False Pregnancy

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 12sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by TaraMichele.

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- 10/17/2011 at 11:39 PM
  OhBellaBunBun
  Participant
  82 posts
  Has anyone had a rabbit display symptoms of false pregnancy? I’ve been looking it up, and I’m quite confused. I am reading that it is uncommon for spayed rabbits to display this behavior.
  
  The odd thing is that when I took my rabbit in to be spayed ( a while ago) the vet found she had already been spayed. This was odd as we had got her at a petstore when she wasn’t fully grown. Unless it’s possible she was born without all of the proper equipment, and she’s definitely not a male.
  
  I’m just a bit confused by this entire situation. We have recently adopted a male (neutered) rabbit. They have been bonded now for a few weeks. I think this could be why she has suddenly been displaying the false pregnancy.
  
  I’m saying false pregnancy b/c she has been going around picking up hay carrying it in her mouth and holding on to it for a while.
  
  Have you heard of any other reason for a rabbit doing this? Her teeth look normal, her gums are pink and healthy looking. She is eating, drinking, and going potty as normal too.
  
  My boyfriend offered her a papaya treat and she was excited for it, but she didn’t want to put down her mouthfull of hay.
  
  Any thoughts?
- 10/18/2011 at 1:03 AM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  Did the vet find a spay scar? If not, then I would be highly suspicious of her not being spayed.
- 10/18/2011 at 4:30 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Was she “opened” and the vet checked and everything was gone? Some vets might do a partial spay where only the uterus is removed. This prevents pregnancy but does not remove the hormones (ovaries). A complete spay is necessary to take the hormones out of the equation. So explain what happened when she went in to be spayed…
- 10/18/2011 at 5:36 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Did the vet actually open her up and discover this.
  
  As for this behavior, I’ve had a neutered male rabbit display this type of behavior and I think it was due to stress as he was obviously not having a false pregnancy. Could be that the new male is just causing some stress due to the new situation.
- 10/18/2011 at 7:19 AM
  kamdynandsunshinesmom
  Participant
  910 posts
  That is really odd. I thought all vets did a full spay. I rescued my sunshine a year ago from a rescue group who told me she was spayed. Should I be concerned that she isn’t fully spayed only partial?
- 10/18/2011 at 7:35 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Most vets do a full spay. I wouldn’t worry about it being partial unless you had a reason to think it was not complete. The biggest risk is uterine cancer, so as long as the uterus is out, that risk is gone. In this situation, Bella thinks there might be a false pregnancy occurring, altho really… it could be any number of behavioral issues too due to the new bond.
- 10/18/2011 at 8:51 AM
  TriBun
  Participant
  314 posts
  Most vets do a full spay… but there are those hacks out there that only remove the uterus. There is a really sad story on the House Rabbit Society’s website about a bunny that only had her uterus removed. She got ovarian cancer and died a slow, painful death. Please please make sure her ovaries are removed. Not to mention, false pregnancies are very stressful on bun and owner and they still have the hormones for this if they have ovaries.
  
  For now, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Some bunnies just do this from time to time. Usually because of some stress or change in her routine. If she starts pulling out her fur like a madwoman you’ll know she’s having a false pregnancy.
- 11/01/2011 at 9:01 PM
  OhBellaBunBun
  Participant
  82 posts
  Hey, everyone. I’m sorry I didn’t write back right away. I had a problem with our internet, and then we were busy with Halloween things.
  
  When she went in to be spayed, the vet opened her up and found that everything had already been removed. She’s a wonderful vet, accredited and all. I trust that she didn’t lie to me about this. The odd thing is not knowing what happened to her before we got her. She was in a pet store, and they don’t spay their rabbits. We all assume she must have been dropped of to them by someone who no longer wanted her for whatever reason. Her previous owner must have spayed her or unless she was born without the proper parts. The vet did say that she didn’t think that was the case because she could tell where things had been and no longer were, that it had healed inside. She also found it to be extremely odd as she’d had one other rabbit once come in to be spayed that already was.
- 11/02/2011 at 9:04 AM
  TriBun
  Participant
  314 posts
  Wow, that’s crazy that someone would go through all the stress and expense of spaying her and then giving her up (I guess there are times you have to). How is she doing? Is she still acting strange?
- 11/03/2011 at 2:13 AM
  TaraMichele
  Participant
  285 posts
  I feel like Ive hard a similar story that was posted on here..I dont remember who or the exact details but the poor bunny was brought in for surgery and had already had everything removed, I do remember the person also got their bunny from a petstore…Not that Im any help lol but maybe someone else can remember who this happened to?
- 11/03/2011 at 9:12 PM
  OhBellaBunBun
  Participant
  82 posts
  She has been doing fine since. She acted strange like this once more, but only for about half an hour.
  
  The person who had this happen to them was probably me lol. I came on sometime last year I think to tell you all about my crazy bunny spay story
- 11/03/2011 at 11:09 PM
  Nova
  Participant
  220 posts
  That happened to me all the time with my first rabbit because I was too young to know to spay her. It happened once every couple years, and she lived a very long time, 10 years – but I bet you can guess what her cause of death was – uterine cancer. She probably would have lived a lot longer if she were spayed. Collecting the hay in her mouth was funny and cute to me at the time but she probably ddn’t feel too good.
- 11/03/2011 at 11:27 PM
  TaraMichele
  Participant
  285 posts
  lol that is very possible!!
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