Will the smell go once she’s spayed?

[AnniLop]

 hi everyone,

i’m new to owning a bunny and my first bunny is a French Lop.  I got her a little less then a month ago as a gift for Christmas.  She’s sooo laid back, loves to be petted and we’re working on the being handled part.  I call her Marble-Cake.  She’s 6 months now.  When I first got her she was always just sleeping, eating, exploring for 5 minutes.. then back to sleeping.  She’s not very destructive, at least not as destructive as I’ve read about some bunnies.  Anywho, I believe she’s now reached puberty ’cause she’s started to grab my leg or arm and started mounting me.  I’ll push her off but she does funny grunting and buzzing noises.  Being as large as she is I was kinda afraid in the beginning but now I just shake her off, or I take advantage of her destraction by picking her up and giving her a hug which she calms down in my arms and I can hold her for a little bit.  But I’ve noticed that her litter is more stinky then it was before.  I have one of those siffing litters where I elevated the grid part with little metal sauce cups so she never comes in contact with her litter.  I then scoop out the poops daily that are on the grid.  I change and clean the litter with vinegar every 4 days.  but now even after 2 days the urine under the grid is smellier then it was when i first got her  I was wondering if this had something to do with her hitting puberty?  I made an appointment next week to get her spayed.  For the litter, I use lots of sheets of newspaper and 4 heaping cups of yesterday’s news unscented.  Once she’s neutered will she not be soo smelly like before (meaning like 2 weeks ago).  I was wondering also if she never comes in contact with the litter, is it bad to get the scented yesterday’s news?

thanks any info i really would appreciate!

 

 

[Stickerbunny]

Yes, that is her hormones causing the smell and it will go away about a month after her altering.

Don’t get scented litter, it’s not good for bunnies. If you want something that is better at hiding the smell, try feline pine (WSP) or Aspen litter.

[Sarita]

You might consider switching to a sawdust pelleted litter.

Also she probably needs an extra large box as she is an extra large rabbit. I also think that the grid if it’s plastic is just going to eventually hold odors even if it’s cleaned frequently.

[kinggoblin]

I didn’t like newspaper or yesterdays news ( or any paper product ) for litter, feline pine is the only thing that makes my bunny’s litter box not stink.

[AnniLop]

Thanks for the info guys! I was thinking of switching to pine pellets cause I like the woody smell better, but … being the cheapo person that I am I calculated that Yesterday’s News at Walmart was a more economical purchase. They do have the feline pine but the bag isn’t as big. I was also thinking of maybe if I really REALLY desperate to save a buck I could go for the shavings… would that absorb good and keep the smell down? I put newspaper under all the litter as it’s just easier to roll up and toss away. She does have a big cat litter box as she’s quite a fatty. Right now I have her in an XL dog crate and an xpen attached to her crate so I let her out. She’s good with her litter…usually. Once she’s spayed I want to let her out to roam more : ).

[BinkyBunny]

Urine at this stage will definitely be a bit more pungent.  And it may last for about a month until her hormones die down.  Regarding the type of litter, You do want to stay away from pine shaving even if she doesn’t come in contact with them directly.  I have used aspen shavings before, but I personally didn’t like the way it controlled odor.  For me the best odor controlling litter is Aspen Supreme — aspen pellets, not shavings.  But it is rather expensive so I then started mixing it with Yesterday’s News and that did just as well.  But if I can’t find Aspen Supreme, I prefer Yesterday’s News by itself. I do however scoop urine soaked litter daily, so that may be why it isn’t too smelly. 

[Author]

Messages