Taking Molly to an expert clinic: hypersexuality, suspected adrenal tumor

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Oof, that was a big shock! But at least: it’s someone who knows what he’s talking about!

I’ve been calling vets in our area, but nobody knew what do to with our girl Molly. The vets just looked at each other and went: “But she’s spayed…”. When I asked about getting her hormones tested they answered that that couldn’t be done, and that was that.

One vet finally referred me to a specialised clinic on the other side of the country. The clinic told me to send an email to their rabbit expert to describe her symptoms. He looked at the pictures of her spraying habits and her behaviour, and said: hypersexual, no two ways about it!

He suspects that it might be an adrenal tumor. That was a big shock. On the other hand: it’s been like this for weeks, even months, and she’s still there. If it was very aggressive, it would probably have gotten her by now.

We can bring her to a university veterinary clinic next Thursday. That’s the biggest rabbit medical centre of the country, so they’re bound to do proper research there.

All this time we heard different vets and behavioural experts say “Oh, it’s just puberty”, “Wait a couple of weeks”, “Can’t be hormones, she’s fixed”, “Hormone tests can’t be done on rabbits”, etc. And not a single one of them gave me a referral to someone who could tell me more!

My trust in vets is at an all-time low 😥 You should be able to trust them on things like these. They should refer to others if they don’t know something.

It was your advice here on the forum that kept me pushing and pushing to find someone who would diagnose her, so I’m deeply thankful for all of your advice! I just hope I’m not too late 😥

[Bam]

Goodness, Ellie! So you glad you’ve managed to get her seen! I know adrenal tumors are fairly common in ferrets.

Fingers so crossed the specialist vets will find out whats wrong and hopefully be able to cure it.

 

[DanaNM]

Did they discuss the possibility of an incomplete spay? I just wonder if at her small size the vet who did the spay could have missed something (like a tiny ovary perhaps). At her age I’m surprised they suspect a tumor! But it sounds like you have found a great vet so I’m sure they will get to the bottom of it!

. . . 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]

Our own vet claimed high and low that they had removed everything. But he also claimed that you couldn’t do hormone tests on rabbits and that all this was just puberty.

So, I don’t know what to expect anymore…

Our best hope is indeed that they messed up her spay somehow. Or maybe Molly has an intersex condition? We hope to get more answers soon.

[DanaNM]

Hopefully you get some answers soon!

. . . 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]

Intersex is not too uncommon in rabbits. Hopefully its sth that can be fixed without too much trouble.

[LBJ10]

Oh dear, Molly does seem a bit young to have an adrenal tumor. I mean, I guess you never know. But I’m hoping it is something more simple like the others have suggested. There could be a little piece of ovary still in there. Or she could be intersex and the first vet just missed the other stuff assuming they were only looking for a uterus and ovaries. As Bam said, intersex bunnies are more common than people realize.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Update: today we did an intake, we saw a specialist, and they did an abdominal echo under sedation. The echo didn’t show any tumors or oddities in her abdomen, nor problems with her spay 🥳

That means that we’re going in for a second round of tests somewhere within 2 weeks. They’re going to do an extensive screening of the hormone levels in her blood, and we’re going to see a second specialist.

The specialist that we saw today already said that her behaviour is pretty abnormal. If it’s not hormones it may be her severe anxiety disorder, so if her blood tests return normal I’m going to ask if there’s such a thing as anxiolytics for rabbits. (The rabbit of a friend of mine was put on antipsychotics because he was heavily traumatised and chewed his own leg, so there are cases where rabbits need psychiatric medication.)

It was a long day today: we spent 4 hours in the waiting room between all the tests. I’m glad that I packed lunch and snacks because of my coeliac disease. We had an appointment at 11:00 and have just come home around 19:00 😵 I’m so happy with my meal prepping freezer at times like these.

[LBJ10]

A tiny piece of ovary may be difficult to pick up on a scan, so hopefully the blood tests give you some answers.

[prince dorian the bun]

Hope you finally get some answers Ellie! And glad there are no tumors.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Update!

We got a call from the professor, he said that there were some interesting results. He can’t give a diagnosis yet, but something is definitely up!

He compared her hormone levels to those of an intact male and a spayed female. The spayed female has no hormones, the intact male has a lot of hormones, and Molly has a bit of hormones which shouldn’t have been there. With that result, they’re going to compare her levels to the hormone levels of unspayed females, to see how much her hormone levels deviate. I’m not expecting any results this year, but the study is ongoing. They’re actually taking her up in a scientific study. The scientist in me finds that very interesting and loves a chance to help Molly and possibly other rabbits like her. The bunny owner in me is just worried about my little girl.

Molly had a massive bout of aggression in the 3 weeks after the test. The professor found that very interesting and a clear sign that her behaviour problems are at least partially hormonal. I managed to record a video of her aggression, and they’re very happy with it. I’m also keeping a diary of her aggression levels and her big mood swings. Molly can go from a full-fledged panic attack to bossy and arrogant within 2 hours. You never know whether it’s heads or tails with her. No wonder that Owen is confused… Ah well, we have a situation that works for the moment. And let’s see what happens when they’ve gathered more results.

 

[BZOO]

Glad to hear that you seem to be on the right path.  Hugs to Molly.  Nice that you found more competent vets.

Many, many years ago we had a ferret experiencing serious symptoms.  Vet said, I don’t know, handed her back and she continued screaming in pain, back of head touching her back, she was a U.

We were at a total loss and simply had to OD her on NyQuil to end her pain.  That was the only ferret vet and they showed no interest in helping or putting her out of her misery.

Later on, we suspected incomplete spay.  Who knows though.  It was an awful experience.  Lost a lot of trust in vets.

Now a days, I love my dogs vet and the goat vet.  Rabbit/bird vet is good, but don’t have much of a personal situation going on there.

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