My sweetheart has become a MONSTER!

[napagirl]

Hi everyone,

I just got Dimi spayed a week ago Friday. I paid $$$ to have it done by a rabbit expert. The surgery went smoothly, she had pain meds for 3 days, and her incision looks great! Physically, she appears to be doing great.

The problem is, after she started getting better and getting more energy, she has become aggressive and destructive. She trashes her cage several times a day, tossing her litter everywhere, dumping her water (she prefers bowls to bottle), digging excessively at the floor of her cage. When we reach in, she ATTACKS us! She will not let me pick her up, fights it like crazy. Runs to the corner and gives me the evil eye.

You have to understand that she was the most friendly, sweet, loving, docile rabbit ever, that is, up until she was spayed. She is ~9-10mos old, and is a house rabbit residing in a super-huge dog kennel type of thing.... her same home for the last several months that we've had her.

I called the vet, and she mentioned that she may be having a "hormone storm", and to give it a few weeks.

Has anyone experienced this, and will she return to her former self? I will REALLY regret this spay if this is her permanent personality. She is like a totally different rabbit anic:

 

[missyscove]

Is she getting enough exercise? It's important to restrict their exercise right after their surgery to allow the incision to heal, but that means they don't really have an opportunity to get all that energy out.
All my rabbits have been adopted already spayed or neutered so I've never actually had an intact rabbit.

 

[holtzchick]

I agree, it's probably her not getting her energy out and letting it out in other ways (that is if you are keeping her confined to let the tissue heal).

It can take up to two months to get her hormones out completely, since she is 9/10 months, her hormones probably would've started coming in at 6/7 months so perhaps they're just crazy strong now. Wait it out but normally bunnies will calm down after a spay.

My male still has some quirky aggressive behavior and apparently he's been neutered for atleast 4+ years lol.

 

[napagirl]

Missycove,

The vet told me to restrict her to her cage for 10 days post spay. Today is day 9. She did say we could take her out to hold her, etc, but no running/jumping. I did have her out on my bed a few times so she couldn't really run or jump. Also, I have put her out in the front room with a gate yesterday, and she puttered around a bit and then just stretched out and relaxed the rest of the time. It is just such a shock her behavior- like a personality disorder or something.

 

[missyscove]

I suspect you'll see a lot of improvement once she's back to her normal activity level. She's probably bored and looking for something to do (like digging my litter box out onto the floor and then watching my human clean it up). Try giving her some more mental puzzles to work through like closed off boxes or paper bags with treats inside she has to work to get to.

 

[ladysown]

the digging and trashing...HORMONES!

Seriously... it's one of the ways I can tell when my young does are wanting to breed..they are just young crazy pants. Wait it out and it will get better. Be mindful when you do let her out to run that she doesn't trash your place that digging behaviour is VERY instinctual.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

I think maybe it's raging hormones. Ripley got neutered 3 days ago and the humping got worse than ever before, right after, I'm hoping it'll just take a bit of time to get better, I know it can take a bit to get it all out of their system.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sounds just like our avatar, Nikki. It took a while, but, she finally stopped being a "turd in the punchbowl".

 

[whitelop]

I know you'll be able to let her out of her cage soon, but I got this toy for my rabbit and she loves it. A few other people have it to and they said their buns like it a lot too. Its good mental exercise and they all seem to master it pretty quickly, but they still like to play with it because it has treats!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HYW9B8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I highly recommend it, even though my bun lives cage free the majority of the time, we still play with it a lot and it keeps her occupied and stops her from digging a hole in my floor. haha.

 

[PwnzorsNTittylwinks]

when we got our male spayed he had his little "storm" period where all he wanted to do was rip up carpet and bite me in the thigh and butt when I was cleaning his cage everytime he would destroy it, he was a real a** for about 2 weeks. but now hes totally back to normal. even though he still likes to bite my butt when im cleaning his cage.
im sure she will be back, its like shes going through menopause! moody and mean. lol once her hormones level out im sure she will be sweet again!

 

[napagirl]

Thank you everyone for the responses! Good news, right now, Dimi is stretched out on the bed with me licking my hand I really tried to re-bond with her during her "difficult" time, but I have been sick with flu then sinusitis, so it's been sporadic. Today I felt pretty good, and had much more time since I stayed home today. She is still trashing the cage, but now when I clean, she just nudges my hand slightly- no outward lunging or nipping. This was also the first time she didn't have a conniption fit when I gently picked her up. We also got to do the snuggle thing that she always loves! So I do see her getting better today. That does give me hope, even if there are more bad days.

She used her tunnel today, which was the first time she showed interest since the spay. She is much less active now, which I know can be from the hormone reduction, but I think maybe also from having just had surgery as well. And yes, agree about the hormones- in humans they call it surgical menopause- no reason to thing it can't happen in animals!

 

[holtzchick]

I know you'll be able to let her out of her cage soon, but I got this toy for my rabbit and she loves it. A few other people have it to and they said their buns like it a lot too. Its good mental exercise and they all seem to master it pretty quickly, but they still like to play with it because it has treats!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HYW9B8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I highly recommend it, even though my bun lives cage free the majority of the time, we still play with it a lot and it keeps her occupied and stops her from digging a hole in my floor. haha.

I didn't know you got one too... Clearly I haven't been reading thoroughly enough!!

 

[Azerane]

I know you'll be able to let her out of her cage soon, but I got this toy for my rabbit and she loves it. A few other people have it to and they said their buns like it a lot too. Its good mental exercise and they all seem to master it pretty quickly, but they still like to play with it because it has treats!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HYW9B8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I highly recommend it, even though my bun lives cage free the majority of the time, we still play with it a lot and it keeps her occupied and stops her from digging a hole in my floor. haha.

My rabbit loves his treat ball, I'm sure he'd get a kick out of a toy like this too, thanks for sharing. He needs something to keep him occupied.