My local rabbit rescue will spay for $65.
The vet wanted a whopping $350. That was the second cheapest. Some wanted waaaayyy over $400.
Come fly on a plane to Florida, if you can. The fare to and fro plus the $65 must be cheaper than $700.
o_O

http://travela.priceline.com/airlin...SSION=true

Actually, it is cheaper to fly to Florida (without your kids and such) AND if that link is working for you, you'll see that the cheapest round-trip flight is $315.23.
Ha!
Add taxes, hotel fare for a night, bus/train/cab fees, and the spay/neuter, and you're still under $550.

SuperCheesetasticbwhere did you get your spay done?

I was using the Yesterday's News, but man, expensive!  Like $9 for 15 pounds!  I changed over to wood fuel pellets I get at Theisens (like Tractor Supply.)  They were on sale this week for $3 for 40 pounds of pellets.  Believe it or not, the wood pellets completely control the odor and its' easy to see where Roscoe peed cuz the pellets break down to sawdust in those areas and are easily scooped out.

I use a storage bin I got at Walmart for $4 for a litter box - and hubby cut some small square wire rabbit/chicken mesh for me to use as a grate on top of the pellets.  We painted the edges with that Flexseal rubber paint - which got rid of the sharp edges.

I just read on this thread bout the plastic grates for cross-stitching or whatever - OMG, what a great idea!  I'm gonna stop by my local fabric store on the way home and pick some up to try, since I just got some more plastic boxes.

I am all about making this as easy as possible, and we have 2 litter boxes.  I have 2 extra boxes that I have all set up with fresh litter, screen, and ready for fresh hay.  I put the hay on the screen - and go replace the current box with the fresh one.  Then take the dirty one out, clean it as thoroughly as necessary (sometimes requiring vinegar scrub) and prepare it so it's ready for the next day's change-out.

I know - anal, right?  I just have found that Roscoe gets stressed when his box is gone for any length of time.  He really gets ticked at me if it's gone too long.  And the other thing is that his crate WAS in my living room - and if we had unexpected guests show up, then I could change the box out very quickly and not be embarrassed by the odor....

How do you tell if a giant rabbit is fat? I can still feel ribs but man... We've gone through bags of pellets already! I read that they should get unlimited pellets because they're young, but even if it's that much? They're eating at least 2.5 cups each day. I give them each greens the size of their heads. It's hard to tell how much hay they eat because I toss a lot when I clean up their house.

I think one gets more than the other because Lady is definitely submissive and sometimes hangs back to eat. They seem to have different tastes. One loves arugula. The other turns up her nose. One loves willow, other one won't touch it. Weird...

My Ash whos just over 12 weeks is on unlimited pellets & eats about 1.5 cups a day... I use a half cup scoop - one scoop in the morning, one when I come home from work & one at bed time... some mornings the bowls empty, sometimes it's not.  He also gets about a cup to a cup in a half of greens twice a day.  As far as hay, I put a handful in his litter box 3 times a day also... Idk exactly how much he eats but I see him eatting it all the time so I don't worry... Sounds like they're eating the correct amount to me -

Hunny who's almost 8 months eats about the same amount of pellets (same scoop routine, although sometimes she don't need any when I get outta work so I'll skip the scoop) & she gets about 2 cups of greens twice a day.  She don't eat much hay during the day... but when I wake up in the morning there's like no hay in the litterbox but it sure is full of poops, lol. So again I know she's eating it...

Idk what Ash weighs (will find out tomorrow but if I had to guess I'd say about 4-5lbs) & when Hunny was about 12 weeks she weighed about 6lbs.  They always look bigger then they actually weigh.

Hunny & Ash get fed at the same time BUT each get their own bowl of greens so that they each get the amount they are suppose to... also there are somethings Hunny won't eat that Ash loves (collard greens for example).  Ash is a lil' piggy bun & gobbles his up wicked quick then runs back n forth & tries sticking his head thru the bars to get at Hunny's so I know if I fed them from the same bowl he'd be all over her share. 

 

I am so envious right now.
Giants are so beautifull. Gotta love them ears!

Remember though, giants need a LOT of excersize. Big buns mean big area to run too.

They are nice! (Well, they were nicer when I thought they were both girls! LOL Now they're giving me an ulcer worrying about bunny babies. hehehe.)

I bought a carpet remnant for them that's 12'x14' so that's their pen size in addition to their rabbit abode. Then they can come out and play with us, also. The only problem is that now we've got to keep them separated in little spaces because of the whole boy/girl issue. But next Friday will solve that!

I am going to be up to my ears in vet care. The dog has allergies and requires a special bath each day, medicine twice daily, and a cream for her paws and belly three times a day. THEN add on top of that they I will be doing regular bunny care plus checking their incisions and making sure they eat and poop. Oh boy.

I'll be glad when this is over.

Hey!!!I just saw this. I've got a flemmies, Lady. She's about 15lbs ish at 11 months. Check with your local house rabbit society, I was able to get a voucher for house bunnies to get mine spayed. Also check out rabbit.org for a list ofreputable vets For pretty much everything, bigger is better. Lady would pick up and slam her xpen when Ihad it at 4x4, but was much happier at 4x8 ( and she had free time in the house most of the day. I use a large low sided tub for her litter box, like the kind that go under the bed. She tends to kick out out a lot of poop of its any smaller. We buy hay by the bale now, like 50lbs from dr foster and smith, as well as Bulk pellets, because she eats so darn much. and greens man, she eats a TON of greens. 

