Surprise! My bunny is actually female and seems to be having a false pregnancy…

[amyanddex]

Hello all! So, my rabbit is exhibiting several signs of a false pregnancy, even though Dex has never been around other buns before… This entire time I’ve had him (I am now aware that he is actually a she but I’ve been calling him “he” for so long so it’s weird to start calling him “she”) I assumed he was male, the people I got him from said they thought he was male and every time I’ve tried to figure out for myself in the past he hasn’t let me  He is never aggressive or anything, just too squirmy for me to get a good look. He hasn’t been properly sexed by a vet yet either so I’ve just gone along with what I originally was told. I got him Jan. 3rd of 2016 and at the time of purchase he was around 8 weeks old. I have been looking around for a bunny savvy vet in my area to get him fixed for a while now but I haven’t set an appointment quite yet. 

Anyways, that’s the backstory of him, but this past week or so I started noticing some odd behaviour from him. First, he started taking all of the hay and shavings from his entire enclosure and putting everything into his little wooden hut… he had never done this before so I did a bit of research and found out that even though it isn’t common, sometimes un-neutered male rabbits will nest like this. He wasn’t pulling out any fur so I figured that he was just one of the uncommon boys that did that. Then, yesterday, when I picked him up I could feel nipples, which I thought nothing of other than I had never felt nipples on him before. That is until I googled it and found out that apparently male rabbits don’t have nipples? Is that true? His nipples are quite… um, how do I put this… “perky”?  There’s no lumps or protrusions around them/under them either. But today is what really made me realize, because he has officially started pulling out fur and putting them into this nest of his. Basically everything I’m reading online is telling me that male rabbits don’t pull out fur for nesting, so I think Dexter is officially female  I have no problems with this, I wasn’t specifically looking for a male when I got him, I actually wasn’t even looking for a rabbit in the first place, I just fell in love with him when I saw him. The only worry I have is what kind of effects this false pregnancy will have on him and his well being, how long will it last, and even if it will change his personality. I’m going to get him (*her* ) spayed as soon as I can, most definitely within the next month or so, but until then is there anything I can do? I put an old shirt of mine in his hut so I’m hoping that might halt the fur pulling… 

[jerseygirl]

Dex certainly does sound like a female bun going through a falsie! This nesting phase is normally toward the end of it so hopefully you will see Dex returning to her usual self. She may be a bit standoffish at the moment, or even territorial and aggressive. If so, just give her space until this is over.

As you’ve seen with her teats, they have some physical changes with a false pregnancy. They also have increased blood supply to the uterus. So get your vets advice about how long to wait until a spay can be performed. Ive read it’s better to wait at least a few weeks after the false pregnancy has resolved.

[amyanddex]

Okay, that’s good that it seems to be near the end! She hasn’t been aggressive or anything as of yet so I’m happy about that, she’s still the same happy bunny  I’ll be keeping a close eye on her to see if that changes though  And okay that’s good to know, I’ll definitely let my vet know and get their advice about it! Thank you for the help 

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