Need spay/neuter advice from all you rabbit experts!

First post here, hope I'm putting it in the right place.
I recently got my 10 yr old son his first rabbit. She is an 8 week old mini rex. I had rabbits when I was a kid, ahem, quite some time ago! Back then I do not know of anybody who was spaying/neutering their pet rabbits. So now I am quite confused by all the different info I'm finding, both reasons for and against. I had wanted to get another female of the same age while she is still very young and have them live together. It is my understanding they need to be spayed to do this to avoid fighting? I am concerned about the safety of the procedure itself and would love to hear from others who have had a rabbit spayed or neutered. Are female rabbits generally happier with a cage mate or do they prefer to be alone? She lives in a large two story hutch and though we are out there a lot it's not the same as having a companion.
So, any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to RabbitTalk, Cafarmgirl! :hi:

With does, fighting is usually territorial. Given enough space and put together young, they will likely work it out and become bonded. It is rather a pity you did not buy two does from the same litter at the same time. They would not have had issues because they would have been accustomed to each other. You can probably still add another female if you do it quite soon... It just may be a bit trickier. The main consideration is the amount of space and whether the rabbits can get away from each other when one is in a snit.

Opinions vary on whether or not rabbits do better with a companion. They are social creatures but they also like their space. Toys and distractions can help prevent boredom in a solitary rabbit. Most of them also enjoy soft music.

Tell us more about the hutch. How large is it? Are there features like shelter boxes or tunnels to allow hiding if things get tense?

Here's a link to a website that I think you may like:

http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

I have bonded pairs of rabbits quite often ... generally it is easier to maintain happy relations if they are 'fixed' or grew up together but I have had plenty of success with other models too ...

spaying and nuetering is quite safe if done by a rabbit savy vet - I have lost 1 rabbit (a neueter) during the surgery - which is certainly one too many but I have also lost a dog and 2 cats ... we are talking about hundreds of surgeries of each species here

I am not one for the Spay Neuter task.
It may be a good idea for some but for others maybe not.
When you give your rabbit a partner/friend and it works out
YOU will nolonger be your rabbits main squeeze. He/she will prefer
the company of it's rabbit friend over you.
So, if you wish to remain the LOVE of your rabbits life, I would opt for:
One Rabbit in one cage. We all must make our own choices, I just wanted to
give you some food for thought.
Dennis, C.V.R.

Thank you all for you input! I do wish I had been able to get two does from the litter but this was the only one left. The hutch is 4 feet long, 2 1/2 feet deep, 3 1/2 feet high and has two levels and a nest box area. I am also planning on making a larger, enclosed run area off the bottom level.

Dennis, may I ask why you are against the spay/neuter business? I think I am leaning towards getting another and seeing if they will bond regardless of being spayed. If not it's not a big deal for me to house them separately. I was also concerned about reproductive health issues in does later in life if they are not spayed?

that is a fair concern - many many studies have shown you statisically will have your rabbits to enjoy longer if they are spayed ... and one pro I meant to mention ...
My Pongo was at least 14 when she died (bone cancer) she was spayed as an adult but a fairly young one we believe

"Dennis, may I ask why you are against the spay/neuter business? I think I am leaning towards getting another and seeing if they will bond regardless of being spayed. If not it's not a big deal for me to house them separately. I was also concerned about reproductive health issues in does later in life if they are not spayed?"

Because there is no proof that what the HRS is espousing is true.
In fact the operation in many cases kills the rabbit.
Rabbits have a very tough time with anesthesia.
I have had rabbits Does and Bucks live to ten years and older.
these are working animals. Never any problem with their productive organs.
A fixed rabbit can never be bred should you decide you would like to
become a breeder/show person. Any rabbit that does not have
all of it's tools in working order can never be shown.
These operations are from the minds of the House Rabbit Society.
They are really unnecessary and place your rabbit in unnecessary risk.
Why take chances with your Pet? I see absolutely no reason for doing the dirty deed.
I have been working with rabbits since 1989 and have yet to see a Doe with
problems making a spay or neuter operation necessary.
We all have to do what we feel is best for the Rabbits in our charge.
Dennis, C.V.R.

Dennis, hope you didn't mind me messing with your post. I added quotation marks and bolding to the question you were answering, and dropped your reply down a space. Just for clarity.

What about a neutered buck instead? Neutering a male is generally safer, and cheaper, than spaying in all animals. If one is getting fixed I don't see any reason why you can't have one of each gender. Opposite gender animals also tend to get along a lot better.

