Partner for 5 year old rabbit?

Hi,

Myself an my partner bought a house about 9 months ago and the owners left their female rabbit 'Snowy' which they said was approx 4-5 years old. We have now fallen in love with Snowy and have bought a large 2 tier hutch for her. She is very friendly and loves attention. She has never once shown aggression or bitten us. She even licks our fingers and loves being stroked. Also, as our garden is completely enclosed and she gets the whole run of the garden most days (weather permitting!). She loves running round and digging up the flower beds!. Basically, as we have a large hutch and garden we are looking into the possibility of adding a second rabbit to keep her company. As far as we know she has not been spayed (is there any way we could tell?). What would be our best options e.g. add a neutured male, have Snowy spayed etc?.. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, if you want to find a friend for her then you would definitely need to have her spayed. No sure if a vet can tell if she's been spayed already - maybe an ultrasound?
Anyway, a neutered male would be the best companion for her. Have a look on the rehome site here as a starting point. Or give more details as to where you are in the country and someone may know of a husbun for you! Please get a rescue bun rather than going to a pet shop x

Would it cause her much distress having her spayed at this age?

It's a pretty big op but as long as you have a rabbit-savy vet and she is otherwise healthy, there is no reason why not. Of course, there is always some risk with a general anaesthetic, but an unspayed doe is also at risk from uterine/ovarian cancer, so it's a case of balancing things up. I'm sure there are people here who have had much older does spayed. Chloaster had a 7 year old who came through it great recently.
I think she'd love a friend tho

We found bonding spayed and neutered bunnys much easier, we have eventually managed to bond a neutered boy and unspayed lady, but she kept giving him mixed signals !!

I also suggest adopting a rescue boyfriend for her as there are so many unwanted bunnies in rescue centres, you will also be able to get one about her age. check out rabbit rehome site

Do your research before attempting to bond them, the rescue centre may offer to bond her with a new bunny which will reduce a lot of stress.:roll: Then you can sit back and watch them hop skip flop and jump around the garden:lol: :lol: :lol: have fun

okay,just one last thing. What about getting another female? Thus not needing to get her spayed? Or is this a big no-no?

Hi, I agree - find a vet that knows about rabbits (not all vets know a lot about rabbits, so ask first!). Spaying can be done at that age, and the risk of developing cancer in a bunny that's not spayed is quite high..

Unneutered rabbits (any combination of male-male or female-female) are more likely to fight than a neutered pair, and obviously an unneutered male-female pair won't just be a pair for long!

I think bonding a neutered boy with girl is easiest, and two girls would be possible but not as easy.. it probably depends upon personality!!

Neutered male - neutered female is definitely the way to go! Good luck - keep up updated!

definitely a neutered male and female pairing! And also get her spayed anyway because as someone has already mentioned, the % of unneutered does that get uterine cancer by age 5 is shocking. It's something like 80%. So you'd do her a favour and also allow her to get a lovely husbun!!! They are so much happier in pairs. Def get her bonded at a rescue too - they take all the stress away for you!

Its perfectly possible to pair your girl up with a neutered male, even if she isn't spayed. Spaying just makes it easier cuz they aren't so stroppy.

Definitely get a good vet, and ask his/her advice. If you join the RWA, they will give you a list of rabbit savvy vets in your area. My vets have seen so many case of uterine cancer in rabbits that they always advise to spay.

I've had a 9 year old spayed (emergency spay due to infection) and a 5 year old spayed. I also have Cholaster's 7 year old (mentioned above) and she has recovered fine

Amy

abbymarysmokey said:

Its perfectly possible to pair your girl up with a neutered male, even if she isn't spayed. Spaying just makes it easier cuz they aren't so stroppy.

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I agree....

I got Lucy (who's 6!) a husbun last year (he's the same age!) and he is neutered and they live very happily together!