I studied the non-equilibrium response of an initial Néel state under time evolution with the Kitaev honeycomb model. With isotropic interactions (Jx=Jy=Jz) the system quickly loses its antiferromagnetic order and crosses over into a steady state valence bond solid, which can be inferred from the long-range dimer correlations. There is no signature of a dynamical phase transition. Upon including anisotropy (Jx=Jy≠Jz), an exponentially long prethermal regime appears with persistent magnetization oscillations whose period derives from an effective toric code.