Could Spaying Cause Negative Behavior?

[Willa's Human]

I have a fantastic little doe, Willa,  who is around 10 months old. Since I got her at around 3.5 months, I’ve been planning to get her spayed at 9 months, when we moved to a new town with more vets experienced in rabbit medicine. I know all of the benefits behaviorally and for long term health of getting her spayed, but I find myself at surprising anti-problem. She’s a complete angel. She uses her litter box perfectly, never bites, rarely chews on things she shouldn’t, and maintains a relatively fit body even though I am a little too generous with the food and treats. She has the run of my studio apartment and stay out of trouble. She’s the perfect roommate.

I’m starting to grow concerned that getting her spayed could traumatize her and undo all the hard work. She was a very skittish and living pretty independently in a farmers rabbit run when I got her and has come so far as a house bunny. She still tends to be anxious about things my past buns wouldn’t bat an eye at. I don’t want a scary experience with strange people to make her as fearful as she was when I got her. She still doesn’t love being picked up, but she tolerates it when needed, which is absolutely fine in my book. I’m not intending on getting another bun in the future, Willa has been very happy without one and I wouldn’t want a bad time bonding to change her behavior.

Could the costs outweigh the benefits here, or am I just being paranoid and get an appointment scheduled?

[Bam]

This is a bit of a tough question. I think it’s unlikely that the spaying procedure in itself will undo her relationship with you – you must of course make sure she gets adequate pain medication for you to give at home for 5-7 days post op, and if a vet isn’t willing to let you have that, I’d choose another vet. Pain control is very important for recuperating rabbits. You often get temporary behavioral changes post spay and they can, in severe cases, last up to 6 months, but that’s more often the case with bunnies that have shown marked hormonal behavior (nesting, territoriality, pee- and poop-marking, courting you or other pets, humping, aggression etc – these behaviors can actually become exacerbated for a period post spay).

If you have a good rabbit vet you could ask them their opinion. It tends to feel wrong for us to “fix what’s not broken” – but reproductive tract health problems resulting in uterine cancer are after all very common in intact does. Sometimes you get warnings that something isn’t right – the bunny gets frequent false pregnancies or changes from being a happy social bunny to a total grump due to excess production of hormones (female sex hormones are considered the culprit in bunny uterine cancer) etc, but sometimes the whole disease process is silent until cancer is a fact.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I agree with everything Bam said. I’ve never had any negative behaviour changes in spaying buns. Always beneficial changes. Your bun sounds like an angel, for sure, but I would def have her spayed for the very serious risk of cancer of an intact bunny.

[Nutmeg]

Hey! I also agree with Bam and for the very reason of just eliminating their chance of uterine cancer – which the statistics are around 70% developing if not spayed by the age of 4.

It was worth it to me to remove that risk to hopefully more than double her life expectancy.

I can tell you after my girl was spayed that she was right back to her old self and if anything was more better behaved for her litter training.

[jerseygirl]

Interesting question!

I cannot really recall of members on here reporting negative change in behaviour after spay. Other then a short period right after when the hormones are leveling out. Some people have mentioned their rabbits seeming less active but most times that has been a difference due to age. ie, their rabbit was an active junior, became old enough for desexing, then people noted changes around 1 year of age when the rabbit is considered an adult.

There are some medical conditions that may occur due to spay, but not commonly. ie. adhesions of the scar tissue though there are things a vet can do to minimise adhesions occuring. There can also be some incontinence (when rabbit is sleeping or relaxed) as the urethral sphincter muscle is less effective due to less sex hormones in the system. It can happen for cats and dogs too. This condition can be treated with medications.

In my own view, the health risks leaving a female bun intact is greater, not just with uterine and/or endometrial cancers but polyps, pyometra, ovarian and/or mammary cysts.

[Author]

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