Males spraying?

[CuddlesMom]

I have a baby boy rabbit i just luvs him to deathlol! I am gonna get him neutured....but i heard boy rabbits "spray" isthis true and if you get him fixed will it stop?? mine is only about3-5 mo old he isnt spraying yetnot that i can tell.....but hedoes like to use the corners of my house as his litter pan!!:? ( that'sonly when i have him out to run around)

 

[batbunny]

batman doesnt "spray," he kinda"shoots".lol...when hes mad, hell stick his bum in the air &pee on something of importance (i.e.:schoolwork, bills)...now that ithink about it, it might be spraying, but he doesnt do it on otherstuff. only random things when hes angry with me...what a little turd.hes been quite naughty lately... hopefully hell calm down after he getsneutered.

 

[Carolyn]

Hi NewMommieof4 and Batbunny,

Getting your boys neutered will definitely mellow this behavior out, atleast it does in 95% of the cases. The boys do tend to'spray' or 'shoot' as Batbunny said, and the younger the bunny, theless control they seem to have.

You might try putting a corner litterbox in the areas where thetroublemaker enjoys to mark the most. Also, I've found awatergun to be very helpful in getting my Tucker trained to go to thelitterbox. There's no way I'm fast enough to shoo him out ofthe way, but the water can catch him! Give him a couple ofwarnings and then, give him a little shot of water and say "Get in thebox!" It helped me to get Tucker litter trained.

When he does go in the litterbox, cheer him on or give him atreat. He'll quickly learn that that's what he's supposed todo and I do think that they want to please us (when they're not angrywith us). They also have a sense of guilt when they misbehaveand get in trouble.

-Carolyn

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Some times it does fix this, sometimes it doesn't.Spice doesn't spray anymore, but Mocha still does, sometimes it ends upon the wall when it's on their fur and they kick their back legs out.

 

[Carolyn]

True, True, M&SMom. Hopefullywith age, Mr. Mocha will chill out. Tucker still does spraywhen I get mad at him or vice versa, but compared to when he was ababy, it's most improved. Good Point though. Notall things can be fixed with neutering or spaying, but in most cases,the action is curtailed. Not all, but most.

-Carolyn

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

The spraying doesn't bother me, they are outsideand it's not a big deal, and inside, he rarely sprays, he doesn't evengo to the bathroom inside, he's a good boy.

 

[Carolyn]

What a little sweetie!!

-Carolyn

 

[MyBunnyLovesMe]

Peppy is 10 months old, not neutered and he's never sprayed.... maybe I'm lucky... lol

 

[CuddlesMom]

I think ill wait till he ismaybe 6- 8mo to get fixed. I heard his testies have to drop i think illlet the vet check to seeif they did lol....my neighbor has abunny he is now over 1 yr she told me he would lift his butt and sprayher walls while he was in his cageack! Im doing ok w/ the lilbaby puddles he is making for nownot so sure i wanna dealwith that at 1 yr or older~I also now that neutering wont stop that100% the spraying

 

[Carolyn]

Hi NewMommieof4,

For most rabbits, spraying is greatly decreased. Tucker onlydoes it when he's mad at me, and it's not spraying, he just urinates abit outside of the litterbox. More rabbits are helped thannot in the area of refraining from spraying after neutered.

Generally speaking, they also mellow out and become more loving.

-Carolyn

 

[MyBunnyLovesMe]

Why am I stuck with the un normal rabbits...... lol

 

[Pepper]

Carolyn wrote:

True,True, M&SMom. Hopefully with age, Mr. Mocha willchill out. Tucker still does spray when I get mad at him orvice versa, but compared to when he was a baby, it's mostimproved. Good Point though. Not all things can befixed with neutering or spaying, but in most cases, the action iscurtailed. Not all, but most.

-Carolyn

I was just wondering,my rabbit Pepper Is a year old and hedoesn't spray and he hasn't ever sprayed since we got him last June.Doyou think we should get him neutered? I was just trying to get youroption on this.Thank-you

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Pepper.

I do think it's a good idea to have him neutered if you're not going tobreed him with others because it definitely adds years to their lives,and it usually mellows out their aggressive and obnoxiousbehaviors

Males also tend territorialize less after neutering and are usually better about their litterbox habits.



-Carolyn

 

[Pepper]

Carolyn wrote:

Hi Pepper.

I do think it's a good idea to have him neutered if you're not going tobreed him with others because it definitely adds years to their lives,and it usually mellows out their aggressive and obnoxiousbehaviors

Males also tend territorialize less after neutering and are usually better about their litterbox habits.



