Text used with permission by Ontario Rabbit Education Organization
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It happened almost overnight: your cute, well-mannered little
rabbit reached puberty. Suddenly, your baby has become
unmanageable. He has taken an unexpected 'interest' in your ankles.
The circling and honking are certainly very cute, but the nipping
and mounting definitely must stop. Plus, your rabbit has seemingly
forgotten why you've provided him with a litterbox. Sound familiar?
Read on to find out what you can do to help your rabbit return to
his sweet, well-mannered self.
Upon reaching sexual maturity (at 3-4 months for small breeds and
4-6 month for larger breeds), a rabbit's behaviour becomes driven
principally by his or her hormones. While the courtship behaviour
(honking and circling) exhibited by an unaltered rabbit is cute and
endearing at first, most of the changes your rabbit will go through
after reaching sexual maturity are considered to be
unacceptable.
For example:
1. Your rabbit may start spraying urine to mark territory. Even
female rabbits may do this. If you have ever been the object of
your rabbit's affections and been 'marked' with urine, you know
that it is not a pleasant gift. In addition, high hormone levels of
unaltered rabbits give their urine a foul odour.
2. Your previously litter trained rabbit may suddenly stop using
his litterbox. The urge to mark territory can be overwhelming for
an unaltered rabbit. In addition to spraying, your rabbit may start
to drop feces around his area to mark territory.
3. Your previously cute, cuddly rabbit may suddenly become
aggressive. Females may become especially 'nest' or 'cage'
protective and start lunging, nipping and growling.
4. Chewing and digging activities may become intensified. Note
that chewing and digging are normal rabbit behaviours, but these
activities sometimes become intensified in unaltered rabbits.
5. Your rabbit may start incessantly mounting things such as other
pets, your legs, your feet, etc. Rabbits - especially males - may
become increasingly interested in family members, other pets or
inanimate objects in a new, sexual way. Some females will mount,
too. Your rabbit may start honking and circling the object of his
or her affections. Honking and circling are rabbit courtship
behaviours. Some rabbits continue to honk and circle even after
being altered.
6. Same-sex siblings or other previously bonded pals of the same
sex may start to fight to establish dominance. Changes in behaviour
associated with sexual maturity affect your unaltered rabbit's
ability to keep friendships or make new ones. Altered rabbits of
the same sex are much more likely to live in harmony than their
unaltered counterparts. We know that spaying and neutering deters,
if not eliminates, most negative behaviours associated with sexual
maturity within 3 months. It is unfair to surrender your rabbit to
a shelter or to an outdoor or basement hutch because he or she has
become a hormonally-charged nuisance. Have your pet spayed or
neutered and give him a chance to remain an important member of
your family.
Unspayed female rabbits have a very high chance of developing
uterine, mammary or ovarian cancer during their lives. Unofficial
statistics indicate that between 50% to 80% of all unspayed females
will be affected by cancer, by age 5. The incidence of testicular
cancer in unneutered males is lower, but does occur. By contrast,
spay and neuter surgeries, IF performed by a rabbit savvy
veterinarian, carry little risk (success rates should be close to
100%). For more information, see our handout on finding a rabbit
savvy veterinarian.
In addition to the many health and behavioural benefits of having
your rabbits spayed or neutered, there is also the benefit of
preventing pregnancies. Female rabbits do not come into heat in the
same way dogs do. They are able to become pregnant at any time.
Often people will decide to get two litter mates, supposedly of the
same sex, so that their new pet will have company. However, it is
extremely difficult to accurately determine the gender of young
rabbits before the male's testicles descend (at approximately 12-14
weeks of age). Many times, the unsuspecting owners will actually
have two rabbits of the opposite sex. Within months, they will
mostly likely have experienced the birth of a number of new
litters, which often results in the offspring being surrendered to
shelters or 'set free' in a park and left to fend for themselves.
Please note that house rabbits are domestic prey animals who have
no natural instincts of how to care for themselves in the wild.
They are easy targets for cats, dogs and wildlife and are unable to
distinguish between safe and toxic plants. Most will die shortly
after being released. This sad scenario is easily avoided by having
your pets spayed and neutered. You should only trust an experienced
rabbit vet to assess the gender of a young rabbit, although there
are times when even a vet will have difficulty until the rabbit is
older. The best way to ensure that unwanted litters don't occur is
to NEVER introduce two unaltered rabbits, no matter what the age.
Baby rabbits need to stay with their mother until they are weaned
at 8 weeks old. Cute little babies may look small but they are able
to conceive by 14 weeks old. ALL siblings should be separated from
one another after they have been weaned and until they have been
accurately sexed and spayed or neutered. Leaving "baby" siblings
together, or trying to separate all the girls from the boys is a
mistake that many people make. It only takes one wrongly sexed
rabbit to create a number of new litters. DO NOT take this chance.
Finding homes for unwanted litters is not an easy task, and often
leads to more rabbits being surrendered to shelters. For every
litter that is produced, a number of shelter rabbits are euthanized
because there are simply more rabbits in need of homes than there
are homes willing to adopt them.
If your rabbit is not spayed or neutered, please consider having
this important surgery performed on your pet. Your rabbit will not
become fat and lazy or lose his personality after the surgery. In
fact, your bunny will be happier and healthier for it. In addition,
you will be able to allow your rabbit to enjoy the company of
another without contributing to the domestic rabbit overpopulation
problem. By having your pet spayed or neutered, you will be
indirectly saving the lives of shelter rabbits by not producing new
litters.
Copyright © 2003 Ontario Rabbit Education Organization. Last
modified Feb 28/03.