Happy news... for our family, the carpets, the walls, but especially for Mabel...

Today the bunnies have spent the day at the vets... 'exploratory surgery', and the vet found Dijon's missing testicle! Now, you may recall that when the bunnies went to the vet for neutering last year, Dijon was found to have one generously proportioned conker, and one minuscule, fat-covered, one. Well, that turned out not to be the case, and we've had a few issues with Dijon's adolescent hormones.

He has been so intense in his 'romancing' Mabel, for the past fortnight the cage has been shaking like a heart-stopping fun-fair ride as he mounts her everytime he is excited about anything. Poor Mabel has taken to cowering in her litter tray and squealing as he approaches... also the spraying has continued, so we (us and the vet) decided last week it was time to have a look, just in case.

Apparently she snipped open where she thought she'd taken it out before - last time his big one turned out to be all fat with a teeny weeny one inside. She had pulled it as far as possible, had a good look around, but no more to be seen. Again this time, nothing there. So she opened up his abdomen and there it was, a long, thin, 'abnormal' one, hiding in the inguinal canal!

Snip-snip, out with it!

We're so, so pleased - for a start we would have felt awful putting him through that only to find nothing. But now we hope that he calms down, even a bit would be a relief. And poor Mabel will be able to relax.

The vet had mixed feelings - she was also very happy to have found it, glad she had done it, relieved that it was abnormal and therefore not really her fault missing it, but her biggest regret was forgetting to take a photo!!

Now we have to hope he doesn't have any problems with the wound - he's been cleaning it a lot, but just hope he doesn't cause problems. He was bit dozy at first but has eaten well, drunk loads, and is now busy destroying his cardboard tube. 

Well, all has gone well for Mabel - I collected them at 4.30pm. Thankfully the operation confirmed there were no babies - I can't imagine how awful it could have been to have been told she had been pregnant.

The nurse asked where I'd put my other pet carrier - I explained that they'd shared one for comfort/company and she was surprised... apparently, despite being in such a scary environment, as I'd handed over the carrier this morning, Dijon had instantly resumed his attempts at mounting Mabel, so they couldn't even be put in the same cage at the surgery - so a pointless trip for Dijon! I couldn't believe he would try again in the waiting room, in the presence of so many scary dogs, but sure enough he did. Mabel was too drowsy to even notice, but fortunately he stopped once in the car.

Needless to say, they were put straight into separate cages. He is very cross - when we let him out this evening, he ran around with his tail up very high, pooing everywhere and thumping! Mabel sat in her cage (door shut of course) and just made her strange whimpering/chattering noise every time he came close to the cage.

She hadn't eaten anything I'd offered, so I've just given her some pellets mixed with water, which she licked from a teaspoon, so I'm happier now. Unlike Dijon, who is still sitting bolt upright just watching her. Well, things could have been very different if he'd had some consideration!!