, but just hops to the corner of a blanker, puts his butt over the edge and pees on the floor. So it’s definitely behaviour, not just bladder issue that he can’t help.. I’m happy he’s not feeling miserable anymore, but unfortunately, we are not a step closer figuring out what is going on. I miss having him hang around me all the time, and chilling with me on a couch.. I’ll post an update, if there’s anything new, or if vet will get back to me.

Thank you all for the support!

 

[DanaNM]

Dang, frustrating! Hopefully with some pee-pads you can sort out a situation that’s more manageable. I know there are lots of water proof couch blankets out there now, mostly designed for folks with dogs or older cats, that might help the situation with the couch.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

What a situation… It’s been a real rollercoaster…

Now that we’re thinking of a behavioural issue: is there something in your house or building that upsets him? Peeing and chinning can be a bunny’s way of saying: “I’m affirming once again that this is MY territory!”.

Rabbits have far more sensitive hearing, touch and smell than us. Anything from perfume to cooking smells may be too much for them. Could you keep a diary of his accidents in some way? Pay attention to anything that may be a trigger, even if it seems futile to us humans. In dealing with rabbits I always picture them as people with severe autism and anxiety problems. Changes in daily activity or sudden unexpected stimuli can upset them.

 

Our bridge bunny Breintje started to act up where was construction somewhere in the area. We didn’t hear it, but he probably felt the vibrations through the ground.

We’ve worked with puppy pads too btw, but that was more of an age issue. Breintje dribbled urine when he was so relaxed that his muscles were a bit too loose. I put puppy pads on his favourite resting spots and covered them with easy to wash blankets.

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