Dijon is much calmer. He still mounts Mabel every now and then, but this seems to be out of habit (whenever we approach the cage with food) rather than through any biological urges.

The number of poos outside the cage has dramatically reduced, the spraying appears to have ceased, and he is a lot less frenetic.

Mabel appreciates it too. She can relax safe in the knowledge that she is not going to be pursued. If it continues like this, then we will be able to give them the run of the entire living room without fear of 'water damage'.

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. 

A trip to the vet, and Dijon has had his conkers clipped. The vet discovered, upon closer inspection, he had one massive testicle on one much smaller, fatty ball.

He recovered quickly and was up and hopping within a short time. We're keeping a close eye on him to make sure he's not nibbling at the stitches, bleeding, or  showing any signs of discomfort.

Mabel is looking after him well. Let's hope he cares as much for her when it's her turn on the operating table (in 4 to 6 weeks' time).