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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Getting a rabbit neutered?

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    • PeachyCream
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        Hi, I’ve had this rabbit, Bright Eyes, a few days now and he likes to pee on people’s beds and the sofa, and he is a bit of a hassle… The obvious answer might be to get him neutered but I’m apprehensive about it for a few reasons…

        I’m worried about health risks…. can getting a rabbit neutered put them at risk for anything?

        Worried about emotional trauma… I’ve had like animal activists who have told me that getting a pet fixed takes away part of their natural instinct and can traumatise them or make them depressed….

        I also am unsure of whether or not it would be a selfish thing to do…  I don’t get as bothered with spaying a female because it’s kind of just like getting one’s tubes tied… But it’s a bit more… noticeable with a male. I would NEVER get a cat declawed just for scratching the furniture and am totally against that so I feel like getting a pet neutered for behavioural purposes might be needlessly mean..

        Are there any benefits to the pet if they get fixed? Please understand I’m not trying to upset or offend anyone who has had their pet neutered, I’m just trying to get some information about it before I decide to have it done or not…


      • Sam and Lady's Human
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          Here’s a link to Binky Bunny’s bunny info- bunny gone nutty –
          https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/10/PID/940/Default.aspx
          It answers a lot of questions about spaying and neutering and has links for further reading

          The benefits of altering your bun greatly outweigh any negative.


        • Roberta
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            Animal Advocates and Activist are two entirely different creatures. Activist can sometimes get a little misguided and zealous in their approach.
            If Bright Eyes is deemed fit enough by your vet for the procedure then it would be worth while having it done for all the reason the others have noted.
            As he is not a wild rabbit his natural instincts are to eat lots, crash on the couch and run binkies through the house.


          • Stickerbunny
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              There is a huge difference in getting a cat declawed and neutering a bunny. One causes a lot of pain, takes away their ability to defend themselves and messes with balance. The other takes hormones away and makes it so they can’t breed. I have never met a person who worked for animal rights and in rescue etc that was against spay/neuter. Yes, it isn’t “natural” – but neither is them existing (our domestic bunnies and wild ones are vastly different, ever seen a lionhead in the wild?) or living in houses.

              The risk is minimal if your bun is healthy and the vet is bunny savvy. There are no health downsides really. And my male was fine after recovery, back to his normal happy binkying self. So I don’t think he minded all that much. He got a girlfriend out of the deal.

              And by the way, a spay is a much more invasive thing. It isn’t like a tube tie, it is like a hysterectomy. They remove the uterus and ovaries completely. A neuter is less trauma and males usually bounce back pretty quickly.


            • MoveDiagonally
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                Getting a female animal spayed is not like getting your tubes tied at all. Spaying removes the uterus and ovaries while with tubal ligation the organs remain intact.

                Having a male neutered is usually less risky and intrusive than getting a female spayed. My male rabbits didn’t seem affected at all. They didn’t get depressed and generally acted like nothing happened when they arrived home. My female rabbits were a lot more affected/took longer to recover and be normal.


              • PeachyCream
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                  lol wow I just keep getting a lot of wrong information, don’t I? X.x It’s still something I have to think about but I do feel a little better about it…


                • Bam
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                    I just want to start with saying that I had the same concerns as you, but I still got my male bunny neutered. Why? Because it was the best way to ensure him the best possible life with me and my dog. He’s a house-rabbit and he needs to be able to live in a house. I could of course have kept him intact and let him live outside in a hutch or permantently caged indoors- but that’s no life for a bunny. Now he is free roam and it works great!

                    A bunny that pees and poops all over the place is not a good candidate for free-roaming. Unneutered bunny-pee has a distinctly unpleasant smell. An unneutered rabbit can develop sexual obsessions (mine did, with my dog) and not get a second’s rest because of an all-consuming sex-drive. Not to mention that my poor dog didn’t get any rest because she was constantly pursued and circled and nipped by a crazy rabbit.

