Neutered Rabbit Orgasm

Question
Hi Dana

I have a 2 year old male rabbit that has been neutered for over half a year.

I recently adopted a female rabbit that has been spayed many years before she came to my home.

Today, during a bonding session, my male bun caught a hold of my female and humped her. At first, I thought it was just a sign of dominance. But all of a sudden, he lets out a weird honk and falls over. After some research on the internet, I am starting to think that my male bun had an orgasm.

I was wondering if this is possible since he is neutered.

I was starting to think that his neuter surgery was not successful because 6 months after his surgery, the smell of is hormones is still very apparent. The smell is not as bad as before. But it is still there.

I have a total of 6 rabbits, and none of my other 5 smell as "bad" as he does. And all are neutered and spayed.

This is the first time I ever saw one of my buns hump, honk, and keel over.

Thanks.

Cheers
Jessica

Answer
Dear Jessica,

I have seen a neutered rabbit have an orgasm before, so it's not impossible.  And what you describe is exactly that.  So at least he had fun.  :)  

If you know the vet who neutered him, you might want to go back to the records and make sure that two testicles were actually removed.  Sometimes there is an undescended testicle (cryptorchid) that requires more extensive surgery to remove, and the vet might not have gone to that effort for some reason (perhaps the bunny was not doing well under anesthesia, or some other problem?).  But if he has a cryptorchid, it should be removed.  Testicles are not "designed" to live at the high temperatures inside the body, and have a high risk of becoming cancerous.  You can find a good rabbit vet here, if you don't already have one:

www.rabbit.org/vets

It's also possible that your bunny is simply more "macho" than other neutered males because of developmental factors:  a male baby who incubates in the uterine horns between two other male fetuses will sometimes become "super masculinized" (this is known in rodents, but I'd be surprised if it's not also true of lagomorphs), and show "extra male" behaviors.  Neutering might not completely resolve these traits, if they are formed by testosterone before the neuter, and not maintained by a constant supply of that androgen.

Just some thoughts.

Hope they help.

Dana