Health qualifications for spay?

[OverthinkingBun]

I’m really trying to be a responsible bunny owner.  I want to get my 10 month old female bunny spayed.  She has gone to two appointments at a local clinic that is experienced with rabbit spays so far.  The first, at 6 months old, they sent her home because she was too young/little in their opinion.  Later, she had some health issues with weight loss due to gum inflammation, and I didn’t want to reschedule until she was recovered.  Now she is happy and healthy and having “accidents” all over my things, lol.  I took her in again.  The vet examined her, and said she looked perfectly healthy, but because of her past medical history, they wouldn’t do the surgery.  Is that normal?!  They told me to take her to my regular vet for the surgery, but that hospital quoted me $1050 as a low end.  That seems so unreasonable to me, and of course the insurance won’t help for spays.  

I found another clinic that was recommended by the HRS, and made an appointment for later this month, but I’m afraid the same thing will happen.  They asked for a letter of permission from my vet.  Is it really such a big deal to spay a rabbit that used to have gum problems?  (if relevant, she is a dwarf mix, and only weighs about 3 pounds, which means some clinics won’t work with her at all)

[Luna]

That’s awesome that you are making sure she is healthy before having surgery, and waiting to spay her until she got her weight back was a good idea. I agree that the vet not wanting to spay her due to past gum issues seems odd, but maybe another member can weigh in.

Also, the hospital that quoted $1000+ must not be experienced in spays…because I can’t imagine many people could afford to pay that! Luna’s spay was a little shy of $300. I’ve heard of quotes as high as $500-600 before, but $1000+ is unimaginable.

[OverthinkingBun]

Right? I live in an expensive area, unfortunately, so I was prepared to hear $500-600, but when she gave me the quote over the phone I said “Oh My God” to her face, lol. It was shock, I didn’t mean to be rude. But I’ve heard later that they have excessively high spay fees because they just don’t want to do the surgery and would rather have patients do it elsewhere (I think they get overbooked and there aren’t many exotics practices in my city). It’s working!

[MountainBuns]

No one needs to pay that much to spay and animal. Where I live its possible to get your pet spayed for as low as $20 or even depending on where you live FREE! I would try and find another place.

[tobyluv]

If a vet has any concerns about a rabbit’s health, they should perform blood tests before any surgery. I don’t understand why a past episode of gum inflammation would cause a vet to not want to spay a rabbit. I hope this new clinic you are going to will not have any qualms about her surgery due to that past gum inflammation, and that they won’t charge anywhere near as much as your vet charges.

[Deleted User]

It does seem odd that a rabbit-savvy vet would refuse a spay because of some gum inflammation. Surely they understand the long-term implications of not spaying…

[Bam]

A gum infection can be unpleasant because there are bacteria in the mouth that could get into the bloodstream. When you’re having/have had major surgery, you should not go to the dentist/dental hygienist for a teeth cleaning, for this reason. That’s the only thing I can think of that could make a vet reluctant to spay a dental bun.I’m not sure about the details, have to do research.

It’s a wellknown “trick” to charge so much for a procedure that the clinic isn’t happy to perform that the client opts out. It’s of course the wisest choice to opt out, you don’t want your bun’s spay done by someone who isn’t totally comfortable with spaying buns. If you can find a vet that does spays for shelters that would be a good option, because they have done the procedure many, many times.

You can have bloodwork done beforehand to rule out any hidden health problems. If there’s an ongoing infection somewhere in her body, that will show in a blood panel. They also test for the liver function, because that’s particularly important before full anesthesia. Depending on what tests you want, it can get pretty expensive. You should ask about the price beforehand.

[Dylan]

It does seem odd… here we have one VERY experienced exotics vet close to me, and another an hour away and one more over two hours off. Mine is the reputable one, the others are not very good. I rescued a ton of buns and have had 10+ spays done on my buns, and honestly the most expensive was around $500 because they are big 5 kg bunnies. I have multiple dental rabbits, and one of them has had two surgeries, and two of the other ones have both been spayed with no issues. If the issue has been gone for a while you should be in the all clear. As bam said, if you are really sure, have a blood panel done. If all infection is cleared, you should have a green light! Make sure her weight is good and she is healthy and energetic. Buns USUALLY bounce back very well from spays!

[OverthinkingBun]

Thanks, you all! Phantomhorse, I’m very glad to here that, that’s a pretty big sample size (you must tell us how you got that rainbow of buns to stand still…I can’t even get one to hold still).

