Should I neuter?

Ok guys I was NOT planning on neutering AJ as he is or has been docile and generally gentle with me and others.

I have noticed lately That while still generally gentle and docile he is becoming A LOT more pushy/demanding, he has taken to waking me up in the early hours of the morning 5-6 am by making his cage make noise by pulling the door wire and letting go, which is not fun to hear at the top of your head at that time of morning when you've only been asleep a couple hours..

Besides being being more pushy/demanding (No aggressive behavior or noises that I can hear) he has peed a couple more times on my bed and has just, right before typing this, showed me his LOVE bunny style! He is also chinning everything including my dog the other night... my dog just looked at AJ like he was crazy.

I am wondering if people think I should neuter him too? Or if I am just overreacting. We do have wild bunnies around our apartment complex so I am sure some of their smell comes in on my shoes, clothes, and dog. I am lost as to what to do.....

The peeing/spraying alone would convince me to do it, yuck! But there are always risks with surgery. I'm gonna go with yes, as long as the vet does a thorough health check first and deems him fit for surgery. And of course make sure it's a rabbit savvy vet with lots of experience neutering rabbits. Ask them lots of questions.

Yes. He is clearly bothered by his hormones and neutering will help with everything you mentionned. It's an easy and quick surgery too. If your rabbit is young and in good health and that you can find a vet who is experienced with rabbits, I wouldn't hesitate to do it before his bad habits can settle in. The shaking the bars bit might be from boredom though. How many hours does he spend outside of his cage?

First the vet I have for AJ I love! I have called the office with questions in general about things and she personally calls back. The first time I went in with AJ she answered my TONS of questions and didn't seem annoyed with the amount and was very pleasant.

When AJ had his Dental I sent a paper with questions for my information about his teeth and about things like his nails I was concerned about and she wrote the answers back.

As for outside cage time I am limiting it because of behaviors and he doesn't get much but I am doing my best to keep him out as much as possible. He only seems to really shake the bars at that one time of morning. The rest of the day and night he's ok.

I had his cage open most of the day yesterday as I was home but he never came out. This morning though he's running around like someone put a rocket in him. And I think I got to see his version of a binky when going from cage to my bed or he scared himself. He jumped up but forward but all legs were still pointing down and his feet reached as high as his back usually is when he's on the ground. Either way it was cute!

He will still be getting neutered though as I want to lessen any stress in his body, even if it is hormonal.

Keep in mind that neutering will only help with the behaviors directly affected by hormones. Peeing on beds, shaking cage bars, are activities all rabbits, even if neutered/spayed, seem to enjoy But you really never know until you've done it. It could completely clear up the behaviors that are causing issues, maybe just some of the behaviors, or none at all. It's best to go into it hopeful but not expecting too much.

You should also keep in mind that there can be other behavior changes. In my bun that was a very calm and friendly rabbit pre neuter, neutering him made him too sedate and less friendly. He's still a nice boy and is happy being able to be with his bunny family, but he's much less interested in being friendly with humans and isn't even that friendly with his bun family. Then I have other boy buns(his brothers) that hardly changed at all with their neuters(personality wise), just the humping and urine marking cleared up, but they are still the grumpy bossy little things that they were before

Yes, neutering will prevent chewing, humping, biting, digging, spraying, cancer, naughty demanding or aggressive behaviour, sexual frustration. Making AJ more calm and loving and still as docile and as adorable as ever. Best thing I did for doogle. His balls were huge! Now he's still docile and loving but so much more happy and relaxed w/out all those gonad hormones raging around making him wanna hump all in sight. As for chin rubs, he's saying that whatever he rubs belongs to him lol he's laying down his scent from the glands under his chin, marking his territory!

I have to add a caveat to what is being assumed. Much of the time neutering does not change their temperament, but not always. I specifically remember one poster on here who had their sweet male neutered and he did a Jekyll and Hyde switch on them. He became mean, aggressive and biting after he was neutered. They tried various things but nothing helped. Most likely will not happen to you, but I thought it was important that you know it's possible. Some of the behaviors you mentioned are not hormonal anyway.

DoogleTheBunnyPuppy said:

Yes, neutering will prevent chewing, humping, biting, digging, spraying, cancer, naughty demanding or aggressive behaviour, sexual frustration. Making AJ more calm and loving and still as docile and as adorable as ever. Best thing I did for doogle. His balls were huge! Now he's still docile and loving but so much more happy and relaxed w/out all those gonad hormones raging around making him wanna hump all in sight. As for chin rubs, he's saying that whatever he rubs belongs to him lol he's laying down his scent from the glands under his chin, marking his territory!

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Apparently my spayed and neutered rabbits didn't get this memo

They love to chew on things, dig, on occasion hump, nip, and spray, and I had one that I could never cure of biting(though she did love to cuddle with me). Chinning did decrease with some, and not much at all with others.

It's important to take into account what majorv mentioned. You need to be aware of the worst that can happen so you can make a well informed decision. But negative behavioral changes are uncommon and neutering more often than not leaves the rabbit calmer and better behaved, by eliminating unwanted hormonal behaviors, though not necessarily learned behaviors that are a learned trait. Neutering/spaying doesn't fix everything.

My latest bun to get neutered was 5 yrs. and very hormonal and humpy, though also very affectionate and friendly. Humping completely cleared up 4 weeks post neuter, except for the occasional hump when he gets overly excited about food, and he's still the really affectionate and friendly bun that he was before, though maybe a tad less affectionate.

Thank you ALL for the great advice!

So far no more pees and only that one time bunny loving that took me off guard. I am going to use a wait and see approach on this as he is a VERY lovable and docile boy and I found that if something with his scent or both our scents are covering the majority of the previously peed and cleaned areas that he hasn't done it (to my knowledge) again.

The chinning doesn't bother me and in fact I find it absolutely fine. It's the urine I don't like. Chinning to me is like a cat rubbing it's head against something.

I also called my vet and money is a big issue also as it will cost 240 to neuter him.

One bonus to neutering (if you do end up going that way) is that it makes his urine smell less awful!

Ravenous,

He is actually pretty good with using the litter box. I have started using feline pine as of the first week of July sometime and until you dump the litter box you smell nothing. Unless he decides he wants to be a brat outside his cage. He peed on my pillow the other day so I am down a pillow, good thing I sleep with 2. I am NOT cleaning a pillow with rabbit pee on it. The bed, yes, pillow no.