A Tale of Five Rabbits

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Are rabbits cute and fluffy? Oh yes!
Are rabbits snuggly? Sometimes.
Are rabbits docile, gentle, and peaceful? Not always.
Will male rabbits neuter each other in a fight. Yes.

Living Together

Last February we had a surprise litter of ten bunnies born after one of the adult bucks hopped over a high drift of snow into a female enclosure. Once the babies were three months old, we separated the five girls and five boys into separate enclosures. Bunnies are cute, but we aren’t in the business of breeding them so we didn’t want the boys and girls living together any longer than necessary. We were told by several people (who are in the business of breeding rabbits) that since the bunnies will be large-breed rabbits, the boys could be housed together peacefully until they are eight months old, at which time we would have to separate them because they would start fighting with each other.

The bunnies were big enough to be moved outside when they were five months old.

Since moving them outside, the girls have been living with mom peacefully. Early on, they had to establish their “pecking order”, but once mom reminded them she’s at the top, there’s been no fighting. We even introduced another female into the group without any fighting. They still mount each other in a show of dominance, but there’s been no aggression.

A little while after putting the boys together outside, they started to chase and mount each other (a show of dominance). There really wasn’t any aggression so we thought we’d make it to their eight-month birthday with no problem. After a month of them living together, we noticed that Clyde was definitely at the bottom of the hierarchy. He was the one the other boys would chase and pull fur out of. Once we started to see Clyde being picked on, we decided the boys’ hormones were getting a bit out of control and it was time to schedule appointments to have them neutered.  

We use the services of Hamlett Spay and Neuter Clinic for the rabbits. Because of the extremely high risks involved with rabbits under anesthesia, they won’t spay does, but they will neuter bucks. Thanks to donations and grants, the non-profit clinic offers huge discounts on spaying and neutering cats, dogs, and rabbits. Since the cost of neutering through Hamlet is a lot less than at a regular veterinarian’s office, their schedule is pretty packed. The earliest appointment we could get for our boys’ neutering was three months out.

Although Clyde was occasionally being picked on by his brothers, the fighting didn’t seem to be severe. We figured the boys would be okay living together for another couple of months until their neutering appointment. We couldn’t be more wrong.

The Emergency

One evening when Tabitha was at work, Doug and I went outside and did the last health checks for the day on everyone. I noticed something hanging off of the underside of one of the male rabbit. Klaus was acting like nothing was wrong, but Doug and I knew we needed to catch him because it looked like he had poop stuck to him and we needed to clean him. As we were in the process of catching him, I noticed blood rapidly dripping out of him and I knew whatever was happening was more serious than just a messy bottom. When Doug got a hold of Klaus, he gave him to me to hold so he could get a look at what was wrong. As soon as I got Klaus into my arms, I felt warm blood dripping down my arms and the front of my t-shirt and jeans. I supported his bottom and whatever it was that was hanging out of him, with my hand. He started to panic and kicked hard. All of a sudden the thing that was hanging off of him fell onto the ground. Doug and I got a look at his underside and saw that either his intestines or testicles were hanging out and whatever he kicked off was part of it. The situation had become dire and we were afraid that Klaus was going to bleed out in my arms.

We brought Klaus into the house, put him in a kennel, called the emergency veterinary office to let them know we were coming, and headed out the door. On our way to the Jeep, Doug ran out and put the “thing” that fell off of Klaus into a baggie so we could take it to the doctor. Within five minutes of seeing how hurt Klaus was, we were on our way to the animal emergency clinic. Doug texted Tabitha at work and told her what was going on and where we were headed.

When we got to the clinic, we were told over and over again that they don’t treat rabbits, but they would do what they could to help Klaus. I told them our biggest concern was stopping the loss of blood. They rushed Klaus back to an exam area while I cleaned his blood off my neck, hands, and arms.

The emergency doctor stopped the bleeding and cleaned Klaus up to get a better look at what we were dealing with. She said it looked like the “thing” that fell off was part of a testicle that was ripped out of him. As weird as it sounds, Doug and I were relieved. That was the best news we could have gotten because had it been intestines or part of his stomach hanging out, there’s very little that could have been done to help him.

The doctor said we could leave Klaus for observation overnight, but nobody at the office could treat his injury because they weren’t experienced with rabbits. She said they would be happy to give him fluids through the night and transport him to his regular veterinarian in the morning. Another option was to take him to an emergency veterinary office in Denver, which was at least two hours away. The third option the doctor gave us was to euthanize him on the spot.

I told the doctor we have a lot of experience taking care of rabbits and hurt animals and since the bleeding stopped, I felt more comfortable taking him back home so we could keep an eye on him ourselves. It was almost 9:00 p.m. when we left the emergency office with Klaus. Once we got home, we got Klaus settled into a kennel for the night. We really weren’t sure if he was going to survive.

Early the next morning, I went downstairs to check on Klaus. There was no telling what I going to walk in on when I opened the door. A dead rabbit? A bloody kennel? I really had no idea what to expect.

I slowly opened the door to the basement, and I saw a bunny sitting in the kennel with his ears perked up and turned towards me. No blood. No sign of anything happening the night before. He was alive…and he surprisingly looked pretty good.