There are people here with intact does together so it's entirely doable. However it would require space and is not at all guranteed. While I'll be one of the first ones to stand up and question neutering practices of all animals including dogs and cats personally if I wanted a house rabbit I'd spay or neuter for much the same reasons I would do so to a cat. Less chance of marking, less chance of fights, less chance of aggressive behavior towards people, potentially a more consistent and stable pet, potentially a calmer attitude, ability to mix genders... I haven't heard of any more rabbits dying from neuter surgeries than cats. I am absolutely against neutering young unless it's really necessary such as rescue situations. I'm not sure what a good minimum age would be on a rabbit but for my dogs and cats I let them fully mature and often let females go through a heat cycle before neutering. I know I have the means to keep them from encountering the opposite gender. Again I don't know about in rabbits but studies done on dogs have shown they tend to suffer a lot fewer anxiety and aggression issues if allowed to fully mature. Especially females.

The only rabbit I've rehomed so far was neutered first. He was a poor quality dutch marked rabbit that may or may not have been purebred. I wanted him to be a good house rabbit so neutered him and then asked for his neutering cost as an adoption fee. He went to a 6th grade teacher that wants a classroom pet. He'll probably be quite happy with that. He was a very sweet rabbit. I'm glad I put out the effort and funds to give him a better chance at finding a good home and life.

ottersatin":1om8dlld said:

"Dennis, may I ask why you are against the spay/neuter business? I think I am leaning towards getting another and seeing if they will bond regardless of being spayed. If not it's not a big deal for me to house them separately. I was also concerned about reproductive health issues in does later in life if they are not spayed?"

Because there is no proof that what the HRS is espousing is true.
In fact the operation in many cases kills the rabbit.
Rabbits have a very tough time with anesthesia.
I have had rabbits Does and Bucks live to ten years and older.
these are working animals. Never any problem with their productive organs.
A fixed rabbit can never be bred should you decide you would like to
become a breeder/show person. Any rabbit that does not have
all of it's tools in working order can never be shown.
These operations are from the minds of the House Rabbit Society.
They are really unnecessary and place your rabbit in unnecessary risk.
Why take chances with your Pet? I see absolutely no reason for doing the dirty deed.
I have been working with rabbits since 1989 and have yet to see a Doe with
problems making a spay or neuter operation necessary.
We all have to do what we feel is best for the Rabbits in our charge.
Dennis, C.V.R.

Click to expand...

Dennis - from a living with a house rabbit perspective there are many reasons to consider spaying and nuetering ...
pet folk don't usually want to show or breed (nor IMO should most pet folks be breeding)
it's not a dirty deed - it's a carefully done sterile surgery
anesthesia is different than for dogs and cats but when a vet knows what they are doing very safe
uterine cancer is fairly common in does (there are some graphic pics in my angora book- blech!)
and makes often spray
spaying/neuetering reduces both of these to nearly zero

I have been working with rabbits since the early 90s and have seen many that benefitted from spay/neuter surgery

just an alternative viewpoint

The info and viewpoints you have all provided are very helpful, thank you. This bunny is intended for a pet only, we don't show and I do not breed any of my animals. Of concern was, as Brody mentioned, what I have read as being a very high incidence of uterine cancer and pyometra in non breeding, unspayed does. Dennis, I understand your view point as well and it is my understanding that there is much less occurance of these things in does that are regularly bred. When I was a teenager I had two non breeding does die of pyometra and a very nice dutch buck that I rehomed to a breeder since he became a very enthusiastic sprayer! Reasons why I am interested in becoming more informed on the spay/neuter issue.
Keep the opinions coming, I want to hear them all!

I think the only reasonable expectation from spay or neuter would be a lack of offspring period.My fixed animals still spent their lives spraying/marking/ acting the same,so I would say that spay surgery would be to forego the inconvenience of heat cycles and unwanted offspring only.

every single male rabbit I have had neutered that was spraying in a shelter stopped that behaviour within a month of it being done - I agree for dogs it doesn't work behaviourally quite the same way

it also ABSOUTELY prevents uterine cancer - as there is no uterus

I think the surgery is dangerous,much higher fatality than dogs.I keep does till they are fairly old then i give them away as pets.none have gotten cancer.

there is SOME truth to this as I said if the rabbit is knocked out using the same meds as for dogs and cats - if the vet is competent and knows ANYTHING about rabbits statisically it is as safe as a spay for rabbits as humans, dogs, cats whatever ...neueters of dogs and cats are easier and faster and therefore less likely to cause distress
the key is using the correct rabbit drugs ... in MANY years of MANY surgeries - I wish I had a count but we are talking HUNDREDS we have lost one male rabbit

I appreciate that you may not know that your pet rabbits have had cancer on death - how many pet people autopsy? not many - if you have had female rabbits die between 4-8 years old the chances are actually quite high that they have had some kind of repro cancer. I don't think the study is online but somebody did a study where they autopsied a whack of female rabbits that died between 4-8 and over half of them turned out to have reproductive issues that contributed to death

I stand by my assertation that for pet people the kiindest safest thing to do for MOST rabbits is spay and nueter them
and i will keep going through it so please feel free to keep posting your myths and beliefs about it

I think this is an incredily important message for pet people to get

curlysue":h75ddscl said:

I stand by my assertation that for pet people the kiindest safest thing to do for MOST rabbits is spay and nueter them
and i will keep going through it so please feel free to keep posting your myths and beliefs about it

I think this is an incredily important message for pet people to get

Click to expand...