So yeah, tons of space and food is important with a big breed especially when they binky 5 feet

Hey! Where you been S&LH?! :p

lobsterandi; here's another vet list in case you haven't tried these. From Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society. You'll also find a bit about Hoppy Hour on this site. Something that might interest you if you live close enough.

http://mn.companionrabbit.org/resou...rians.html

Hi!! I've been crazy busy with school and moving and school again hah. phew! Missed ya'll though!

Yikes! Sounds stressful. I'll be kind and not poke you for pictures just yet. Maybe tomorrow.

lobstersandi, I wanted to add this resource also.
http://www.nootersclub.org/lowcosts...neuter.htm

There are some services in there you might find. Kindestcut and SNAP in MN do rabbit desexings from what I can see.

Sorry to resurrect this old(ish) post but I had to respond. I've been so busy with my son in school and his other billion activities. Between the kids, the dog, the bunnies, and my husband... I have no computer time!

We DID use the SNAP program. Thank you, jerseygirl! They were wonderful and knowledgeable and kind. The bunnies did wonderfully and are healing nicely! I'm planning on Hoppy Hour after they're all 100% healed just so I don't have to worry about any injuries. The spay & neuter for them, including medicines, was $90. Can't beat that! The best part is that the vet who did them was one of the vets at the expensive clinic. Hooray!

Where do you buy your giant bags of pellets? We're going through them like crazy, but the giant bags I find seem to be no good. Either the big bags are for growing meat rabbits on a farm, or they have wheat listed as the first or second ingredient. I thought wheat was bad for bunnies?!

I want my bunnies to be big but I also want them to be trim and fit. lol

The people working the spay clinic had their jaws on the ground as they said, "THOSE will be some HUGE rabbits!"

I`m glad the bunnies made out well.

I have to buy 50lb bags of food and hay from Dr Foster and Smith. Its much much cheaper than buying small bag by bag.

I also want to ditto Sam&Lady's suggestion of Drs. Foster and Smith. They sell the larger bags of Oxbow and when you buy over a certain amount (I think it's $49), there is free shipping. You can either get the 50lb bags (if you have a way to keep it airtight) or multiple 10lb bags. When they get older, you will still need to limit their pellets, so at that point the pellet cost should be more manageable (altho your veggie bill will be astronomical... lol).

I have to buy a 50lb bag every month with Blue and the rest of the gang. It is a local timothy hay based pellet, I am not sure of the brand. But again it is something that my vet reccomended for me and sent me to where she gets her feed and its only $14 for the bag. its a little feed shop out here in the country. lol look at me I am a hick now lol, in the country, got a country vet, feed from the country feed store LOL anyway. My Flemmie love to eat constantly!! so I make sure he has tons of hay, then give him greens and he gets pellets once a day.

I live "in the country" according to most of my friends. We moved from downtown Minneapolis into a suburb half an hour away. The city really does stop abruptly and cows and corn quickly become your neighbors! I called our local feed store and asked if they had any pet bunny food, and they have three varieties of non meat-rabbit pellets. I'm going to go check it out and read the bags to see if any of those will do the trick. They also have big bales of different hays so I'll see what they've got!

I go through more rabbit pellets than I do dog food for my 30 pound dog. Every time I get the rabbit bag crinkling, the dog comes running like, "MAYBE I WILL GET FOOD THIS TIME TOO!" She's always disappointed that she only gets fed twice a day but I am constantly refilling the bunny bowl.

What beautiful babies! Plenty of advice here, so I just wanted to pop in and say congrats on your new buns and thanks for taking them in.

I agree that $700 is outrageous. I live in a very expensive area and payed $400 for a neuter (not sure how much the spays were, since my girl was done when I got her) and $700 is significantly more than that.

Great to hear you found the SNAP program there rabbit savvy! I agree, can't beat 90$!!

Regarding the meat rabbit pellets....I know this is cringe-worthy but the flemmies are a meat breed. If those pellets have good fibre content then feeding them in much smaller portion would be ok IMO. From what I've heard weight is something harder to keep on the pet flemmies(???) so I'm think a grower pellet/alfalfa based pellet may not be a bad thing. Limited portions of course.

Are they good hay eaters?

The pet rabbit food they had their was OK. I bought a 50 pound bag. It's 19-22% fiber. And it was less than $20. They're alfalfa pellets, and I don't think they can eat them in adulthood but this'll get us through for a while.

They don't really seem to eat hay as much as other rabbits I've known. But I guess that's because they get unlimited pellets. They seem to prefer orchard grass the best of all options.

OMGGG -- Just wanted to say welcome to BB and I'M SOOOO JEALOUS THAT TWO FLEMMIES JUST FELL INTO YOUR LAP! Ahhhh, I have 3 baby Tans and they are sooo adorable but I want a Flemmie sooooo bad. Unfortunately our condo complex is no animals so there's just no way I could sneak a Giant bunny out every time he had to go to the vets. They're the exact color I want too! SOOOO ADORABLE!

I'm really glad their spays went well for you and you got such a good price! $700 is INSANE. I got my girl done for $350.

As for them eating not as much hay -- my baby buns didn't start gobbling down their hay until they were getting weaned off their baby pellets onto their adult pellets in which case we found them a hay (oat hay) that they go nuts over and now is the only time they'll really go after it.