Got Males fixed. Now the girl rabbits attack!

Question
Hello, I am new here. I really have a problem. I hope you can help.

The brothers lived with their littermates for 11 weeks . (Two sisters and the mom.) All was fine. Every one loved each other.

I took my two males to be fixed three days ago. Brought them home SAME day.

I put them in a smaller cage in the corner of the much larger outdoor cage. (The cage has been there and was used by the mother when she gave birth, so it was an everybody cage until now.)

All h@ll broke loose. The females started hissing, peeing on the cage, bitting at the bars. The mother keeps rubbing her chin every avalible place on the cage. It is like I replaced the brothers with some alien rabbits.

I put one of the females in the cage and she turned into a witch and tried to attack.

I put the other female and one male together in a neutral place and got another witch attack.

They all got on great just a few days ago!  It is a mess.

Is this a phase? Will this behavior change?  What should I do? The vet says they must remain apart for three weeks and then what? HELP!

Answer
Hi Linnae,

this is a common occurrence.  They were never separated before.  It is common for bonded rabbits to treat formerly bonded rabbits as strangers when they return, even if the separation time is a few hours.

Personally, I do not recommend placing intact rabbits (with full hormones running) with altered rabbits.  It can lead to fighting.  Best thing IMO would be to get the females spayed, wait 4-5 weeks after that operation and try bonding them in male/female pairs, keeping each pair separate.  You will also most likely prevent your gals from getting uterine cancer and dying at age 5 or so.  Most intact females develop uterine cancer (they have very high hormone levels) and it is a painful death.  Spaying them will allow them to live to age 10-12 like the males.

Basically you will have to go through a bonding process.  Bonding in pairs works the best, male/female rabbits that appear to get along or are indifferent to each other.  The House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) has good information on bonding:

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding-tips.html

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/multiple.html

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/introductions.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/expect.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/marriage.html

And they really need 4-5 weeks of separation after their operations (males and females) because it can take that long for their hormones to level off at their new, lower levels.  You don't want to do any bonding while hormone levels are still fluctuating, because they can influence how they get along.

Once you do get your rabbits bonded into male/female pairs, try not to separate them.  If one has to go to the vet, take both.


Lee