Thinking of getting bunny fixed?

[Pancake]

I am thinkging of getting Pancake fixed.  How much does it cost? What do I do? Last time I thought about it and called around and some of them don’t even do it on bunnies.  How old is too old? I NEED HELP!!

[Sarita]

The costs vary greatly depending on where you live. How old is Pancake?

[Pancake]

He is about a year and a half

[Balefulregards]

Coco was easily two to two and a half years when we had her spay done. While I think her recovery time was a bit longer than some buns I have heard about, the spay was clearly in her best interests – and she is a happier bun now because of it. ( And I am no longer her love toy) For a female bun, spays are even more important – as there is the very high risk of uterine cancer. 80% is the figure that sticks in my mind.

As to cost – I am in Montreal. It cost a little over 350 dollars at the exotics vet. There are only two who “specialize” in exotics only in Montreal, and I took Coco to the one that the rabbit rescue here uses for their spays/neuters. I think it was a little pricey…but then again, I think I was helping to subsidize the free or nearly free spays/neuters they do for the rabbit rescue, so I felt all right about it.

The cost also depends on the sex of Pancake – neuters, I believe, are a bit less expensive as they are not as “invasive” a surgery as a spay.

I do mostly free lance work – so I saved up..took a few extra writing jobs to even out the cost in my day to day budget. My vet would have been all right with a payment plan too, had I needed it.

[Sarita]

A rabbit knowledgeable vet can spay and neuter rabbits at any ages and Pancake is definitely young so it should not be a problem.

Where are you located?

[Beka27]

do you have a rabbit vet for just general health exams and they don’t do surgeries, or you don’t have a vet at all? i’ll also suggest that if you are having a hard time, you can contact any rabbit rescues in your area and see if they have recommendations for a rabbit savvy vet, they may even know of some low-cost spay/neuter clinics.

like Sarita asked, if you share your location, either on-board or thru email privately to one of the forum leaders, we might be able to direct you to someone or someplace…

rabbits can be fixed at most any age (up to about 5-6) if they are in good health.  some vets will not do the surgeries after 2-3 years old, but i they’re in the minority and you might just have to keep looking.  i was able to get my girl spayed for $185 out the door.  this included her pain meds.  i was very pleased with my vet and the cost.  especially when i heard others quoting $400+  but it will depend on where you are.  keep in mind that it might be worth it to travel a bit further too.  if the vet near you quotes 300 and the vet one hour away quotes 150 or 200… if you’re comfortable with both vets then you need to make the decision if it’s worth it to drive and save a bit of money.  fortunately, gas prices have gone done in many parts of the country, so it’s no longer a huge red flag when you have to drive somewhere.

you will need to have an exam with the vet before the surgery.  this is a good thing to have done annually.  the vet will do a general check-up, make sure your bun is healthy and then from there you can schedule the appt.

[Pancake]

Ok, Thankyou SO MUCH!! I am going to look around in my area and see the prices and everything. So, doing this will help him to be happier and not poo everywhere? (My big problem is him pooing everywhere) He poos outside of his cage and even pees right by our cat litterbox. (he used to use it sometimes but now he just goes outside of it)

This doesn’t have anything to do with this post, but one thing that has been bothering me is that his back feet and his butt have poo on them. Is it just that he is not cleaning himself enough or that he is steps on his poos in his litterbox? (he poos outside of his litterbox sometimes and that is one reason I wanted to get him fixed)

[Beka27]

stepping on poo would not make it stick to him (healthy poos are small, round and dry) so if it’s mushy and actually getting on him, that makes me wonder what his diet is like. what foods does he get daily and in what amounts? what kind of hay, pellets, and veggies?

[Pancake]

He gets about 2 handfuls of hay, 1/4-1/2 cup of bunny pellets, and not very many veggies a day.  But they’re not mushy, just soft at first then they harden after like a day or two or more. (I’m not sure)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hmmm sounds like he has a bit of poopy bum. Try cutting the pellets down a bit and adding more veggies and see how that works; You’ll want to have an exam done before the surgery anyways, it gives you a chance to meet the vet and make sure everything is ok for the neuter. The vet can check him then to see if it’s dietary or sickness that’s causing the poopy bum

[Pancake]

Thanks a TON!! I will do that!!

[PeppersMama]

pepper got neutered at my vet, who used to run a small animal clinic, and it was only 75 dollars. but i live in a small town. very very cheap compared to what others have quoted. and peppers was a neuter but it was invasive because he was a cryptorchid (sp?) meaning his balls didnt drop. lol! So maybe you might have good luck and find it very cheap!