-Carolyn

Do you know about how much it costs for neutering and how long it takes the vet to neuter him?

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Pepper,

The animal hospital in my area neuters them,including anovernight visit to monitor them at a total price of $68. Manyhospitals do the operation in the morning and the rabbit is home thatnight. My animal hospital keeps them overnight just to be onthe safe side, but I don't believe such a thing is practiced by a lotof animal hospitals.

You can check with your animal hospitals, shelters, or inquire whereyou got Pepper if they would recommend someone. Definitelymake sure it's a vet that has donethe procedure before and isfamiliar.

If you had gotten Pepper from a shelter or humane society, sometimesthey do the operation at a minimal cost to encourage people to gettheir animals from them.

Shop around for the best deal.

-Carolyn

 

[Pepper]

 

[Pepper]

Pepper wrote:

Carolyn wrote:

Hi Pepper,

The animal hospital in my area neuters them,including anovernight visit to monitor them at a total price of $68. Manyhospitals do the operation in the morning and the rabbit is home thatnight. My animal hospital keeps them overnight just to be onthe safe side, but I don't believe such a thing is practiced by a lotof animal hospitals.

You can check with your animal hospitals, shelters, or inquire whereyou got Pepper if they would recommend someone. Definitelymake sure it's a vet that has donethe procedure before and isfamiliar.

If you had gotten Pepper from a shelter or humane society, sometimesthey do the operation at a minimal cost to encourage people to gettheir animals from them.

Shop around for the best deal.

-Carolyn

HI! Carolyn

I didcall the animal hospital,where I take him to get his nails trimmed andthe vet I have for Pepper told me that most people don't neuter theirrabbits,unlesstheyhave a male &female together and they have little ones.Other, wise they told me Idon't need to have him neutered.Iknow where I live,not everyvet deals with rabbits,like they do with cats & dogs.When,I hadcalled around to find a vet that would clip his nails,not that manyvets accept rabbits.Is that the same way where you live?I don't knowwhysome vets don't deal with rabbits?Also, I forgotto mention I got him a pet store.

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Pepper,

It's a personal choice whether you have the little guy neutered or not,but I beg to differ about most people not having their pet rabbitsfixed. Certainly some do, and some don't. Istrongly stand by what I said above about it prolonging their lives,mellowing them out, territorializing needs reducing as well asaggressiveness. The percentages of uterine cancer is muchhigher in unspayed females than spayed ones. Males are moreat risk for testicular cancer later in their lives than those that havebeen neutered, but the numbers aren't nearly as high as the unspayedfemale.

Putting a rabbit under anesthesia has to be done precisely because therabbit can be in grave danger if the wrong dosage isadministered. Another reason why the vet really has to knowwhat they're doing. You'll find that many vets don't havemuch training in the area of rabbits, which I would suspect is thereason why they don't treat them. It's a challenge to findvets that are rabbit saavy. When you find one, hold on tightto him/her.

I called the Humane Society of Canada trying to get a price forMyBunnyLovesMe this morning. I was referred to a shelter andthe shelter will spay/neuter any animal that people adopt from them,free of charge. Then I called 3 vets and none of them spayedrabbits. It's a difficult operation to spay a rabbit and youhave to know what you're doing. Neutering isn't asinvasive. Never did find a vet in Canada that spayed, butafter about 4 phone calls, I decided that I'd leave it up to Michelle(MyBunnyLovesMe).

In my area, I do have a good animal hospital and one of the vettechnicians has had rabbits for many many years, so I trustthem. They will deal with neutering rabbits, but notspaying.

Clipping the nails isn't too difficult once you get somepractice. I used to be scared to death of it and Tucker wouldsense it. Now we do it without much effort, but I can relateto wishing to have someone else do it. Never had a problemwith it though except for my breaking out into a sweat and Tuckershedding a bed.

Good luck in whatever choice youmake.

-Carolyn

 

[CuddlesMom]

I called in my area it ranges from83.00to 160. The 83.00 i guess dont count any fluids they have to give himor meds before/after the procedure. Now that i think about iti think it was less to get my dog fixed! lol...ohh yeah what does itmean when they thump there foot on the ground?? My daughter dropped abatterie this am and he thumped his foot!

 

[Carolyn]

NewMommieof4,

Thanks for the information about spaying costs. Wow! :shock:

A thump can mean a number of things: he's trying to getattention; is warning others of danger (that's what they do in the wildwhen a predator is nearby...they thump to warn each other); they couldbe mad, or just are being playful. I suspect your little onegot scared, so he thumped in warning to others that something happenedthat wasn't supposed to, and/or probably angry for gettingstartled.

-Carolyn