Some questions about my bunny

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ziggie6611

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I got my bunny about 3 months. He is becoming very affectionate and obviously loves where he is (binkys a lot and runs circles). the only problems we have are that hes started to spray in the house. which is my first question. Should I get him neutuered? Whats the pros/cons? and my other question. When he sits on me he will start scratching all of a sudden. It doesnt hurt, just surprises me. This then is followed by a nip if I dont pick him up. What's the scratching mean?

Thank you SOOO much!!
 
You didn't say how old the bunny is, but if you got him at a pet shop and have had him three months, I suspect that makes him about five or six months old. That's the beginning of the Terrible Bunny Teenage Months. He's entering puberty, and like humans of a similar age, he's going to be a real handful for about the next four to six months. The circling and spraying are both signs of it.

Don't despair, you'll both pull through it.

As to whether or not you should have him neutered, you'll probably get some contradictory advice here. Unlike female rabbits, where there are very good medical reasons to have them spayed (ovarian tumors, primarily), as far as I have ever been able to find, the risk of testicular cancer in male rabbits is on the same order as the risk of surgery - which is to say, quite low.

So, it's really more a matter of behavior modification than medical necessity. There's no rush. You can watch and see how Ziggie's behavior changes as he matures.
On the other hand, if Ziggie's spraying gets to be a problem or he becomes aggressive, then by all means get him neutered if your vet says he's old enough.

I had a male rabbit, Scone MacBunny, for seven and a half years, and he was never neutered. He was pretty rambunctious between about six and ten months of age, but I decided to put off the decision until after the Teenage Months, and see how he turned out. His behavior settled down again, and I never saw any reason to put him through the surgery. He lived a relatively long and definitely happy life, and passed away of health problems unrelated to anything a neutering would have affected.

As to the "scratching" - is it more of a digging action? A lot of rabbits will do the digging thing, and it doesn't seem to have a fixed meaning. Scone would jump into my lap and dig, and he usually meant, "I could use a treat about now". When I first got Natasha, her digging meant, "I'm about to pee in your lap, unless you carry me over and put me in my litter box". She hasn't done that since I put a litter box in the corner where she really wanted it. It sounds like Ziggie means, "pick me up, NOW!".

If he's nipping, it's time to nip that in the bud, so to speak. Young buns don't realize that nip-talk hurts. When he does it, give a sharp, loud "EEEK!". That simulates the sound of a rabbit in great pain. He'll most likely jump back, then come back and nip less hard. Keep EEKing until he licks you (bunny kiss), or at least stops nipping - some rabbits don't do bunny kisses. I feel sorry for their owners... Scone was a champion kisser, and so is Natasha.
 
MikeScone wrote:
You didn't say how old the bunny is, but if you got him at a pet shop and have had him three months, I suspect that makes him about five or six months old. That's the beginning of the Terrible Bunny Teenage Months. He's entering puberty, and like humans of a similar age, he's going to be a real handful for about the next four to six months. The circling and spraying are both signs of it.

Don't despair, you'll both pull through it.

As to whether or not you should have him neutered, you'll probably get some contradictory advice here. Unlike female rabbits, where there are very good medical reasons to have them spayed (ovarian tumors, primarily), as far as I have ever been able to find, the risk of testicular cancer in male rabbits is on the same order as the risk of surgery - which is to say, quite low.

So, it's really more a matter of behavior modification than medical necessity. There's no rush. You can watch and see how Ziggie's behavior changes as he matures.
On the other hand, if Ziggie's spraying gets to be a problem or he becomes aggressive, then by all means get him neutered if your vet says he's old enough.

I had a male rabbit, Scone MacBunny, for seven and a half years, and he was never neutered. He was pretty rambunctious between about six and ten months of age, but I decided to put off the decision until after the Teenage Months, and see how he turned out. His behavior settled down again, and I never saw any reason to put him through the surgery. He lived a relatively long and definitely happy life, and passed away of health problems unrelated to anything a neutering would have affected.

As to the "scratching" - is it more of a digging action? A lot of rabbits will do the digging thing, and it doesn't seem to have a fixed meaning. Scone would jump into my lap and dig, and he usually meant, "I could use a treat about now". When I first got Natasha, her digging meant, "I'm about to pee in your lap, unless you carry me over and put me in my litter box". She hasn't done that since I put a litter box in the corner where she really wanted it. It sounds like Ziggie means, "pick me up, NOW!".

If he's nipping, it's time to nip that in the bud, so to speak. Young buns don't realize that nip-talk hurts. When he does it, give a sharp, loud "EEEK!". That simulates the sound of a rabbit in great pain. He'll most likely jump back, then come back and nip less hard. Keep EEKing until he licks you (bunny kiss), or at least stops nipping - some rabbits don't do bunny kisses. I feel sorry for their owners... Scone was a champion kisser, and so is Natasha.
As someone who neutered her boys, I have to agree with everything Mike says. Though I believe you should neuter/spay if not breeding, it's true that neutering boy bunnies has nothing to do with health. My Rabbit Vet said the same thing. Why I went through with it, was because the boys were marking. As you explained through your experience (thanks for posting) that it does get better after the "Teenage" Months. I'm still glad I did it. Still have lots to learn about rabbitls.

Both Dobby and Kreacher do the digging thing in my lap. Been doing it since I got them. Even after neutering. It's just something they do and I'm trying to teach them not to. It's just going to take patience on my part.

Regarding the nipping, the "EEK" worked for me with both Dobby and Kreacher. My husband just popped Kreacher's nose. It came as a surprise to my husband when Kreacher did it. He felt guilty, but it hasn't had any ill affects on Kreacher. No signs of aggression against my husband for the pop.

I'm on the tail end of the teenage bunny years. It's frustrating, but it's fun. Good Luck.

K :)
 
It might help if he has a dig box, someplace he can express his digging instincts. Mine is just a plastic box, like a big cat litter box. I put a layer of bricks at the bottom, added sand to keep them in place, then added crumpled paper to actually dig in. The bricks stabilize the box & help keep his front nails short.
 
I just had my teenager neutered and the spraying has stopped. He was also marking my daughters bed, flinging pee on her and would bite me when or after I cleaned his cage. Not nip but really bite drawing blood. Within a few days after getting him fixed this all stopped and I have my happy sweet boy back.
 

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