Age and Spay Question

[DwarfNewbie2013]

Is it possible to guess the age of your bunny by size?  I am not sure how old she is (I know she is a doe) but I would like to know so we can give her the best care for her age.

Also, is it necessary to spay your doe?  There seems to be a lot of differing opinions when I did research online.  Input from people who have been there/done that would be greatly appreciated!!  

Thank you!!! 

[Sarita]

Well it would possibly be able to say that your rabbit is an adult but not an exact age. Possibly your vet could give you an approximate age.

Female rabbits definitely need to be spayed – unspayed females have about an 80% chance of contracting uterine cancer so it is a must.

[DwarfNewbie2013]

She is still a baby…we are just not sure what age. We just brought her home yesterday so we do not yet have a vet and the holidays are here so it will be a while til we take her in. Any guesses?

80% of unspayed get uterine cancer??? Wow!

[Sarita]

She’s adorable – really hard to guess. Did the person you got her from have any idea about her age?

[Zombie-Sue]

If she’s still a baby, that narrows it down a lot–she’d be under 6 months. Adult rabbits can be really hard to pinpoint.

I’ve heard people say that the 80% study is outdated, which may be the cause for conflicting opinions. That said, whatever % your rabbit starts at, your rabbit’s risk will drop to 0% for hormonal cancers once she’s fixed. That’s enough for me, lol.

[DwarfNewbie2013]

What age do they usually spay her at?

[DwarfNewbie2013]

The bunnies were donated to a local feed store to find homes from a local breeder/4-h family. I can probably find out her age but it will take a little digging.

[Sindri]

I am not sure how old you bunny. My vet wanted to spay my rabbit at 4 months but we had to wait another month due to her weight being too low. 5 or 6 months is what I have read and heard others say is a good age. Also other than the cancer risk it helps to have them spayed because it helps with hormonal behaviors that are negative. Both my rabbits became chew crazy and destroyed furniture and baseboards and also started peeing outside of their litterboxes. So that’s something to consider as well.

[DwarfNewbie2013]

Ok well I need to find a vet first. My first search showed the nearest one to be about an hour away! Ugh. There is a vet close that might do it but I need to wait til after the holidays. Thanks everyone!!!

[MoveDiagonally]

It’s important to make sure any vet you take your bunny to is rabbit-savvy (not all vets can or should treat bunnies).They are considered “exotic” pets. 

The HRS has a good article about finding a vet that you might find helpful.
http://rabbit.org/faq-how-to-find-a-good-rabbit-vet/
http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

[DwarfNewbie2013]

Thank you so much!! Yes, I just met a gal who breeds them for 4H. She just told me that many times bunnies don’t make it out of surgery because they are sensitive to the anesthesia! She also told me that she has several female bunnies that are not fixed and never got cancer. Ugh. I just want my son to have some time to enjoy his girl. He could lose her either way. Hard to figure out what is best to do.

[Dobby]

This article might be helpful for you. If you find a rabbit savvy vet the odds will be very, very much in your favor. The article explains things better than I can.

http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

[MoveDiagonally]

Please read the links I provided you with (and Dobby). There is a lot of information there about this very thing. There is a risk with every surgery but a healthy young rabbit in the hands of a rabbit savvy vet has a very low risk of surgical complications. It’s really no more risky than spaying or neutering a cat or dog.

It sounds like you really want to do right by your  bunny. It can be very confusing at first but  the HRS is a GREAT  trusted resource. 

[DwarfNewbie2013]

Very informative…thank you!!

[Cochin]

Ya know, you always MENTION 80% but Ive never seen anything on studies, PDFs, nothing. Does anyone have any documents on it? I find it hard to believe when plenty of breeders have old buns (8 years + – coming from personal friends and online) and/or never seen one case of uterine cancer, and there’s no proof. I mean, it’s a great way to scare people into spaying their bun (LoL) but it’d be nice to get PDFs or actually link to the study(ies)

[Sarita]

Really, well here’s one:

From a vet with ARBA no less. And a PDF!

 http://4h.msue.msu.edu/uploads/files/Uterine%20Adenocarcinoma%20in%20Rabbits%20Jan-Feb%2020130001.pdf

 It is also happens to be on a 4H website by the way.

