Rabbit health

[bunnymama14]

Hi, I brought my baby girl Peter to the vet today. The vet was very nice and examined Peter’s abdomen. I noticed about a week ago lumps under one of her teats. I was worried that it was a serious such as an abscess or worse tumor so I brought her to get checked. Peter was in false pregnancy mode two weeks ago and all her teats are swollen and she is producing “milk”. The vet said with the signs of her producing liquid from her teats and her teats being enlarged but not as large as a pregnant rabbits teats would be and with her added normal behavior and eating habitats she may just be showing the symptom of swollen mammary glands. She said that bumps under the teats can be a symptom of swollen mammary glands. She said to wait a couple weeks to see if the bumps subside, if they don’t then it could be more serious such as a tumor so she would need to do a biopsy. Anyway, she said because of Peter’s age (4.6) it is important to get her spayed because the lumps will continue to reoccur after it has happend once. She said she may get an infection, or she can develop a serious tumor or type of cancer. I am extremly worried. I don’t want to spay my girl. Risking her life is terrifying. I lost her daughter to a spay surgery so you can understand my worry and concern. The vet I bring Peter to is an excellent vet who works with rabbits everyday. She said she would change the medications she used on Anna to a more safer combination, and calm her down before the surgery. I don’t know what to do. This is a big decision. Even if Peter does not have a developing tumor right now, she is at risk of developing future cancer because of the symptoms she is starting to show right now. What do you guys think?

[OnyxMoon]

Hey there! 

I really really suggest spaying her. I know its scary, but i think possibly putting them through cancer, a shorter life span, and stressful false pregnancies is even more scary and it really sucks for them. After they turn a year old, they have between 70-90% chance of getting Uterine and Ovarian cancer. In addition, false pregnancies are super stressful for them and can be super stressful for their owners as well because they get more territorial, snippy, and moody around those times.

There are measures to take before surgery, to increase the chances of her survival. Number 1, is finding an experienced vet who knows what they’re doing. Ask your vet how many spays and neuters they do weekly or monthly, how many has she lost, and why she lost them.

Sometimes things happen during surgery that are out of anyone’s control, some bunnies have something wrong genetically that could affect the outcome of their surgery. I just pulled up a great article from the House Rabbit Society, which ill link at the bottom, and it says this to the question “When is a rabbit too old to be spayed or neutered?” that i think made a great point about taking pre-cautions to spays and neutering in general, not only if the rabbit is older, but also if you are worried or previously lost a bun to the surgery, etc.

 

” Veterinarians will have their own opinions on this, but in general, after a rabbit is 6 years old, anesthetics and surgery become more risky, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Simply consult your veterinarian regarding your rabbit’s health and circumstances, and opt for pre-surgical blood work.

It is always a good idea, in a rabbit over 2 years of age, to have a very thorough health check done, including full blood work. This may be more expensive than the surgery, but it will help detect any condition that could make the surgery more risky. This is especially important if anesthetics other than isofluorene are used. “

We finally got our adult female bunny, Pumpkin, spayed back in February. It was the best decision we could have made. She’s a little bit older than Peter, Pumpkin is about 5 or a little over. The surgeon said it was a big surprise she didn’t have any tumors or cysts, she was truly one of the lucky ones (and in turn, so were we, because the surgery went even more smoothly). There are countless bunnies whose lives have been saved by being spayed. 

We were so worried about losing her because you always hear horror stories about animals who don’t come back from anesthesia. But we haven’t regretted getting her spayed, her behavior has changed and so has her attitude. Before she would be on edge all the time and be really snippy, and now shes more laid back and wants pets. She’s more relaxed, and i believe she’s way more happy now. I hope this helped!

Spay/neuter article from HRS: https://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

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