[Pancake]

WOW!! That would be awsome! But I dout I could get a price like that. Lol!

[Thearina]

I had 2 of my rabbits fixed, male and female, just over 2 months ago. For the male it was $77 and female $82. I called around 30-35 vets within a 200 miles distance. Only about 10 would do the surgery and from talking to the vets and/or staff I only really found about 5 who seemed to know what their doing and would do a good job. I had quotes from $65-275 for the male and $82-350 for the female. I had quite a vets tell me that they’ve never done rabbit spay/neuter, but would give it a try. When you call around to vet for price quotes and they tell you that DO NOT have your rabbit fixed there. You need to take him to an experienced rabbit vet.

I live a VERY small town less than 400 people  in the country/bootheel and the closest vet is 27 miles away in another town so it was a little hard to find a good vet. But what I found surprising that in the bigger cities that I called (about 150-200 miles away) they where ALOT higher with a  price range of $225-350 and they see and do more rabbit spay/neuter. The vets that where in small towns and even 20 miles out of the big city were the ones within the price range of $65-145. And actually most of those cheaper vets do about 5 rabbit spay/neuter surgeries a month and was just as knowledgeable. I know 5 rabbit spay/neuter surgeries a month doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you take into consideration that those vets are in the country and small towns with alot less people, a vet whose does around 5 rabbit spay/neuters a month isn’t bad. Because where I live and alot people in the country don’t even get their dogs or cats fixed so wouldn’t even consider having their rabbit fixed. I’m not saying that everyone who lives in the country are like that, but most are. But that’s really not a bad rabbit surgery rate considering VERY few people would take their pet rabbit to the vet if sick let alone to be fixed.

Try looking online or even calling your closest rabbit humane society for a list of vets they would recommend or even vets that attend the humane societies annual rabbit care meetings.

When you call different vet offices if you can try to speak to the vet that would be doing the surgery. And make sure to ask the vet questions about the before, during, and after surgery procedures. Here are the questions that I asked the vets and/or staff when I called:

1) Do they see rabbits? If they don’t know then go to another vet unless the person says their new and just started working there.

2) How many rabbit spay/neuters they do in a month or for some in a year? Try to find ones that do at least a 50-100 a year.

3) How many rabbits have they lost during surgery? They should have very close to 100% success rate.

4) What type of anesthetics do they use? isofluorene is better and safer.

5) Do they require you fast (with hold) food and water before surgery? Never fast a rabbit the night before the surgery. Some of the staff may tell to fast the night before if they do ask to speak to the vet and if the vet says the same don’t take you rabbit there.

6) Do they give before and after surgery pain and antibiotic medicines? They should to help prevent infection. Some rabbits react worse to the surgery than others.

7) Do they give pain and antibiotic medicines to give at home? If you live over 30 minutes away I would highly recommend getting the medicine if the vet doesn’t give some originally. Because some rabbits don’t do as well after surgery. If when you call to make the surgery appointment and the vet says they usually don’t need medicine make sure to ask that if you want it anyways if they will give it to you. And if they won’t don’t make an appointment. Go to another vet. The vet I used said they usually don’t send home medicine because the rabbits usually do really well but would give me some. I had them give me medicine just in case because the vet was about 80 miles away and I rather be safe than sorry.

Sorry for the long post, but I figured I’d through some of that info just in case you may need it or it could help you even if only a little bit. Good luck with the surgery and I hope it goes well.

 

[Beka27]

that’s great info! thanks for posting it!

[Pancake]

THANKS!!! Just cuz the post is kinda long doesn’t mean it’s not helpful. It helped me ALOT!!! THANKS!!!

[skunklionshow]

I believe that I got one of my rabbits fixed around the time that you first started posting….the name “Pancake” rings a bell.  Yes, cost does vary and you will need to have a regular exam b/f most will do the surgery.  They just want to make sure that bunny is set and ready to go.  Maybe you are having a cecal issue (grape cluster mushy stinky poops), due to little veggies and too many pellets.  Definately increase the veggies (leafy greens), unlimited hay, and 1/8 ot 1/4 cup pellets.  Keep us posted.

[Pancake]

Thanks. The poos are clustery and mushy. Just like I said, they are soft for a few days. Thanks for the help everyone!! I will keep you posted!

[Author]

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