Neutered Bunny is overly Sexually Aggressive

[Lily]

I currently own a male dutch rabbit around the age of six to seven years. Within the past few months he’s been showing very persistent and increased hormonal and aggressive behaviors, even though he was fixed when he was a few months old. I know rabbits that are neutered can be occasionally hormonal, but he never stops this behavior! I cannot be in the same room as him without him circling me, honking at me, thumping his feet, biting me, and humping me. Whenever I’m around him, his penis comes out. I tried getting him a stuffed bunny, and it worked for about ten minutes, but then he went right back to me and started again. My dad suggested that maybe he was becoming increasingly hormonal because of boredom. I brought him to some new places to explore and bought some new toys for him, but it doesn’t help at all… I tried researching online but there really isn’t much information out there on this topic. Could the veterinarian have neutered him wrong? I tried calling his vet, but they keep telling me to call back and I’ve called 4 times now… I believe she’s the only one in town who sees rabbits and she was the one that did his surgery.

[DanaNM]

Hmmm, this is strange!

It is possible for neuters to be “incomplete”, where they miss a few cells so the buns still behave hormonally, but usually the symptoms of that show up right away, rather than delayed in life.

Since it is a recent change, I think a vet visit is in order. Rather than requesting to talk about a failed neuter, I would schedule an exam and request blood work. You can give the vet all the behaviors you’ve noticed and she might have an idea of what could be going on.

I don’t want to be alarmist, but at his age (and since he is neutered), I am wondering if something could be going on medically that triggered this.

. . . 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.  

[Bam]

Hypersexuality in a castrated male can be due to illness, BB once had a bun that was excessively humpy and it turned out he had a bladder problem.

Here’s some info from the HRS about Marshall, a hyper-sexual male neutered bun: http://rabbit.org/sexy-bunnies/

Molly Varga (British rabbit vet) says hypersexuality in a castrated male can be due to for example incomplete castration or production of testosterone outside the testicles or an adrenal gland problem: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2044-3862.2010.00011.x

[Lily]

I talked to my mom about bringing him to the vet and she said that it isn’t worth the money since he’s already so old… I don’t know what to do because at this point it’s unpleasant to be around him…

[Bunny House]

Buns can live to be over 10, so I would say it’s worth taking him to a vet. He could have some organ issues or incomplete neuter as mentioned above. I know many vets who have done incomplete neuters and they don’t own up to do.

[LBJ10]

Bam is correct. There could be an underlying medical problem. Perhaps your mom just doesn’t realize that there is a chance the problem could be fixed. Bam gave you some good links, you could show them to your mom so she can see that an underlying medical can cause this. Also let her know that 6 or 7 isn’t that old. Especially now that we know so much more about rabbit care than we did a generation ago. There are bunnies that live into their teens. I knew someone who had a Dutch rabbit that lived to 14!

[DanaNM]

Agree with what other’s have said, 6 is really middle aged in rabbit years these days. Probably about the same as a 50 year old human… certainly not pushing up the daisies!

I think there is also sometimes the assumption that whatever problem it is will be prohibitively expensive to treat. Of course I don’t know your situation, but there are many things that are quite simple to treat, so don’t assume that the problem will be complicated. The first link Bam posted is a perfect example of that.

. . . 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.  

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