I have experience with a male who’s been neutered since he was a baby, a female who was unspayed her entire life, and a female who was spayed as an adult, so allow me to compare and contrast.
I did absolutely no research before getting buns and decided that I wanted two females, so that I wouldn’t have to deal with territory behaviours and so that I wouldn’t have to pay to get them fixed.
Well, that worked for about 3 months before Lahi’s balls dropped, lol. So he got neutered. Picca stayed intact. She was... grumpy might be an understatement. She was successfully litter trained, and curious and inquisitive, just like Lahi. They would explore and run around together. She’d come and climb all over me. She could be a sweetie sometimes. Other times... well, I discovered that bunnies can growl. Picca would pin her ears back and snarl, lashing out with her claws. She was VERY territorial.
Lahi has always been the most gentle bun when it comes to humans. He’ll yank some fur out when he’s having a dispute with a bun, but he has never ever used his teeth on me for anything but gently grabbing a limb in an attempt to move it. He did draw blood once when I stupidly put my hands between him and Picca while he was lunging for her, but that was an accident, and very shallow. He was only trying to grab her fur. He’s not cuddly in the slightest but I think that’s because I handled him way too much as a baby. Toward his bonded bunnies he wants to have the biggest cuddles. He also loves my mom, and will climb up into her lap as she sits in her armchair, jump up to her shoulder, and cuddle her face. I am the giver of medicine and the harbinger of vet visits, so I get fond ankle pokes and climbed on, but my hands are Not To Be Allowed The Privilege Of Touching His Dignified Person, or face the angry foot of I Am Deeply Offended and the foot flicks of How Dare You and the cold shoulder of Shun The Blasphemer.
Pictures because seriously his adoration for my mother has to be seen. I think she was more upset about him moving out than me when I got an apartment.
(Bald ear due to surgery to remove a malignant tumour at the base)
The most aggression he’s ever shown is toward the hated litter scoop. He was neutered shortly after his balls dropped, and never got around to developing bad behaviours. He will occasionally pee outside the litter box, but I attribute that to the fact that he is currently 12, rather than any deliberate behaviour. He’s getting a little forgetful in his dotage!
When Picca and Lahi were 5 years old, I got wind of a rabbit who needed a home, and agreed I could take her. Delilah was also not spayed.
Delilah was and always has been the biggest cuddlebun, the most loving and vivacious rabbit I have ever met. It quickly became apparent that she was badly neglected by her previous owner, and desperately wanted to be loved.
She would also, if I let her run around a room, occasionally leap into the air and TWIST, spraying pee in a full 360’ circle like some sort of furry sprinkler.
She had a LOT of bad habits, but they were pretty much attributable to the neglect she experienced. She would rattle the bars of her cage for HOURS on end. She would rhythmically thump her foot for HOURS. She would absolutely destroy all attempts to keep litter in the litter box, digging it furiously everywhere. She was litter trained but the litter wouldn’t stay in the box after the fact. She would shove her face into her food bowl and try to inhale her food, and actually did end up choking a couple times from eating too fast. So on top of being neglected she had been deprived of food, too :’(
She was too clueless about how to be a proper rabbit to really be territorial, but Picca was VERY territorial. It took a solid year of extreme effort to bond the two girls. Lahi pretty much took one sniff and started grooming Delilah. Picca was much, much less willing. After a year they could finally be in the same room without a divider, though I honestly don’t think they were ever fully bonded. I have exactly three pictures of all three buns cuddling, and Lahi’s in the middle in all three pictures. We got a few months of bonded bliss, sort of. Then the two girls got into one massive, fur-flying fight, and never forgave each other. They couldn’t even be separated by cage bars without trying to bite each other’s faces off.
Then, at age 6, Picca died. The vet palpated her abdomen the night before when we brought her in for laboured breathing, awkward head carriage, and overall signs of pain. He found masses in her abdomen, and it was then I was finally educated about the risk of cancer in unspayed females. We took her home and she was found dead in the morning.
I’m pretty sure Delilah was the only reason Lahi didn’t follow his sister out of grief. She cuddled the hell out of him, kept him moving, and eventually he began eating again with major encouragement.
Delilah was booked for a spay the very next month.
Delilah’s behaviour has improved immensely compared to how she used to be, but a lot of that is just getting proper love and affection. She can walk away from a bowl that still has food in it, and I celebrated a LOT the first time that happened. She’s not as cuddly as she used to be, but again, I think that’s because she feels secure that I’m always going to be around for cuddles whenever she wants them, and so now while she’s busy exploring she’ll duck my hand. Cuddles LATER, mummy! Right now, ADVENTURES!! She also isn’t solely reliant on humans for affection anymore, being bonded to Lahi, and I have heard a number of people comment that buns seem to be less cuddly when they have options other than humans.
She’ll still rattle cage bars (of a cage she’s not even INSIDE!!) but not as often and not for as long. When she gets stressed out she’ll sometimes lapse into the rhythmic foot thumping. She still makes a total mess of litter boxes and it’s a never ending battle to keep her messmaking contained.
What she does not do: spray pee in an airborne acrobatic display of flexibility!
While I don’t know how much of the reduction of many of her habits is decreased hormones and how much is just recovering from neglect, I will say that overall she’s massively improved, and I can’t say that she’s had any behaviours develop after being spayed that are bad.
And the fact that she won’t be getting reproductive cancer? I’m now of the firm opinion that ALL female pet rabbits should be spayed, and it’s almost unethical not to. Just like we have our impacted wisdom teeth removed before they can cause problems, when a rabbit has an 80% chance of reproductive cancer...
Lahi is 12 years old this year, and quickly coming up on having lived longer without his sister than with her. Picca had her lifespan cut in HALF because I didn’t do my research and get her spayed. She died in pain, leaving Lahi desperately grieving his sister and bondmate, and it’s 100% and entirely my fault. The regret I hold for that is intense.
There are just so many reasons why neutering and spaying a rabbit is a good thing, and so few reasons why it could possibly be a bad thing. Removing hormones doesn’t change their personality, it just takes away a huge influence on their behaviour.
I’ve met people with male rabbits who are sweet and gentle and they don’t see a reason to get them neutered. But they’re also alone, and I’m in the “rabbits need to be with other rabbits” camp, and that is almost impossible without neutering first. As much as we love our bunnies, we have lives that don’t revolve around them, the way bunnies revolve around each other.
But female rabbits? Oh lord. 80% chance of reproductive cancer after age 4. Save yourself the grief of losing your furry child to a completely preventable death. Speaking from experience: if I could go back in time Picca would have been spayed at the same time Lahi was neutered. No hesitation.