                    I don’t know if it’s a comfort or not, but what you do when you spay a female rabbit fully is not like tying a person’s tube. With tube-tying the hormonal production remains the same and in a rabbit that means it will get in heat and have false pregnancies and be territorial, it just cant have babies. I know now that some rescues in the USA don’t do a full spay, but that would only take care of the babies-issue, not the behavioural problems.

                    There’s always a risk with full anestesia in any animal or person. But if you find a vet who’s used to neutering rabbits and have the right knowledge and equipment, that risk is small.


                  • PeachyCream
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                      @bam how has your bunny been since the neutering? The biggest concern I have with mine is that he becomes depressed or overweight… I know animal activists can be wrong sometimes but one of them told me that animals who are fixed lose their drive to do physical exercise and become overweight and depressed… I’ve never had to make this decision for an animal before, this is the first time I’ve had to decided whether to do it or not… I’m leaning towards it but I want to be able to be sure of my decision first…


                    • PeachyCream
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                        also I know what you mean about trying to pursue something sexually… He hasn’t been nipping at her, but he’s been chasing my female cat around making these odd sounds and if she doesn’t get away fast enough he tries to mount her… He’s also been pooping in random patterns around his cage and the house… It’s easy enough to clean the droppings up but it also means he can spend a night in a poop pellet-filled cage… He’s not overly aggressive, he’s a pretty big softie but the bad toilet habits and trying to mate with my cat is a bit difficult to deal with…


                      • Roberta
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                          Posted By PeachyCream on 05/29/2013 01:39 AM 
                          The biggest concern I have with mine is that he becomes depressed or overweight… I know animal activists can be wrong sometimes but one of them told me that animals who are fixed lose their drive to do physical exercise and become overweight and depressed…

                          Piglet never showed any sign of depression or weight gain post neuter, he is still the king of the ear wiggle + Nana Binkie combo.

                          Personality wise I really didn’t notice a great deal of difference. The only obvious change was he no longer sprayed pee 4 feet up the sunroom wall in fan patterns.


                        • Bam
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                            It sounds like you have about the same problems that I had with Bam! For a month or so I thought he’d tire of pursuing the dog once he realized she wasn’t interested, but it only got worse. It wasn’t at all nice for the dog. I’d know he’d nipped her when I heard her yelp in the hallway, then she’d come in to me looking like “Help me, mummy!” and after her followed the terrible terrible monster-rabbit, 4 pounds of pure sex-drive. She’s a very good dog, so she never hurt him but she wasn’t happy.

                            He also marked the couch with pee and poop and he was desperate to get up there to mark. I blocked it off but he still tried to force his way up there, but when he couldn’t he settled for marking every other softish surface instead.

                            All that stopped with the neuter. He was fat before the neuter but I don’t know exactly How fat. He got orders from the vet a month ago to lose weight so he’s on a diet. He doesn’t seem depressed. He was very lazy the first year I had him, until he fell in love with dog, and he’s just as lazy now again. But he has had 2 bouts of stomach problems since the neuter, if it’s related I don’t know.


                          • Stickerbunny
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                              Powder gained no weight post neuter and still does as many zoomies, binkies and dead bunny flops as ever.


                            • PeachyCream
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                                I have yet to see my rabbit do a binky,,, What’s a zoomie? However, he does do bunny flops, xP I always get nervous when he does and feel the need to go check on him…. if he’s done it on the dining room floor he gets upset when I go to check on him and runs away :/


                              • Stickerbunny
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                                  Zoomies are when they decided to run through the house really, really fast and “zoom” past you at break neck speeds. And yeah bunny flops worry new owners quite often, it’s hard to tell they are even breathing! But, they are really cute when you’re used to telling if they are OK without disturbing them.


                                • Snowytoshi
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                                    All of the rabbits I have met (I volunteer at a shelter) have been much happier and friendlier post neuter. From your description of his behavior he sounds very frustrated, this is because he is pretty much in high stress human teenager mode 24/7.


                                  • PeachyCream
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                                      well I do want to get him checked up… If I can get an accurate guess at his age… If he is an older guy then I’m not sure I’d risk the surgery…. But if he’s younger and healthy and spry than I’ll definitely see if I can have it done…

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                                  Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Getting a rabbit neutered?