Should I get them fixed?

[Catalin]

Hi everyone, I have two female rabbits about ten months old. I was wondering if I should neuter them. Can someone make a list of pros and cons? I am not confident enough about their vet. There’s no one in my town who knows very much about rabbit surgery. Here, almost every owner treats pet rabbits as the farmers treat the meat ones. Although, I talked to the vet and she told me she can the the surgery. What do you think?

[12345ABCDE]

You absolutely must spay them or there is a huge risk of them developing cancer. Spaying will also reduce the chance of false pregnancies that can be quite traumatic. And of course you can’t bond til both are spayed. But you need a knowledgeable vet which might mean travelling a little.

[Deleted User]

agree with sarah

[tobyluv]

Your rabbits should be spayed for behavioral reasons, for bonding, and for health reasons. Unless your vet sees a lot of rabbits and has performed surgery on a lot of rabbits, you will need to look elsewhere for a rabbit savvy vet.

If you give your general location, maybe we can make some suggestions for rabbit savvy vets.

[joea64]

Allow me to chime in (or join the Rabbit Island-style pile, if you prefer ) . Yes, house rabbits should always be spayed (or if male, neutered) when they’ve reached sexual maturity. This almost certainly doesn’t apply in your case, but if the female should be pregnant (this happens a lot and often not due to anyone’s fault), she should be separated from the male who fathered her litter to prevent further, ahem, accidents, providing the male is in the same household, and spayed (I think) once she’s kindled and the kits are old enough/have been weaned (and the male should be neutered too).

[Catalin]

Aren’t there any risks? I heard about infections of the surgery

[12345ABCDE]

There are risks with any surgery, but the benefits far outweigh them. You can always have a full check up including blood tests beforehand.

[Mikey]

The risks of surgery with a well trained vet are very small, although possible. Its still better for them to go through a spay than to go through cancer treatments and possibly multiple surgeries.

[Catalin]

I found what might be the best rabbit-vet in my country. I say that because he/she fixed some rabbits before. It would be my first option, but I don’t know, still worring about complications and stressing(one of them is very sensible)

[Deleted User]

Hi Catalin!

When you say that they have fixed some rabbits before, is there a way for you to find out about how many they have done and what the mortality/success rate was? You are right that there are definitely risks, and unfortunately if you do not have a trusted/experienced veterinarian in the area, your bunnies may have a higher chance of those risks and complications. It is very wise to have them neutered for health reasons, but if your vet is not well versed in rabbits and you cannot locate another vet that is, I would personally opt not to have them neutered. That is my opinion, though. Yes, if they become ill from not being neutered there will be a lot of work to maintain their health. But if your vet really hasn’t done the procedure much, that may be the last time you see your bunnies… again I don’t mean to frighten you! But an experienced rabbit vet makes all the difference in these procedures.

[Q8bunny]

Approximately 75% of unspayed females develop reproductive cancers. So yes. If at all possible, please spay your girls.

[Burichi]

The benefits outweigh the risks. It is a very routine procedure done by vets, hopefully rabbit savvy ones.

[Deleted User]

oooooooh you have females. I saw neuter and I thought male, I should have referred back to the OP before responding. It’s really important that you spay the females. Males not AS much, but it can help by reducing territorial and sex driven behaviors. Try and find an experienced rabbit vet if you can! As I said earlier, see if you can get the info on how many procedures they have done and how many known deaths/complications. Personally I would want that information if the vet told you directly that they “have done them before” but do not routinely perform them. (Although I see now that you said in the OP that the vet would do it, so if she is confident and comfortable doing it, I would!) Even still, it may be worth the risk if they are the best in your area. As Q8 said, they have a very high chance of reproductive cancers, and if I am not mistaken, that statistic is for females at about 2 years old (maybe that’s just what I have read, but I know that I have seen it stated several places around 2 years of age). When you consider the fact that a domestic, well cared for rabbit can live 8+ years, you certainly don’t want to fight the odds of cancer by age 2. I know it’s very scary to think of the complications. But statistically speaking, they have a much higher chance of developing cancer than dying from spay complications.

[joea64]

I think the most usually cited figure is 4-5 years old, so if @Catalin isn’t comfortable with this particular vet, there’s time to find a better one – but it still shouldn’t be put off too long. At this point, I think the big thing to worry about is territoriality-driven fights and similar behavior. Unspayed does tend to get pretty aggressive about defending their turf, so even if those two buns don’t fight one another, getting bitten when trying to do something like getting the food or water bowls out or refreshing hay is a concern.

[Catalin]

I will call the vet and ask her those questions. I’ll let you know how it worked. Omg, all this time I tought it was SPRAY not SPAY

[Shiver_Rose]

I agree with what others were saying above.  I took my rabbit to a very good exotics vet for something unrelated and she adamantly recommended spaying because she said that uterin cancer is very common in unspayed females and the risk begins at 6 months old which is also the age that they are ready to spay.  But also, like others were saying, spaying will help with any behavioral problems.  Unspayed/Unneutered rabbits like to mark their territory and are a lot less likely to use a litter box.  For example, my rabbit naturally learned to use her litter box at around 4/5 months it was like a miracle!  I was so happy when that happened.  Then, around 6 months as she started getting hormonal all of that went out the window and now she just goes all over her cage.  The vet says she’ll be more likely to take to the litter box again after she is spayed.  Unfortunately, in my case, she couldn’t be spayed for a while because she had to be medically cleared from an illness but I plan to do it asap.  She is also very hormonal and moody and thumps her foot at me lol  I personally am hoping for a bit of an attitude adjustment after she is spayed   Female rabbits are more moody, territorial, and protective of their “nests” so it’s especially beneficial to spay them.  One P.M.S. in this household is enough 

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