[RabbitPam]

Sarita has provided some good information here. Also, please be mindful that this site has no affiliation with any veterinarian that may profit from our advice. BB’s motive is to provide the best known advice (after years of research and experience) for bunny owners who want a happy, healthy life with their house rabbits. It is difficult to pull up statistics to back up that advice when it is from various sources, but I think Sarita has done that anyway.

If it is not convincing, well, we can agree to disagree. Please just continue with a tone of informative discussion and everyone remember to play nice if you disagree. Thanks.

[RabbitPam]

Regarding the age of your baby – it may help to get an idea of what breed she is, so you can see pix of what an adult bunny like yours looks like and what is the expected weight. You may recognize her as a Mini Lop for example, and their weight as an adult will be much less than a Rex for example.

If you bought her, she is supposed to be about 9 weeks old to be fully weaned, so you can figure she’s between 7-9 weeks old. A bit older is good, too. Follow the advice in the Diet section of the Info. Menu (drop down above) for guidance on starting her food and getting her acclimated to her new home. It will not bore or hurt her to err on the side of caution as you feed her and introduce her to new foods over the next few weeks and months.

I advocate getting her spayed as well. No matter what her age, and it’s usually about 4-5 months old, it is really up to the vet’s comfort level with doing the procedure that determines when you get it done. While searching for a vet, check out your yellow pages listings for vets that treat “Exotics”. That means small animals. Also, my vet is great, and treats many exotics, but she is a Bird Veterinarian. They often are much more experienced with rabbits, and have a great touch with small animals since they work with tiny birds. Some veterinary practices that do dogs and cats have one vet on a group staff that is the expert in small animals, so you can ask around locally, too. Be sure to try the House Rabbit Society link to vets listed there by zip code.
Oh, and sometimes your local shelter that rescues rabbits will know a local vet that helps them do their own spays and neuters, so they may be able to make a more local recommendation. That’s just another phone call away.

[Sindri]

My vet said that she has seen cases of cancer in upspayed rabbits and had done necropsies to find out why some people’s rabbits have died and she has seen some causes to be from cancer. She mentioned it during her wellness check up and I had already mentioned she was going to be spayed. So my vet wasn’t making this info up to convince me that I needed to spay my rabbit. I think its good to get them spayed for other reasons than just cancer like hormonal behaviors and I think they will be much happier in general if spayed and neutered.

[DwarfNewbie2013]

I found out she is a pure bred black dutch and about nine weeks old or so….

[LBJ10]

This is published in a journal:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2032762/pdf/amjpathol00545-0225.pdf

They studied various populations and breeds. The cancer rate varied, but was found to be 79% in one population. I imagine much of it has to do with genetics, since certain cancers in humans are influenced by genetics.

You have to remember that rabbits are made to reproduce quickly and do not typically live long lives in the wild (they are prey animals). A rabbit’s uterus will have a lot more cell division happening that say a human’s would. More cell-division = more of a chance for error. A rabbit living in the wild would likely never live long enough to die from cancer. Since we keep them as pets, however, their life expectancy is considerably higher. So we have rabbits living to an age where cancer would be more likely to occur.

Whether the risk of cancer is 20% or 80%, I have heard enough horror stories where beloved pets have fallen victim to a completely preventable cancer. So if I were to have a girl bun, I would definitely want her spayed. I wouldn’t want to chance it.

And like the others have pointed out, unspayed females can be almost impossible to live with once their hormones kick in. Your sweet little bunny could turn into a little monster right before your eyes. I believe they are much happier and more well-adjusted when hormones aren’t driving everything they do.

[Author]

Messages