Spaying My Rabbit

[BuckyLuna12]

Hi! I have two rabbit. One that I got a year and a half ago and one that I got four and a half months ago. My older male bunny Bucky, who is about a year and six monthswas getting depressed without a friend. So after convincing my dad I got Luna who is now five months old, and bonded them successfully in two weeks. But then when Luna turned five months old she started harassing my male rabbit by humping and nipping. He is spayed so he didn’t understand that she was just trying to mate. They got in a huge fight, where my older rabbit got a bad bite on his ear. Now I looked around and spaying my female rabbit will be costly and she could die and it might not even stop her hormones. I don’t know what to do. My mom wants to return my lovely female rabbit and get a male insteadand neuter him so that it will stop the fighting but I love my baby girl. The person I got Luna from says that rabbit are solo pets, but that’s not true, and she also said that even when you spay your rabbit, which she is also against, they will still fight. I don’t know what to do, because I don’t want my rabbits to hurt each other and I don’t want them to be alone forever, but moveover I don’t want to risk Luna’s life in surgery. Anyone have any suggestion about what I should do?

[Muchelle]

Rabbit can be solo pets, it depends on their personality. There have been cases of “unbondable” rabbits that eventually managed to bond with another one, but it’s totally possible to have buns that like to be on their own. Surely the behaviour of the female is hormone driven so I would give the spay a try. It’s not a dangerous surgery per se (given that the vet is experienced and rabbit savvy), it does involve the general risks of total anesthesia which are not always predictable – but a healthy bunny should be a low risk job. Keep checking other vets for better prices or payment plans, or even contact the local shelters to know the name of their trusted vets or if there are option to access to the surgery at a lower price through them.
Spay is also a life saving procedure for female rabbits since it lowers significantly the chance to develop cancer to their reproductive organs.

In the meanwhile separate the buns so that they don’t get violent with each other

[sarahthegemini]

You’re right, rabbits are not solo pets. It’s very rare for a bunny to want to be alone. The first step to bonding is to spay and neuter all involved. You cannot bond whilst hormones are intact. So you cannot bond a baby to an adult. It won’t be a true bond because – as you experienced – when hormones come into play, they act instinctively which is often territorial.

Humping isn’t just about wanting to mate its also how rabbits establish dominance. So when you bond, humping will take place.

You’ll need to spay Luna for health reasons anyway.

[BuckyLuna12]

Thanks! Unfortunately one of the reasons they were fighting (they are in separate cages) is because my buck had already established his dominance so 1. He didn’t understand that she wanted to mate and 2. He thought she was trying to override his dominance to be the dominant one. Anyways I looked around and the only rabbit vets that aren’t 5 hours away charge you over 300 dollars to spay, and that’s like two years of my allowance if I get all As. I spayed my male for 60$ and when I got my female I thought that I could spay her at the same place for the same price. I also didn’t know that her not being spayed would be that big of a problem. My buck is also not a solitary pet nor is my doe. When they were bonded they spent all there time grooming each other and cuddling and doing every thing together. Now they both just sit in there cages doing nothing and when I let them out they do the same. I have one last vet that should be calling today though, so maybe she will have a better price.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By BuckyLuna5678 on 7/14/2017 8:47 AM

Thanks! Unfortunately one of the reasons they were fighting (they are in separate cages) is because my buck had already established his dominance so 1. He didn’t understand that she wanted to mate and 2. He thought she was trying to override his dominance to be the dominant one. Anyways I looked around and the only rabbit vets that aren’t 5 hours away charge you over 300 dollars to spay, and that’s like two years of my allowance if I get all As. I spayed my male for 60$ and when I got my female I thought that I could spay her at the same place for the same price. I also didn’t know that her not being spayed would be that big of a problem. My buck is also not a solitary pet nor is my doe. When they were bonded they spent all there time grooming each other and cuddling and doing every thing together. Now they both just sit in there cages doing nothing and when I let them out they do the same. I have one last vet that should be calling today though, so maybe she will have a better price.

She wasn’t humping him to try and mate. She was trying to be dominant….

$300 is expensive sure, but tbh it is what it is. Veterinary treatment for cancer would cost a lot more…

[Muchelle]

Where did you get the girl? If you got her from a shelter or a breeder you could contact them to receive infos about their vets and if there’s any chance to have a lowered price

[BuckyLuna12]

All of the websites I looked at said that she was trying to tell him she was ready to mate. And the person I got Luna from lives two and a half miles away, and she does not believe in spaying so I would not think she has a vet for them.

[BuckyLuna12]

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By BuckyLuna5678 on 7/14/2017 10:25 AM

All of the websites I looked at said that she was trying to tell him she was ready to mate. And the person I got Luna from lives two and a half miles away, and she does not believe in spaying so I would not think she has a vet for them.

I’ve never heard of the female mounting the male in at attempt to mate…

[Muchelle]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 7/14/2017 10:30 AM

Posted By BuckyLuna5678 on 7/14/2017 10:25 AM

All of the websites I looked at said that she was trying to tell him she was ready to mate. And the person I got Luna from lives two and a half miles away, and she does not believe in spaying so I would not think she has a vet for them.

I’ve never heard of the female mounting the male in at attempt to mate…

Cows do it to show that they’re in for some mating

[BuckyLuna12]

Yeah! So I figured that if I spay her she might stop humping him and therefore they won’t fight anymore!

[Deleted User]

I’d like to just comment on the part where you said your mum wants to return the rabbit and get a male instead. This doesn’t sound like a great idea to me. Male male pairings can be more difficult (although not impossible as some people do this just fine) but where I live most shelters ideally like male female pairings as they get a lot of intake due to male male pairings gone wrong. So as you’ve had a bit of difficulty so far with fighting, taking this rabbit away and putting in another might cause a lot of stress to your current rabbit. I think you’ve taken the responsibility for this rabbit and you should commit yourself to its care regardless of the cost. Even if this means just waiting longer to save the money for they spay and keep them separated fully until this time. I don’t think it would be fair for you to return her to the person you got her from as to me they don’t sound very responsible if they are telling people they don’t believe in spaying. They may just dump her with another unknowledgable family and this could happen again.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By BuckyLuna5678 on 7/14/2017 9:24 PM

Yeah! So I figured that if I spay her she might stop humping him and therefore they won’t fight anymore!

There will still be humping because it’s how they establish dominance.

[Bam]

Pairs with one neutered male and an intact female often don’t work out because the female still has an innate and strong instinct to mate and have babies, whereas the neutered male doesn’t. She will try and get him to mate her, he can’t comply, he gets annoyed, she gets annoyed, they fight.

It is true though that rabbits use humping as a means of establishing dominance. Two neutered males will still hump each other for that reason, often even backwards, which is very dangerous due to risk of bite injury to the genital area.

Getting her neutered is likely to help a lot, but there will still be humping during the bonding process.

[BuckyLuna12]

I do know that humping is a sign of dominance, because for the first couple of bonding sessions my male humped my female. Even I can’t return my female. For the reason Eddyw111 poited out, and because I have just bonded with her, and it would be very hard to give her up. And now I see that Eddyw111 is also correct in that it would give a lot of stress to my male. Thanks! I have a couple vets in mind for spaying my female and one that’s calling back Monday. Thanks everyone

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