Curlysue, while I agree with much of what you are saying, I do take exception to the use of the word "myths" in this context. It seems inflammatory to me. "Opinions" would be a more appropriate choice and I hope you will consider editing your post.

Thanks!
MaggieJ
Forum Administrator

my post and curly sue's are mixed up together somehow .... whoops ....

I think the myths term was mine - and was in reference to the myths that rabbits are impossible to spay/neueter ... I'm happy to change the term to opinion

here is what I was trying to say - curly sue I won't edit your post please feel free to do so though ...- and I apologize for whatever I did somehow putting words in your mouth


there is SOME truth to the concern about the danger of surgery for rabbits as I said, if the rabbit is knocked out using the same meds as for dogs and cats but if the vet is competent and knows ANYTHING about rabbits statisically it is as safe as a spay for rabbits as humans, dogs, cats whatever ...neueters of dogs and cats are easier and faster and therefore less likely to cause distress
the key is using the correct rabbit drugs ... in MANY years of MANY surgeries - I wish I had a count but we are talking HUNDREDS we have lost one male rabbit

I appreciate that you may not know that your pet rabbits have had cancer on death - how many pet people autopsy? not many - if you have had female rabbits die between 4-8 years old the chances are actually quite high that they have had some kind of repro cancer. I don't think the study is online but somebody did a study where they autopsied a whack of female rabbits that died between 4-8 and over half of them turned out to have reproductive issues that contributed to death

I stand by my assertation that for pet people the kiindest safest thing to do for MOST rabbits is spay and nueter them
and i will keep going through it so please feel free to keep posting negative opinions about it

I think this is an incredily important message for pet people to get

When I posted and stated "The Dirty Deed"
I did not mean that it was not performed in a clean environment.
I just feel that it IS a "Dirty Deed" to perform on any Rabbit or even a Dog
for that matter. Yes, I know that in some instances it may be a good thing
for that specific animal which may have a beneficial outcome.
I still do not agree with it, but I will agree that we all have to do
whatever we feel is best for any and all animals in our charge.
Sorry if I ruffled any feathers or fluffed up the Fur.
Dennis, C.V.R.

Oh, dear, I apologize, Curlysue. I'm not really a hard-handed administrator, but the word "myths" just struck me wrong, somehow, and I had not read Brody's post to know where it came from.

Guys, any chance you could use the QUOTE feature when you want to respond particularly to something that has been said by someone else. It would help keep me from getting confused like this. It's really simple... just click on quote in the post you want to reply to and then type your own reply. It will put the quote in a nice box with the name of the original poster.

I suspect I thought I was hitting quote ... and didn't (again apologies!! and I don't want to edit CS post ... though I think I could then you could delete your post and life would make sense)

I'm pretty passionate on this topic ... and Dennis I need to be blunt .. I have worked in rescue WAY to long to let your use of the term dirty deed go unchallenged at any point

the dirty deed is the on going euthanasia or healthy pets - dogs, cats and yes rabbits that goes on in shelters across north america - until the notion that spay/neueter is wrong is eradicated the reality is people (like me) will make life and death descisions every day

you spend a day euthanizing 37 animals and then try talking to me about spay neuter being problematic

(and by euthanizing I am not talking about using animals for food)

I think we should just leave it, Brody. I've apologized for my mistake and the thread still makes sense. I really don't like editing other people's posts. This is a hot topic at the best of times.

I'd just like to go on the record as saying that I am all in favour of neutering pet animals. Allowing unplanned breeding is just plain irresponsible. I'm a cat lover, as you know, and it just breaks my heart to see the number of cats and kittens that people are trying to give away on Kijiji. In my books, if you take on a pet you take on responsibility for it and its offspring for life. If you can't make that commitment, don't get the pet to start with and certainly do not let it breed. I'm rigid about this, I admit... I feel too strongly about it not to be.

Livestock is different. Animals raised responsibly for meat, dispatched humanely, and used for food -- that's a whole different ball game and outside the scope of this thread.