Neuter at 4 or 5 months?

[maria117]

My rabbit is being really destructive. Mostly on carpet and door frames. I'm going to loose my deposit of this keeps happening. I know that neutering can sometimes help with these problem behaviors, but he's only 4 months old (he'll be 5 months on December 1st). He's about 3 pounds, probably won't get any bigger. My polish mix was spayed at 6 months weighing 2.2 lbs so I know he's big enough. What do you guys think? Any suggestions behavior wise maybe?

Thanks

 

[whiskylollipop]

Go ahead and neuter him right away. 4 months is plenty old enough if he's over 1 lb in size and his testicles have descended. Flip him over and check if they have.

Destructive behaviour can lessen with neutering but it is not entirely a hormonal problem, more a boredom/grinding down teeth thing, so you have to be prepared to keep dealing with it. Get him some untreated apple/cherry branches and wood block chews to gnaw instead. My bunnies continued being chewy after their neuter, but grew out of it around 8 months of age.

 

[maria117]

Thanks for the advice. He has a million apple sticks but he prefers tables and door frames. He's got a ton of toys but pulling up carpet is more fun for some reason :/

 

[carmichaels99]

We neutered ours at 4 mths. We buy these for him and it keeps him from chewing the furniture for the most part.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UMMXDG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[JBun]

Neutering won't necessarily correct destructive behavior. It may help some, but you will likely need to do some rabbit proofing if you don't want further destruction done.
http://bunnyproof.com/

 

[maria117]

My vet won't neuter him until 5 1/2 months. He's got his big boy appointment set for the day after Christmas #merrychristmas.

I'm going to get some rugs to help protect the corners of my carpet (that's where he likes to chew it up the most) and I'm going to get him a digging box. Do you guys think a cardboard box with some paper (not news paper because I don't want the ink to hurt him) would make a good digging box? Any other materials you think?

Thanks!

Maria :bunny18

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:It helped with most of ours but not all, so we had to Rabbit proof the areas they were using. With the males, our vet said if it shows it can go--and it does eliminate a lot of bad/hormone driven behaviors. For the rest, we limited where they could go. Pain in the nether regions but that's reality for you.

 

[maria117]

The buns love their new catty shack. Found it at petsmart