opinion on spay at 4 months

[bunnyfriend]

 Tomorrow Wilbur is going to be 4 months I just realized(estimated). Has anyone spayed their rabbit at 4 months? She hasn’t really shown any signs of reaching maturity other than a couple poos around her cage when she normally has perfect habits. Is it better to have the surgery done before the behavior changes start? Is this just too risky? I haven’t had a chance to talk about a spay in general with my vet yet which I will do.

*forgot to say* the reason really why I’m asking about this is because I have noticed with cats that if you spay them younger (when it’s safe) they tend to have better personalities, of course rabbits are completly different from cats

[LoveChaCha]

Is Wilbur a female? Usually males are 4 months of age when they are neutered, and females are 6 months. I am a little weary of vets that spay at 4 months for females -_-

[bunnyfriend]

Yeah she is, when I got her the shelter told me she was boy…;P yeah I was worried about it being too risky, rabbit.org said that some vets do it at 4 months but others wait till 6. I’d rather endure a couple months of her hormones than risk her health

[Monkeybun]

i would wait

[luvmyhunybuny]

I had Tilly spayed at 4 months (she was a ball of hormones). It really is not ideal, but the vet who spayed her is excellent and very rabbit savvy. They usually like to wait a bit longer, because the tissue is thin. But Tilly did remarkably well and healed very fast.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Have you taken her in for a Well Bunny check? What did your vet say? Samson was neutered about 5 months, she didn’t have any spraying or anything serious but I wasn’t going to wait to find out.

[Stickerbunny]

It’s up to your vet – mine is OK spaying at 4 months if there is cause to do so, but he’s been operating on rabbits for 20 years. Some vets simply will not spay until 6 months. Have her checked out and see what your vet recommends. Ideally 6 months is best though.

[jerseygirl]

Also can depend a bit on breed sizes. The smaller breeds mature a bit earlier and giant breeds later. Your vet should be able to tell you when is best.

[Monkeybun]

My vet waits until 6 months, as he does want them fully mature before doing surgery. Less risks that way for later issues.

[Silly Sungura]

Hodari was spayed at approx. four months, and she didn’t show any signs of being sexually mature yet, either. There are advantages health-wise to doing it earlier, according the vets at Cornell University, where Hodari was spayed. I asked if I should delay it because I’d read everywhere that it was usual to wait until they’re six months, but the vet said the bunnies who are spayed a bit younger tend to bounce back faster, and that the surgery is easier for the vet when there’s less fat around the organs. They are very experienced, so I agreed to let them go ahead and spay her early. Ask your vet, though, as his/her opinion is really the one that matters. I will say that Hodari did very, very well, though. She ate veggies and hay soon after surgery, and was interested in playing normally (although I wouldn’t let her, lol) by the third day.

[RabbitPam]

I left it up to my vet to decide. She was more comfortable with 5 months or more since Samantha was small and she felt it was a delicate operation and that fit my vet’s comfort level. Other vets who do many more might feel 4 months is alright. I would defer to the preference of the vet you decide to use.

[piperknitsRN]

Olive was spayed at around 4 months (just a few weeks ago, in fact) and bounced back from her surgery very quickly and easily.  This isn’t to say waiting wouldn’t have been a better option, but the vet was quite excellent and experienced, and the spay date happened to coincide with my summer holiday, so I went ahead and had her spayed. 

[TriBun]

I would just like to say that rabbits don’t tend to get into bad habits like other animals do (ie; dogs that get neutered after they’ve started spraying tend to continue spraying after they’ve been neutered). I waited a bit longer to get my girl spayed (about 9 months) just because she had had a traumatic surgery earlier. She went right back to being her cute little prepubescent self. I also neutered a male that was 2 years old and all his bad habits disappeared.

Personally, I would wait, but that’s just my opinion.

[bunnyfriend]

Thank you soooo much for all the advice and opinions everyone! (:

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I am so undecided

On the one hand, kids recover from having their tonsils out in hours, adults weeks. So theres that
I did read many articles on it-and the vets seemed to agree that younger spay/neuters were ok for a shelter population rather then the alternative, but for personal pets it’s best to wait until the six month mark
I further read articles where male dogs of the giant breeds who were neutered younger than one year had a statistically significant increase in the risk of bone cancer (now that’s correlative and not causative but still gives pause)

So given that I just don’t think there is good solid info out there-I’d go with what your trusted vet thinks

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