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. 

I was with the vet for nearly 40mins discussing Dijon's mounting and spraying. She had a good feel around and could find no lumps (sadly no "oops I must have missed a testicle", thus putting and end to this spraying nightmare.)

She clipped his claws, then started to doubt herself and had another feel, this time with him 'dangling' so that anything there would drop down. On one side she could feel slightly more fat, and started to wonder if she should just do a small operation, a little incision on that side, under anaesthetic, just to check for any testicular tissue hidden in the fat. Poor woman said that, if she did find anything, it would be the first time, and she began to doubt her whole career, but said she takes pride in her work and wants to make all her animals happy... 

She recalled that when she did the castration back in September, she found that one testicle was actually much smaller than it had appeared, being inside a lot of fat, and she had a big dig around to make sure it was all out. The fact that she double-checked at the time makes me (and her) think that it's unlikely anything's been left, and more likely just his nature... And so we've left it that we'll see how he goes, if he calms down, and re-evaluate in a few months if he hasn't - or if he's really bothering Mabel.

Nine weeks after his neuter, and 6 weeks after Mabel's spay, Dijon continues to spray. He also grows very excited at random times and starts to poo around the room, and tries to mount Mabel. Every now an them he foes into overdrive...

Fortunately he's only spraying from within the cage, but dropping poos everywhere when he is running around the living room, grunting loudly as he steadily pursues Mabel, and half managing to
mount her in the cage, with her squeaking and trying to avoid him.

Perhaps we should ask the vet for a refund? There isn't a huge improvement in his behaviour... maybe he has testicles that regenerate...

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).