I think I didn’t make this clear enough: no one was saying that she shouldn’t be spayed, just that I should take her elsewhere. The place I took her was a very reputable high volume spay/neuter clinic, which sees a lot of rabbits but can’t do bloodwork or other procedures. The expensive hospital is a full service exotics vet, and I have been very happy with them in the past, and their other prices haven’t been out of line for a specialty practice. They are always booked, though, and I think that’s why they don’t want to do routine procedures (they told me politely that they just don’t have time to do nail trims unless you have an appointment for a medical issue, too). Right now, we have an appointment with another non-profit, high volume spay/neuter clinic, this one much further from home. I am hoping they don’t turn her away too.

Maybe I can have the blood panel done at the regular vet hospital before the spay, and get a detailed report to show the spay clinic. The spay will only cost $160, I think, so the total should be reasonable. Their prices for that sort of thing are normal, I think, and they are very kind to my rabbit.

[Luna]

Posted By bam on 2/06/2018 3:31 PM

A gum infection can be unpleasant because there are bacteria in the mouth that could get into the bloodstream. When you’re having/have had major surgery, you should not go to the dentist/dental hygienist for a teeth cleaning, for this reason. That’s the only thing I can think of that could make a vet reluctant to spay a dental bun.I’m not sure about the details, have to do research.

That’s makes sense, good point Bam. Overthinkingbun, I think your proposal is the best course of action. The vet can do the bloodwork, and then the results can be given to the spay clinic. The only reason I can imagine that they too would not want to do the surgery is if the blood panel shows any sign of infection. Even if this is the case, your vet could probably put her on an antibiotic to clear the infection, then run a panel again to ensure the infection is cleared. I know running a bunch of tests is not ideal (especially on the wallet!) and it can be stressful on your bun, but if you do decide to get her spayed, remember that you are trying to do what is best for her to keep her healthy later in life . It is clear that you are committed to her and that you love her very much, and I know she appreciates that!

[OverthinkingBun]

Ugh. Polly Oliver and I have had such a bad day. We had the blood work results faxed to the clinic, along with a verbal go-ahead from my regular vet. While I was at work (and I work VERY far from this clinic), I got a call telling me that they went over her lab results, and saw several abnormalities that would make the surgery risky. She was dehydrated, and has elevated eosinophils and basophils. She has NO detectable heterophils, which they said would make it hard for her to heal properly. I declined the surgery and picked her up this evening.

All told, I spent about 6-7 hours in the car today driving Polly Oliver there and home, and going to work in the meantime. She’s upset but is nibbling hay and wandering around the room a bit, and using her litter box.

I can’t believe that this rabbit has had THREE spay appointments so far, each time passing an initial check-in with me there, so that I left her and went to work, only to get a call saying to come back and get her once they had a closer look. It’s so frustrating for us both.

Anyone want to take a wild guess about what’s wrong with her? This was a non-profit spay/neuter clinic, so even though they seemed very knowledgable and see a bunch of rabbits, they can’t make a diagnosis or do any testing there. They did give her sub-q fluids. They suggested I check for parasites, which I’ve already done, and she’s 100% indoors, but I guess she could have picked up something from her diet? I think I will call around for another vet to take a look at her, since I’m annoyed at her current one for missing this and telling me that things were normal.

[Luna]

That is definitely frustrating! I’m glad she’s doing ok though after the long drive. I agree that it probably could help getting a second opinion. If anything, maybe you could ask a different vet to look at the last lab results and tell you whether there are abnormalities that the first vet missed, or if there are no abnormalities and the clinic is misinterpreting the results, or how far from normal the results are deviating.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Frustrating indeed. And unusual. I agree with Luna on the second opinion.

[OverthinkingBun]

Follow-up! Turns out she was completely healthy – a very knowledgable rabbit vet took a look at her bloodwork and told me that the most likely explanation for 0 heterophils and very high eosinophils in an otherwise healthy rabbit is that the person running the blood count can’t distinguish between a heterophil and an eosinophil. (Heterophils aren’t seen in cats and dogs, I don’t think). The lab rechecked on our request and said she was normal. This would be funny if not so frustrating…

So I ended up spending a little more and having the same rabbit vet spay her, and just brought her home today. She is sulking but nibbling a little and seems to be making a good recovery so far!

[Luna]

Success! I’m glad they were able to spay her and that she recovered well .

[Author]

Messages