I think I should get my bunny spayed…..

[Pepper the Bunny]

I have a female mini lop named Pepper. She is almost 3 years old. She has accidents all of the time (normally peeing on my bed or people) even though she is litter box trained. It has been happening forever so there isn’t anything wrong with her and her last vet checkup she had a clean bill of health. She also gets aggressive in her cage, I have to pick her up with a towel or blanket sometimes to get her out to play so she doesn’t bite me. She is in a dog crate now but will be upgraded to an around 36 square foot cage very soon. Do you think that her new cage will help with the cage aggression? (she doesn’t bite outside of her cage unless you startle her) And will getting her spayed help with her peeing all of the time and her aggression? I have found a vet that I want to do it but I am still nervous. She is my baby and I don’t want anything to happen to her (I’ve talked to the vet and all of their procedures and anesthesia is good) I’m just worried. any tips?

[Sarah]

Hi there,
Many female bunnies especially ones that are not spayed are territorial so the aggression could be due to that territorial nature and spaying her will definetly help with most of that aggression. However, in her eyes her cage is her safe place and by reaching in to pick her up every day you are invading her safe place and that could also be a reason that she is biting you. What you can do is move her pen to the room that you let her come out to play in and let her come out at her own pace witout reaching in to pick her up. This will help you earn some trust with her and hopefully stop her biting. With rabbits it is all about trust, so learn the signs and body language of a rabbit and when she is telling you to back off with her body language, then back off. Once you have a rabbits trust they will love you forever and will be more comfortable around you!
As for the peeing, I went through the same thing with my holland lop. He was peeing on couches, beds and people even though he never had any other accidents and was fully litter box trained. I learned that it was most likely a dominace issue. He was assurting himself as the more dominat bun by peeing on the furniture and claiming the people as his by peeing on them. I fixed this problem by restricting his acess to people, couches and beds all together. Everytime he jumped on the couch, I would nudge him off. This taught him that that behavior wasnt welcome and he hasnt peed on anything in over 6 months! Although I do keep couch covers with puppy pads layered under them on my couch just in case!
Also is normal to be nervous for a spay! I got nervous for each of my buns going into surgery. Just do your research, ask questions and find an exczperienced vet! Hope this helps!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

It’s very important that rabbits are spayed, especially the girls. Intact girls have a big chance of developing uterine cancer by age 4, so the sooner Pepper gets spayed, the better. As Sarah mentioned, territorial behaviour is usually driven by hormones and she’ll calm down in a couple of weeks. I totally understand your worry about the procedure, but the risk of complications is low nowadays. Spaying is a big operation for a bunny, but vet science has improved a lot since people started to keep house rabbits. Luckily anaesthesia and surgery techniques have become so much better that it’s considered a safe procedure when done by an experienced rabbit vet.

My BF was also very hesitant to get our male Nethie Breintje neutered, because his neighbour told him scary stories about accidents during surgery. Breintje never had hormone troubles while he still lived at my BF’s place, but when Breintje moved into my apartment he got a massive hormone surge at age 2. It drove everyone crazy: it wasn’t fun to be in the same room with him anymore because he was so frustrated and angry about everything. He started to mount everything, not only his toys but also my craft projects. It’s not a fun surprise to pick up your knitting and to find out that he’s been at your ball of wool again :/ Luckily his neuter went really well, and he bounced back to health within 3 days. With girls this recovery period will be a bit longer, and they’ll get pain killers because it’s a bigger operation. We had a happier, calmer and more snuggly bunny within weeks, and despite our hesitations it was a great decision.

About vets: the vet needs to have a lot of experience with rabbits, because they’re considered to be exotic animals. Your regular cat&dog vet may not have the required specialty. Ask a vet how many spays/neuters they do on rabbits each year, and if the vet is a certified exotic pet vet. There’s a topic on this forum with links to webpages where you can find a certified vet, it’s called “Vet Resources”
There’s one way to spot a bad vet: if they advise you to bring Pepper in sober, run! Cats, dogs and humans have to be sober for an operation because we can vomit and this can cause asphyxiation. Rabbits can’t vomit, they have a one-way system only. They’ll also need that energy to recover from the procedure. A good vet will tell you to give her a good breakfast and to bring her favourite foods in for when she wakes up.

I know that there’s a lot to consider, but I’d advise you to get her spayed to prevent uterine cancers, and to help her with all those raging hormones. Hopefully you can find a rabbit savvy vet nearby!

[Pepper the Bunny]

Sarah, thank you so much!!!! I will try to get her to trust me and move her pen to let her out!

[Pepper the Bunny]

Ellie from the Netherlands, thanks! I will look into my vet a bit more but they are certified

[Sarah]

No problem! Hope everything works out for you!

[Author]

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