Should I neuter my buck?

[Dubbsmama1]

My little man is truly the love of my life. He loves cuddling and being pet. He sleeps next to me every night and kisses me in the morning. More recently, he started peeing and pooping all over our bed! I cannot discipline him because he is just too cute. I am scared for him to have surgery, but I am tired of stripping my bed daily and having to vacuum over 10 times a day. He did not start doing this until we moved into a beautiful new house. His litter box habits are practically non existent. Could I train him!? Or is neuter the only option

[Mel94]

Generally, the advice is to get bunnies spayed or neutered because they’ll live healthier and happier lives once they have been done. They’ll be less aggressive, less destructive, calmer and easier to litter train afterwards. Spayed/neutered buns won’t have the risk of developing cancer in their reproductive organs. Also, if you ever wanted to get another bun at some point to bond with your buck, they’d both need to be ‘fixed’ to ensure the safety for both of them before they can be put together to start bonding. Although there’s always a risk with every surgical procedure, the procedure is safer for neuters than it is for spays because it is a far less invasive procedure and if you make sure you take your bun to a rabbit-savvy vet then you are increasing the chances of how successful the procedure will be.

The House Rabbit Society has all the information and any possible questions you’d want to ask a vet here. It also helps you find a suitable rabbit-savvy vet in your area. http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

[Dubbsmama1]

Behavior wise he is the perfect little man aside from the new bathroom habits which are truly disgusting. He does have a vet Dr. dalessandro at creek side animal hospital in Noxen, PA. She isn’t listed, but I believe she is rabbit savvy. There are even buns, some disabled that live at her clinic. I just worry about the actual procedure itself. I have no friends that have buns and no one understands how special he is to me so any help or advice is much appreciated!!

[Dubbsmama1]

Mel, why would his vet not be on the list? I was actually referred to her by a breeder she cares for their babies. There is another local vet that is on the list. Am I better off with him?

[Azerane]

He’s marking his territory when he pees and poops on your bed, some bunnies also just really loving to pee on soft things. Can you limit him to floor time without letting him on the bed? Or does he just jump up anyway?

Neutering would certainly help with his litter habits as it cuts down on territorial marking, however no one can say for sure that it will 100% fix it. It may take a bit of work because he’s probably quite in the habit of going to the toilet there now. Neutering, while scary, is very routine surgery and not invasive. If you are particularly worried about it, you can request to get a blood culture done before hand (extra $$) to check his organ function etc to make sure he’s healthy for surgery. Bunnies are dropped off and picked up the same day and don’t need to be fasted. I was really worried when Bandit went in for his snip, but nothing went wrong

Does he use his litter tray at all? Perhaps he doesn’t like the position that it’s in?

[Dubbsmama1]

Thanks for responding. He jumps up anyway and he is too cute for me to discipline him especially because when he comes into bed is when he wants pats and to snuggle…. Then pee LOL. he used his litter box 100% for over a year, we moved and he started peeing and constantly pooping on our bed, now it is getting more and more frequent and becoming a problem. He uses his litter box still, except when he wants to be in bed with me! Glad bandits surgery went so well makes me feel better to hear that

[LBJ10]

It sounds like the move triggered it. He felt the need to mark and now he’s probably used to marking there. The only thing you can do is block him from getting on the bed. Neutering him will likely help. But as Azerane pointed out, there is the possibility that it won’t fix the problem 100%.

You can talk to your vet about neutering him and ask how experienced they are with the surgery. If they are rabbit savvy, they will know what they are doing. There is always a risk with any surgery, but the vast majority of bunnies make it through just fine. I think this is especially true with neuters since they are less invasive.

Just because your vet isn’t listed on the HRS’s website, it doesn’t mean they aren’t a good vet. My vet isn’t listed and she does a very good job.

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