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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Just found out my 6 month old bunny was kept with her brother recently… Help!!

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    • mrnixonpants
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        I’ve owned pet rats for years so I understand how serious this situation is.

        Today my boyfriend surprised me by bringing home an adorable 6 month old mini rex bunny. We had talked about possibly getting a bunny for a little while as he used to have one when he was growing up. I was definitely surprised!

        I was equally as surprised/terrified when he told me while discussing the bunnies brother who was recently adopted, he asked if they were kept in the same cage and to my horror they were. Not to worry though – this woman assured him since they were siblings it would be highly unlikely they would have mated. Yeah right. A quick google search confirmed my immediate fears… Looks like I’m on pregnancy watch now and I have no idea where to start!! To be honest I’m brand new to caring for a bunny and definitely wasn’t prepared to care for a possibly pregnant bunny. Luckily the vet I take my rats to is a small animal specialist and deals with lots of bunnies, so I’ve already got a vet I know I can trust. I plan to have her spayed as soon as I can (I always get the rats fixed so I’m guessing the health benefits are probably similar?) Can bunnies get e-spays like rats can?
        Help! Where do I start what do I need to know – I’m panicking here.

        Moral of the story – no more surprise pets. Personally I would have much rather reached out to a rescue. I won’t buy rats from pet stores why would I buy a bunny from one? He wanted to surprise me and in dealing with lots of rat rescues I think he thought he wouldn’t be able to sneak the process by me. He thought it was okay because it was an independently owned pet store and they get their bunnies from a “very nice local family” which could mean anything really…. Anyway that’s beside the point now….and now I’m rambling.

        Sorry if this post doesn’t make a lot of sense my mind is going a million miles a minute and it’s pretty late for me….

        I’ll be searching the forums for any information I can find as well.

        Thanks!


      • Roberta
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          OK… Don’t panic… Another thing a lot of breeders are bad at is confirming gender even when the evidence is overwhelming. It is entirely possible they are both boys.
          Send us some pics of your new bunny so we can all have a share of the cuteness.
          And don’t sweat the other stuff if it happens it will happen, you could also take a trip to the vet for a base wellness check and have the gender confirmed.


        • Roberta
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            And yes, spaying is a very good idea as buns are prone to cervical cancer after the age of two plus it does help their behavior as they can get very frustrated and hormonal.


          • Sarita
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              I would definitely see the vet, confirm sex and if she is a female have her spayed right away to terminate the pregnancy.


            • mrnixonpants
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                Thanks for the advice everyone!

                I’ve stopped panicking now. Go figure my vet is in surgery all day today and then on vacation next week. She’s set up for an exam the Monday he gets back. In the meantime if I post pictures would anyone here be able to help me with a second opinion on the sex? She’s very good about being handled and doesn’t seem to mind being held one bit so I don’t think getting pictures would be a problem at all. Sexing bunnies seems pretty confusing to me, but Nathan (the boyfriend) assured me that it definitely looked like a slit when the girl at the store sexed her. When I looked at pictures male and female bunny bits seemed to look pretty similar so I can see how people could be easily confused.

                A spay is $297 at my vet and the bloodwork that is recommended is an extra $97. I’ve read that as long as the bunny is under 2, the bloodwork isn’t absolutely necessary. Am I right about that? I will need to save up for a few weeks to cover the cost of the spay. If I need an emergency spay I can tap into my savings, but I don’t want to do that unless absolutely necessary. I’ve got a senior rattie on my hands so I’d like to keep my emergency vet fund as full as possible.

                If the vet says she is pregnant on Monday then I will probably opt for the e-spay. I am not familiar enough with bunnies to be comfortable caring for a first time pregnant mother. I wouldn’t know what complications during labor look like…and I definitely don’t want to be taking any risks in that regard. Would an e-spay be too late by that time though?

                I just want to give this bunny the best life I can possibly give her. So glad I found this community. I learned so much about rats when I first started caring for them from a very supportive online community like this one!

                Oh, and here’s a picture for good measure! (Hopefully this works I’m not sure how to post photos here)

                We’re thinking of calling her Harper. Harper Lee Pants. (My rats’ last names have always been Pants, not exactly sure why, but we’ve just always been the Pants family haha)


              • MoveDiagonally
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                  Welcome to the forums! I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this as a new bunny owner but it sounds like she’s in good hands with you.

                  For a healthy younger rabbit blood work isn’t usually necessary. I don’t think any of my rabbits have had blood work done before a spay/neuter (they were all less than two years old). It might be hard to guess at any kind of timeline for what would be too late in this situation because it sounds like she was in regular contact/housed with her brother. Unfortunately she could have conceived at any point during that time.

                  Hopefully she’s not pregnant and/or the pet store just didn’t know they had two same sex bunnies.


                • Beka27
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                    An e-spay is definitely a good option, but this depends how far she is in the pregnancy. I wouldn’t do one if she was already 3-4 weeks into the pregnancy.

                    Will the vet be able to do the spay on Monday if she is confirmed pregnant, or possibly refer you to another vet to get her done asap?


                  • LBJ10
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                      You can certainly post pictures of her bits. Of course, at 6 months, any boy bits should be pretty obvious unless those jewels are hiding somewhere (undescended, pulling them in, etc). Do you know where to look for those? They aren’t in the same place as a dog or cat. They are forward on the abdomen, above the genital area.

                      I agree about the bloodwork. Most vets don’t do it for young bunnies unless there is a cause for concern.


                    • Roberta
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                        LBJ is right, sometimes all you can see are two little bald patches the size of thumbprints on the stomach forward of and either side of the piddly bits.


                      • JackRabbit
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                          I didn’t do pre-spay or pre-neuter bloodwork on my three. The different vets offered but said it wasn’t required and that most of people usually didn’t at that age so I didn’t do it.

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                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Just found out my 6 month old bunny was kept with her brother recently… Help!!