Thoughts on neutering?

[River]

None of my buns are altered and I’m sorry to say I didn’t know they should be! We have only one girl, and she’s only a year old so I do want to have her spayed, so I’ll be looking for an affordable vet for that can…but the males.

One was meant to be a foster. We don’t know his background and therefore don’t know how old he is. He never adopted so we’ve kept him as our own. His name is Wolfgang, and he is a Netherland dwarf.  I’m worried he’ll be old and dangerous to neuter!

The other we also know little about his background. He was adopted when he was already fully grown, so I have the same concerns with him as I do with Wolfgang.

And lastly, my older rabbit. He’s a senior, 5 and a half as you all know. We also don’t know his background, only his age. We think it’d be dangerous to neuter since the risk is higher. What should I do!? 

[tobyluv]

For older rabbits, they should have a checkup before any proposed surgery, with blood work. The physical exam, by a rabbit savvy vet, together with the blood work, would show if the rabbit is healthy enough or not for surgery. I had a 4 year old rabbit neutered last year, from the shelter where I adopted him. He was fine. Rabbits older than that have successfully had surgery. You do have to make sure that you have a vet who is well qualified in rabbit medicine, who sees a lot of rabbits and who has successfully performed many surgeries.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I agree with toby. The vet would need to do a health check, preferably including bloodwork to ensure buns are heatlhy enough for the procedure.

For boys, altering is more for behavioral issues and to make bonding easier (and obviously to prevent babies) as opposed to girls who should be spayed to avoid cancer.

Are all your buns living single?

[River]

Oh, I see. I haven’t seen any behavior issues so I might hold off until I get the money for the blood work and such.
I will spay Bandit at her earliest convenience.

Yes, they are all living in their own hutches. None of mine have ever been in bonded pairs. I see a ton of controversial information about rabbits social needs and risks, so we do not house them together. On the occasion we do get a bonded pair for foster, like with Akito and Yeti, we keep them together, but none of our permanent residence buns have ever been bonded to our knowledge.

[flemishwhite]

Living in hutches, I’d hope they have a chance to run around.  With their very powerful hind legs they really need a chance to kick loose and run/hop. 

 

The females absolutely positively need to be neutered before age 5.  Bunny was approaching 5 years old and our then vet would not spay her because she was too fat.  Internet search…a local rabbit would operate..he would operate of fat female bunnies because he did a liposection procedure!!!  At five years of age, he found Bunny’s uteris full of bumps…he initially thought she was pregnant…Wrong..the lumps were tumors!  Fortunately we got them before they mestasized. At about the age of 9 years, Bunny had a breast tumor..this was removed. 

[River]

Yes, they all do get out of cage time, except for Wolfgang, who’s still not warmed up enough to be picked up. He is accepting getting pet nowadays though. From what little we know about him, he was likely never handled except to be moved to and from cages.
I do have a question about out of cage time. I usually do it indoors. Is it also safe to let them have a run in my yard, provided they are supervised and the yard is fenced in?
I do agree! I will be working very hard to get the money for her spay first. Neutering the boys will hopefully be something that will happen, but my first priority is to get Bandit spayed. She is a lovely girl and I know the risk of uterine cancer runs very high in rabbits.

How much would you estimate it to cost? I will of course be calling/emailing different vets to see who is more experienced in the procedure.

[tobyluv]

Regarding letting a rabbit run around a back yard, even if it’s fenced and they are supervised – that can still be dangerous and you have to be so cautious. I know of someone who was near her rabbit in a fenced back yard and a hawk swooped in and attacked the rabbit. Predators can come out of nowhere. There is also the possibility of picking up ticks or fleas when out in the yard, plus a rabbit can get worms if it eats vegetation where other animals have used the bathroom.

Most low cost spay and neuter clinics are for dogs and cats only, but you may be able to find one in your area that also performs surgery on rabbits. As with any vet, you need to make sure that they are well qualified in rabbit medicine and surgery and that they have successfully performed a lot of surgeries on rabbits. For a spay, the cost would probably start at $200 at a regular vet’s office, and can go up to several hundred more. Some vets participate in Care Credit. That is a program where you pay by credit and pay off the charges in installments with no interest.

[Candle]

I just got my 6 month flemish giant spayed and it was $125 +tax! To get my male neutered was $100. Which all seems super reasonable to me! However I now live in a big city. When I was in a small town it cost over $300 to spay my cat…

[River]

Definitely no out of cage time outdoors then! I was just curious about the idea of it.
I’ll look around for sure. My dogs were neutered + spayed for free through some sort of plan for people who fall short on the money area, so I’ve never had experience with any sort of spay or neuter payment. Regardless of what it is, I’ll find a way to pay it sooner or later – preferably sooner.

Sorry for asking so many uneducated questions. I’m really trying to fix things up, and I’ve been doing quite a few things wrong. ):

[LittlePuffyTail]

We are here to help. No judging

[Sparky04]

From what I know, spaying females is far more important than neutering males. Mordecai was a single rabbit when we got him neutered and we probably wouldn’t have done it if he was normal. One of his testicles wasn’t descended, so it was at higher risk of cancer. If he’d been normal, we probably wouldn’t have gotten him neutered.

As for letting them run outside, at least in my area, there are a ton of hawks. Plus many other dangers, including parasites. Parasites can sometimes not be noticeable until the rabbit is weakened. Ragnar died during her spay and the vet believed parasites were hiding in her liver. She was asymptomatic until she died.

[Author]

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