Finding Help

Since Klaus survived the night, I needed to call the doctor’s office to get him in right away. We use two different veterinary clinics for our rabbits. I called both of the clinics, but all of the rabbit doctors were out of the office until the next week. The receptionists gave me referrals to a couple of doctors in town who might be able to help. I called them, but those rabbit doctors were also out of the office until the next week so they gave me referrals to other offices that might be able to help. This went on and on. After calling eleven different veterinary offices, and being told by all of them that they either don’t treat rabbits or that their rabbit doctors were out of the office, I was in tears. Klaus needed help and I couldn’t find anyone who could see him.

I made one last attempt to find a doctor who could see Klaus sooner than later. I called Yorkshire Veterinary Hospital in Colorado Springs. Have you ever had an experience where so many things were going wrong at once and all of a sudden in the midst of everything you find a break in the chaos that gives you hope that everything might just be okay? Dr. Bundy at Yorkshire was able to see Klaus! I called his office at 8:00 in the morning and we had an appointment a few hours later.

Dr. Bundy was amazing. He was compassionate and caring and made us feel like everything was going to be okay. He explained to us that it’s very common for male rabbits to attack each other and remove the testicles of the other males in the group to reduce mating competition. Rabbits can pull their testicles up inside near their stomach to protect them in a fight, but sometimes they aren’t able to protect them this way and severe injuries happen. Tabitha and I felt sick. We knew rabbits did this, but we were told it wouldn’t be a problem for our boys until they were a little older. Klaus’ injuries could have been prevented if we separated the boys when they were younger, instead of waiting until they got closer to eight months old.  It’s a mistake we’ll never make again.

Dr. Bundy was able to get Klaus into surgery later the same day. He removed the injured testicle, flushed the wounds, sewed up the gashes, and finished the neutering job Klaus’ brother had started. He looked at Klaus’ intestines and stomach and said they were uninjured and looked good.

We planned on going outside to separate the other four boys as soon as we got Klaus settled back home after surgery. They were six months old, but we learned our lesson and we weren’t going to wait another two months before separating them. Even though we were having a horrible thunderstorm at the time, we were determined to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. Lightning struck nearby and all of a sudden, the power went out. It’s hard to get a good look at wiggling rabbits in the dark so we put everyone in a separate kennel in the basement for the night. The next morning, the power was back on and we were able to get a look at each of the boys.

Klaus was recovering from surgery well; Clyde was injured with a testicle sticking out, although not as badly as Klaus, and not bleeding; Bart had a couple of bite marks and a chunk of loose skin just above his testicles, but otherwise looked good; Copper had bite marks on his testicles; and Dust Bunny had no injuries whatsoever.  

Another Injury

I called Dr. Bundy and told him another rabbit, Clyde, had been injured and we scheduled an appointment for him to be seen. At the appointment, we all decided that Clyde needed to have surgery to remove the injured testicle and to finish the neuter his brother started. After the surgery, Dr. Bundy said even though Clyde’s injuries didn’t look as bad as the ones Klaus had, Clyde had more internal damage.

Dr. Bundy also said he couldn’t find Clyde’s second testicle during surgery. It’s extremely rare for a rabbit to be born with only one testicle, so he consulted with veterinarians from the Colorado State University and the zoo. All of the doctors he talked to were surprised by the missing testicle and said the second one may have been completely removed by Clyde’s brother or it could be hiding up near Clyde’s stomach. The question then became whether or not Dr. Bundy should do exploratory surgery to see if he could find the missing testicle up by Clyde’s stomach. Opening Clyde up twice – once for the initial surgery and again for the exploratory surgery – would be extremely dangerous. Nobody knew if Clyde could handle the stress of another, more involved procedure. Doug, Tabitha, and I decided the risks involved weren’t worth taking. In the future, we may decide to do imaging tests to see if Clyde has a second testicle, but for now, our focus is on helping him recover from his injuries and surgery.

We redesigned the new rabbit area that we’re building and we’re going to give Clyde a house and yard of his own off of the new rabbit yard. He’ll still be close to the other rabbits, but he won’t be in with them because if he does, in fact, have a second testicle that’s hiding, we don’t want any of the girls to get pregnant.

Once Clyde’s surgery was done and we got him back home, we checked everyone again.

How They’re Doing

We noticed that Klaus chewed through some of his stitches and opened up a small portion of his wound. Tabitha took pictures of the wound and I sent the pictures to Dr. Bundy so he could see the opening. He said it was hard to see the extent of the opening in the pictures. A follow-up appointment would be needed if the wound was uncomfortable, red, bleeding, or oozing. So far, the wound is healing really well and Klaus is almost back to normal!

We also noticed that Bart had chewed off the chunk of skin above his testicles and he had a large open wound. We sent pictures of Bart’s new injury to Dr. Bundy and he told us it would be a good idea to bring Bart in. Bart’s appointment went well and his injury is healing now.

Looking Ahead

Because of all of the hormone-related problems we’ve had with the boys, we went ahead and scheduled a time for Dr. Bundy to neuter Bart, Copper, and Dust Bunny so that everyone will be done sooner than later. A lot can happen in a few short months and, even though all of the boys are separated from each other, we don’t want to wait until late November to have them neutered at Hamlett Spay and Neuter Clinic.

In Good Hands

We work with an amazing team of veterinarians from different hospitals to keep our animals healthy. One good thing that came from Klaus’ emergency, is we were able to meet new doctors that we haven’t worked with before. The emergency doctor did everything she was comfortable doing for Klaus and Dr. Bundy went above and beyond anything we could have asked for. There’s a lot of comfort in knowing that our furry/feathered/scaly babies are in good hands!