Choosing a vet to spay my rabbit? Different prices given.

[Starla]

I already made a post before about the questions on the surgery form at the vet I had once taken my rabbit too. I thought I already had gotten an estimate from this vet but when I called to make sure. They said it was going to cost a $323 to spay my rabbit which doesn’t count a blood test nor any pain medicine they might give give me. The blood test was estimated to be around $80 but they said they usually don’t blood test rabbits before spaying. Luckily, I had taken my rabbit to this vet a month prior due to ear mites so they wouldn’t need an initial visit. This vet was very informative at the time but wasn’t able to keep my rabbit still at times. (My rabbit is very SASSY and loves people a lot but not when a stranger is doing something she doesn’t want lol)

This price seemed kinda huge to me because I had contacted another vet and they said $140 for spaying. Plus I would need an initial visit but I didn’t write down the price for it, I probably would be around $50 if I remember what I read. This price seemed low to me but they said they have seen over 100 small animals and haven’t lost any during a spay. Should I be alarmed for such a low price?

Another vet that was recommend by a vet that doesn’t take rabbits estimated that a spay would cost $299.45. Plus the initial check up visit would be $70. This vet has pictures of all different types of exotics on there website. Which makes me feel that my rabbit would most defiantly be safe with this vet. The lady even said that they could keep my rabbit overnight if I didn’t get out of school by 4:30 (which I would just leave classes early and wouldn’t let my rabbit stay, but the offer was sweet and she didn’t say it would cost me).

The first and last vet mentioned only do surgeries on Tuesdays and Thursdays which is the only days I have classes. I haven’t asked the second mentioned vet yet because I forgot to ask . This is sort of a negative for the first and last because I would love to be on call during the surgery. However, the last vet did a great job at making me comfortable with it. 

What vet would you choose?? 

[bonilla&BUB]

Hey! My vet also offered to keep my rabbit overnight; however, no one would have been in the clinic. I would make sure that someone is in the clinic to monitor your rabbit if you can’t. Things can go very wrong with a female rabbit after a spay. She will need you! I chose to take my rabbit home after finding out she would be alone.

I paid $290 + $70 initial visit fee to have my doe spayed 2 weeks ago. It was costly but very worth it. This $290 did include emerg oxbow critical care ($30), metacam and ranitidine. This also included a laser pain treatment after surgery. They were very welcoming and called the next day, as well as set up a free check up appointment 10 days later. I consider this a good type of vet hospital!

Personally, I wouldn’t choose the cheaper vet – that is alarming to me. I chose a very experienced rabbit vet because of the high risk associated with spaying female rabbits. They may have seen over 100 small animals but how many of those were a rabbit? How many of them were a surgery, and how many were a spay? Probably a lot less and so the risk may be higher.

That is a hard decision – do you feel comfortable with your first vet that you have seen? If you felt they were knowledgeable and put you and your bun at ease, I would say to stick with them. If you felt they didn’t know what they were doing or how to handle your bun, maybe try the third vet ($299) that you have mentioned. Its so hard because rabbits can be uneasy in an unfamiliar place. Do you have any friends to help give you a recommendation? Sometimes google reviews can be helpful too. It is a good idea to call and ask how many female rabbits the specific vet has done (and how long ago) and how many were successful.

Hope that helps.

[Jessica]

My girl was spayed almost 3 weeks ago and i paid $270, that was the cost of the spay, a pre op appointment with the vet the day of surgery, metacam for pain after and i had her microchipped.

If you liked how your bun reacted to the first vet and how the staff handled her, I think that’s very important. Amelia did great while the vet was handling her, except when he verified she was a girl, lol. I went in with a long list of questions, i had done a bunch of research so i knew the answers i expected and he answered how i expected.

[Mari and Lilo bunny]

My Lilo was spayed last April. I don’t remember the exact price but it was something like 275$. The way I found the vet was I made a list of all the nearby vet clinics. Then one by one I called them asking if they were rabbit savvy and if they spayed. I did this for about two months… I constantly called my vet, but the thing was the vet was rabbit savvy but he was unable to spayed her. So I called and called over and over anyways until one time, the resptionist said that a vet that was rabbit savvy would come in at the end of the month. I it very excited and so I started making plans. I took my bunny to this new vet and I imidietly adored her! She was so kind and obviously loved rabbits so much. So I grew to trust the vet. By next week Lilo would be getting spayed! Everything went smoothly, the vet gave some pain medications as well. During the day when I was unable to watch my bunny and make sure she was not scratching or biting the place she was spayed, the vet watched her. Indeed that vet was truly kind! Anyways… everything went great!

[sarahthegemini]

I would go with the one that you feel most comfortable with – ignoring the price. I was lucky though, the vets I go to handles mainly cats, dogs and rabbits (rabbits aren’t considered exotic here) and they know what they’re doing AND the price was excellent. £85 for Buttercup’s spay inc metacam and £60 for Peanut’s neuter (not inc metacam as we had leftover from Buttercup)

[Starla]

That is very true about handling. The vet she went to kind of had a hard time handling her. However, they did the entire check up on the floor (because if she fell her back could get broken). This resulted in my rabbit constantly running in the corner and next to her carrier cage, my rabbit is in love with her carrier cage even though I feel its too small but she doesn’t like the bigger one I bought her? She’s my little weirdo. Anyways, I’m not sure if I should count that against the vet since my rabbit could of been having a bad day.

Anyways, I completely forgot about the Animal ER that I had tooken her to before when she jumped while I was cutting her nails and her nail was bleeding very very bad. The lady there wasn’t even a specialist in rabbits but handled my rabbit perfectly and was able to tell me the gender. When she brought my rabbit back out of the little exam room. She had her in her arms and my rabbit didn’t kick her until the lady showed me her nail. When my rabbit did kick the lady handled it extremely well. They didn’t even charge me for the visit which was really considerate since they did find out her gender and were about to get her nail to stop bleeding. (I used syptic powder at home but was panicking and couldn’t get the bleeding to stop). They said that they have a doctor that can spay her. I’m going to be giving them a call soon. 

Thanks for the advice!

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