Worrying behavior, wanting to spay

[Balli]

Rabbit is a female Lionhead, not yet spayed, adopted at 8 weeks old, and approaching 3 years old.

Recently my rabbit has displayed behavior that has made me worry. I litter box trained her, but she has been pooping all over the cage – even in her food dish. In the morning I find her pellets thrown all over the cage (the food dish is ceramic and heavy). When I hand feed her hay, she just bites through it and leaves the broken pieces at her feet. She destroyed 1/4 of a Lava Ledge in two hours (the whole thing usually takes her weeks).

My dainty little girl has turned destructive, messy, and a little bit mean. Is behavior this normal? Will getting her spayed possibly change this?

I am going to get her spayed for sure (80% change of cancer if not) but the places around me are incredibly expensive. The closest places by me have “Exotic Animal” in their name and are $330 and $420 respectively. An animal clinic 40 minutes away charges $99. A spay and neuter clinic 20 minutes away charges $133, including pain medication. If I had the money, without a doubt I would pay for the closer options, but I’m just a high school student.

Do not know which place to go? Thank you for reading all of this

(edit: removed irritating indenting)

[Bam]

It does sound like hormones could be the reason for her behavioral changes. Does of that age as you know tend to get problems with their reproductive organs so that they over-produce sex hormones.

I can’t say anything about your spaying-options. Can you find any reviews? You could perhaps ask local shelters/rescues who are doing their spays. If a vet does spays for a rescue, it means lots of spaying-experience.

[12345ABCDE]

So long as the vet’s have experience with spaying and treating rabbits, I would go with what you can afford. Being cheaper doesn’t mean less qualified. My vet practice (I’m in the UK) isn’t an ‘exotics vet, but they mostly treat cats, dogs and rabbits and are very knowledgeable about rabbit care. They only charged £101 for the spay plus metacam.

[SeeShmemilyPlay]

I would see if the $99 or $130 places are actually comfortable spaying rabbits. Ask them that over the phone, and ask if they’re confident the bunny will be okay. Vets are typically honest people– they usually care about animals, and will tell you if they’re not 100% comfortable with the procedure. If they’re comfortable, go with the cheapest/easiest option for you. My vet only charged $80 for meds and the spay and they’re confident working with rabbits, while another across the street charged $300 and was very honest and told me the procedure was dangerous for them as they hadn’t worked with many rabbits.

[Balli]

I really appreciate the replies!! I will thoroughly look into the two lower priced places.

[Author]

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