BunnyLass’ friend: We’ll definiely not be telling you to give your buns up.
I just spent the whole of yesterday listening to a vet webbinar about surgery in rabbits, particularly healthy spay/neuters. I have a young doe who is getting spayed tomorrow, and I do admit that I’m a bit scared – I’ve only ever had to neuter boy rabbits.
Castration is more important for does than for bucks. They should preferably be spayed before age three to be really sure they don’t develop uterine cancer, but uterine cancer is a slow-growing form of cancer, so age 3 years is in no ways too old. A healthy rabbit under the age of 4 is classified as a type 1 patient – meaning complications are not expected. Overweight counts as a risk factor though, so if she is chubby, now would be a good time to try and – very slowly! – get her weight down. (I have of course no idea if your rabbit is chubby, but it is a very common problem with all our pets these days, so the vet I listened to mentioned it specifically.)
It is important to choose a good vet clinic for a spay. Prices also vary quite a lot even within the same area, so you should call around and ask. Ask how many girl rabbit castrations they perform, and, although it may seems a bit impertinent to ask, what is their survival rate. Also ask if they do “full spays” i e remove both the ovaries and the uterus (this is what is technically called castration in both sexes), and their view on pain relief post spay . Ask specifically about girl castrations, because those are a lot more invasive than boy neuters. Vets that do spays for rescues and shelters tend to have lots of experience of spaying doe rabbits, which of course is great.
Very few does die from castrations, but risk of cancer is high in intact does from age 4 and the risk increases steeply with age. It is however great that your bun has never had false pregnancies. If a girl bun does get cancer (or some other uterine disease of which there are a few), you need to do an emergency spay, and hope that the cancer hasn’t spread. Any surgery performed on a sick animal is of course a lot riskier than surgery on a healthy animal.
I cant say anything about your grandma’s gut feeling. I’m always really scared when a loved one of mine is going under the knife, so I know my own gut feeling is totally unreliable in that respect.
A boy neuter is a more straightforward affair, but it’s not primarily done for the sake of the bun’s health. It’s done to prevent pregnancies and to limit adverse behaviors such as pee spraying, excessive courting behavior, pee-spraying etc. Boy rabbits can get testicular cancer, but it’s a disease of the elderly male bun, which is why it was rarely seen not so long ago. These days rabbits live longer due to better care and healthier life styles, and when an animal gets to become elderly, they might diseases of the elderly.
I don’t know if this helped at all. You are obviously very welcome to come back with more questions.
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