Smudge is still agressive and obsessive post Spay

[LadyKat]

I honestly have to say have not been enjoying being a Bunny Mom. Mine drives me absolutely crazy each day and with the rare exception I get no affection from her.

I was told to get her spayed because it will calm her down, it has not changed a bit.

I let her out of her cage for an hour in the morning and 4 -5 hours at night. She spends the whole time being a little terror. She chews on the corners of the walls (Since I covered all the baseboards), Chews on the couch and even managed to get in the couch, so I covered that hole and now she is obsessively trying to chew through the patch. I spend the entire time chasing her out from under the couch and away from the wall corners.

When in cage she spends a lot of her time trying to chew her way out.

She has tonnes of stuff in and out of her cage she can chew on and play with. These include, boxes, toilet paper tubes, paper bags, blankets, ediblie logs, variety of wooden chews big and small, hay hut and mat, a crinkle bag, plastic bowl and plastic pet dome and a variety of other toys.

I do not yell at her (well 99% of the time), or act aggressive to her, I do not physically restrain her or anything like that.

I honestly am so stressed out with her I have been contemplating putting her up for adoption. She has probably already done a few hundred dollars worth of damage to my apartment that I will have to pay for when I leave. I got her because I wanted a pet to help me reduce my stress. All she has done has increased it.

I have no clue what to do to get her to stop damaging the walls and couch, if I get to affection from her fine, put I need the chewing on walls and furniture to stop. My apartment is small so moving her to another room without furniture is impossible.

 

[happysaz133]

How long has it been since she was spayed? It took a good 6 weeks before mine calmed down completely, and seriously, they were the same as yours before they were done. They had been abused in their previous home and were pretty much evil when I adopted them and up until I spayed them.

Have you bunny proofed your home? If you have, she shouldn't be able to get to any of that stuff to chew. The grids you can buy are good for bunny proofing (I think they are often called c&c cages in the USA). You could also buy bitter apple spray and spray it on the places you don't want her to chew. That stoppped mine chewing their ramp in their hutch.

Does she have a companion? I know of many many rabbits who have acted like this and the owners have been on the point of rehoming, then on advice, got a second rabbit, and the first rabbits behaviour completely changes, they learn how to be a rabbit when they are together.

Some rabbits are just not affectionate, and I feel those that are not should definitely have a friend, your poor bunny sounds lonely and frustrated to me. Having seen many posts like this on Rabbits United forum, I have seen and heard of so many rabbits ending up much happier with a friend.

 

[LadyKat]

Although I would like to get her a friend, this is really not plausible I do not have the space or money to care for a second rabbit. My friend thought she should get two rabbits so they would bond and they didn't so now she has two rabbits that she has to keep seperated.

Smudge was Spayed two weeks ago.

 

[Dustiechick]

I was totally in your shoes! When I got dusty spayed I was told it would it would improve her behavior but I didn't notice any difference at all. She still chews everything and she's sweet but not like lay in your lap sweet. Some rabbits are just different. (btw dusty also chewed a hole in the couch and climbed in it .. I find Duck tape works best ) I know it's a lot of money! I had to fly dusty to another city to get spayed because we only had one vet in my town who was not rabbit savvy. 400$ plane ticket + 50$ animal carry on fee + 300$ surgery+ 200$ car rental = too expensive for not seeing a difference! But what comforting to me was to know that she would be happier because she wouldn't have all those hormones! And Healthier because she wouldn't develop cancer. And probably live longer. I know dusty doesn't give back a lot in terms of affection. But seeing her lay on her side licking her paws, when the kids I babysitt come over and their faces light up when they see her binkying, and when she gets excited for banana in the morning, that good enough for me! I happen to be in the process of getting a friend for Dusty. I think a friend might help smudge! I've read that some shy destructive rabbits take on a better behavior when placed with another rabbit. Having two rabbits in a large cage isn't that different from having one rabbit in a large cage. Anyways good luck! I hope things improve

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

It does take more than 2 weeks for the hormones to calm down enough to notice any difference. It took about 3-4 weeks for me to notice a difference with Amelia. The thing with getting an animal spayed or neutered is that it removes what causes the hormones, so there are none being produced, but it can't remove what is already in the body.

You need to give it more time. There are really no quick fixes with animals.

It would also help to rabbit proof your home more. While it may mean that she has less space, she will be safer and you will be less stressed about her. You may need to block off the bottom of the couch, put up something along the walls and cover anything else she gets into. New or different toys can help too. She may have lots of toys, but because she has them all the time they are boring to her. Rearragning the toys can help too so it is like they are new when they are the same.

 

[LadyKat]

So I was thinking, would a cat make a good companion for a Smudge. I know people are pushing for me to get another rabbit, but you really have to understand my hesitancy to do so. As a first time rabbit owner my experience so far has not been great and last thing I want to do is bring in another Rabbit who may or may not bond with Smudge and end up with two little terrors.

Cats are also cheaper where I live in terms of veterinarian care. Smudge was $50 to adopt, $500 cage, play pen and accessories, then another $360.00 for her spay. If I got another rabbit I would definitely need to get a new cage (even if they bond well and share) and have that rabbit Spayed/neutered and I honestly am not willing to do that for another rabbit. I already have one rabbit that stresses me, two would be way to much.

A cat on the other hand, I already have a litter box, cat toys, etc. Can adopt a cat that is already fixed with all its shots and microchip from the Cat rescue for $175. Will have the opportunity to interact with all the cats and pick the one that matches my personality.

 

[Dustiechick]

It's possible try researching it. but it probably wouldnt affect smudges behavior if anything it might make it worse. I would really try for another rabbit that would probably make smudge happiest.
If you bought a 500$ cage it's probably fairly large big enough for 2 rabbits. If not you could build a NIC cage, mine is huge and only costed 80$ Since smudge is a girl, a neutered boy bunny would be the ideal match. Look on petfinder usually the rabbits on there are already spayed/neutereld. You could bring smudge in to see who she likes best. Good luck!

 

[MiniLopHop]

If the cathas a calm, kind personality it can work wonderfully with rabbits. I have two cats and four rabbits. One cat totally ignores them unless I'm passing out treats and she wants one too. The other adores the rabbits. Two of the buns aren't overly fond of the cat though and tend to avoid him. Two of the rabbits also like the cat. Its almost like they are bonded in a trio. The cat grooms and plays with the rabbits. It's fun to see the cat chase the bun up the hall and then the bun chase the cat back down the other way. They will lay on the bed and sleep together. The cat will get into the rabbits cage and it's a big happy fur pile with everyone grooming each other. It all depends on personalities though so go slow with the introductions. I would try taking smudge with you when you pick the new cat to make sure there's no preditory instinct going to kick in.