Spaying recommended for a companion animal?

[Kepa]

I have a 10 week old Lionhead doe as a pet that will not be used for any breeding and I'm having a little trouble deciding what I should do in regards to having her fixed.

I'm usually against altering any responsibly kept animal for the sake of temperament/convenience, but after reading a number of studies (not just the 1958 study, but a few done in the early 2000s as well), it seems that the constant exposure to high levels of reproductive hormones significantly increases the cancer risk to the point where I feel it would be in the best interest of the animal's health to have her altered.

That being said though, I live in the middle of nowhere and it's a little difficult to find vets experienced with small animals or exotics beyond basic care. The surgery/anesthesia and post-surgery risks and complications make me very uncomfortable as well.

Basically, I can't really make up my mind one way or another and would like to hear some thoughts other than my own.

Thank you for any input!

 

[Marinea]

Firstly, welcome to RT, Kepa!

Personally, I don't believe spaying rabbits is necessary. I think the ARA (animal rights activists) people are pushing that agenda hard. If you were to poll the hundreds of people here on RT, I don't think you would find one person who had an intact doe develop cancer. On the other hand, there are some vet-related stories that aren't good.

It is totally your decision, of course. Hope you stick around.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Welcome to the forum!!!

I would ONLY suggest she be spayed if she is a pet who has a buck for a housemate. The cancer thing...as far as I can tell, is essentially scare tactics to try and force people to alter their pets. I have heard of one, ONE rabbit who did have a large mass in her uterus. I have heard of MANY rabbits who have either died during the spay/neuter due to anesthetic, or who have died later from complications (or in one case, is still living but has a broken back due to thrashing wildly when coming out of surgery).

Think of it this way. A rabbit is no more likely to get uterine or ovarian cancer than a human is. Yet they don't have a mandatory hysterectomy policy for post-menopausal women, do they? Nope...IF it becomes a problem, THEN it'd be dealt with.

Technically they are right though...removing her uterus WOULD be a 100% way to prevent cancer in that organ. The same way removing her lungs would prevent lung cancer.

Ultimately we must choose what is best for our rabbits in our own situation, and if you decide that spaying her is the right thing to do, by all means do it. But please do be aware that there are SERIOUS, life-threatening risks involved with putting a rabbit under anesthesia, and that it is NOT medically necessary.

By the way. I have no spayed or neutered rabbits. I never WILL. And so far, no cancer yet!!! Statistically, according to the House Rabbit Society, half my herd should be dead from cancer.

 

[ladysown]

Cancer is the hard push for the Pet types for getting does spayed.

Breeding rabbits for eight years now...with tons of bunnies I've met and known. Of all those rabbits.. ONE developed uterine cancer. Just one. What happened was she'd bleed off and on. Did that for six months and then she died. Her owner said it was very manageable and she never would have spayed her anyways. She didn't want to risk losing her to anesthetic....

Now THOSE losses I've heard more about. Bunnies dying on the table due to anesthetic. I've heard of at least eight cases, and that makes me wonder how many I don't hear about.

 

[Kepa]

Man, did some more digging around, found some research done in the UK:
http://www.vmedtechnology.com/wp-conten ... deaths.pdf

Apparently, rabbits have about an overall chance of 1 in 72 of dying from anesthetic, broken down, this means healthy rabbits have a 1 in 137 chance of death, and sick rabbits have a 1 in 14 chance!

Granted, my animal isn't sick (that I know of), but that's not even taking complications from surgery into account.

Apparently too, breed is a large factor in the cancer and can mean the difference between 80% at 4 years and 50% at 6 years (and though rabbits can certainly live longer, I would say that making it to at least 5 years is fine for a rabbit). And, genetic component being a factor, that does really make me wonder what breeding work has been done, even in the past 10 years, to improve things.
The same 1958 study noted that it makes no difference whether or not a rabbit has been bred, and while most people breed rabbits fairly young, I would suspect that any animal experiencing some kind of uterine distress would probably be culled, probably decreasing the rates of genetic-cause cancer over the years.

I may ask for my vet's opinion since she's always been very practical about my cats, just to see what she has to say, but definitely leaning a little more against it.

It really is hard to decide though, there's a whole bunch of crap out there and sort of difficult to find good independent information, especially concerning specific breeds.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Honestly? If you are concerned about cancer, learn to palpate her abdomen and if you ever feel anything amiss, have her checked out by a vet. Likewise if she ever has any bloody discharge. Otherwise...I wouldn't be too worried. As I think Marinea pointed out, very few of us on this forum has ever spayed or neutered a rabbit, many of us have purebreds and I'm sure there's at least one or two breeders of each of the ARBA accepted breeds on here, and there's virtually no incidences of cancer. You'd think, with their estimated 80%, we'd have does dropping like flies.

But by all means, consult with your vet.

 

[Dood]

I have had over a dozen rabbits die of old age in their teens and none of them got pyometria (uterine infection) which is common in un-spayed dogs or obvious signs of cancer like internal or external tumors.

My NZ buck is 9 and cancer free and still producing litters of 12.

My oldest rabbit ever was a ND who was bred 1-3 times a year until 9 and then retired, she lived a healthy life until 14 when I found her dead. Necropsy revealed no tumors but her heart was quite enlarged.

Just saying.