Spay or Not to Spay?

Hi
Im new to this site but i think this site is great!
I have a british giant rabbit called Ginny and she is totally different from any rabbit we have had in the past.
she's more like cross between a dog, cat and a child because of her personality and alot more special than any rabbit we've ever had in the past.
she's quite well known as well due to she does fund rasing for charity at craft fayres, kids parties etc. she loves all the fuss and attention.
The past year she's had everything. sore hocks, this exma type condition on her month and nose when she molts and also v. sensitive skin on her hind legs. luckily everything seems to be under control now and is clearing up nicely. we read that it's advisable to spay a rabbit due to ovary problems etc. but because of everything we didnt want to get her spayed at the time so as not to stress her out more than we needed to.
Ginny's a very happy rabbit (out in a hudge hutch in the day and then comes in at night for lots of cuddles) but when she is stressed she does tend to loose weight.
Ive booked her to get spayed on the 10th but due to recent medicine she had to take for her feet, she's not drinking much water (because she thinks it's in the water even tho she's not on it any more. so been giving her lots of watered down veg etc. she is weeing like normal tho.) she's 2 and half years old and ginny is the only large rabbit that our vet deals with. is it worth having the op. or would it be advisable to leave her be as she is? or shall i just prospone it until she's drinking normaly? I should add that she also isn't aggresive at all.

If you don't spay her she has an 85% chance of getting and dying from uterine cancer.

I'd spay if I were you.

She shouldn't be speyed until she is feeling 100%, as speys are invasive procedures and she will need a good immune system to aid her recovery.

When you book her in a good vet will give her a thorough pre-op health check to asses that she is well enough for the procedure to take pace.

HTH

If you have any concerns about her health, then you could wait until you know she is well. It is quite a big operation for her. You could also ask your vet to check her over andgive her the all clear first. Incidently if your concerned about your vet not having the experience, then your free to take her elsewhere to a vet that has more experience. I use two different vets, one for vaccinations cos their cheaper and one for more serious stuff as they have a really experienced rabbit vet there who I trust.

I hope Ginny feels better soon:wave:

I wouldn't get her spayed until she is fully well, but i would get her spayed. We lost one of our favourite and friendliest bun at the beginning of the year to uterine cancer- it was horrible and i wouldn't want anybody else to go through that, by the the time we found out what was wrong the cancer had spread to her lungs and she had to be PTS that day as she stopped eating and was very low. We are now in the process of getting the rest of our girls spayed- we have 4 done and another 4 to go- an 8 year old is booked in for Friday.

thank you guys for all your posts so far. been really useful!
no, i wouldnt like ginny ever to have anything like it but also i would feel dreadful if something ever happened to her so i will prospone until she's drinking properly once again (hopefully within the next few days she should go back to normal).
ive been looking around and because we are in a part of the uk that havent got many specilist places I was getting abit worried that i may not find one but i may of found a specilist in small animals about 20 miles away.and also they have a skin specilist so may be able to dianose what is up with her chin at the same time.
i trust my current vets but because she's so big she's not like what they are used to dealing with and this vetenary place sounds like they have specilist equipment and also they said on their site they treat and fuss the animals like their own and try their best to reasure owners that they are in safe hands. Which is reasuring because ginny will hate being left on her own all day, especially because of the strange smells. so im going to try and ring them up tomorrow and then if they turn around and reconmend themselfs then i'll let my vet know my decision so they know whats going on etc. to put on gin's records etc.

hi guys,
just up dateing you on whats happening. i went to my vets today and had a word with them to see if they feel if it is best to take her a specialist. they told us it is totally up to us and there is a risk where ever you go but because of her size and becuse she is such a special member of our family, they have told us that it is properly best to go to a specialist as they are just a general practice and will ring around for us to find the best place for Gin to go to my vets are the best!

GinnyWin said:

hi guys,
just up dateing you on whats happening. i went to my vets today and had a word with them to see if they feel if it is best to take her a specialist. they told us it is totally up to us and there is a risk where ever you go but because of her size and becuse she is such a special member of our family, they have told us that it is properly best to go to a specialist as they are just a general practice and will ring around for us to find the best place for Gin to go to my vets are the best!

Click to expand...

great news about your vet.:wave:

GinnyWin said:

hi guys,
just up dateing you on whats happening. i went to my vets today and had a word with them to see if they feel if it is best to take her a specialist. they told us it is totally up to us and there is a risk where ever you go but because of her size and becuse she is such a special member of our family, they have told us that it is properly best to go to a specialist as they are just a general practice and will ring around for us to find the best place for Gin to go to my vets are the best!

Click to expand...

Sounds like you're definitely doing the right thing in waiting until she's 100% and seeking professional advice. The general arguement for speying is really beyond doubt. Not only does it increase the life span but also makes for happier bunnies. We had our two girls and one little boy neutured at about 7 months. Of course it can be worrying and the mid afternoon phone call to the vets to be told everything went well was a great relief. They all recovered swiftly and were hopping about the garden as if nothing had happened within 48 hours. Some aspects of their behaviour especially with eachother changed for the better virtually over night. They bonded well in the first place but get on even better now and spend many a happy hour snuggled up to eachother. A joy to see....
Good luck. Let us know how it all progresses

thank you for all your support and will do.
just want it to be done and dusted now lol

ive got her booked in with a small animal specilist on the 17th. apparantly they do this routine alot so i feel abit more confortabkle now
thanks guys!

Hi just registered on here to say Im so glad you have her booked in.

We had to put my baby (Fluffy, 6 yrs 6months Californian rabbit) to sleep on weds. It was awful and I dont think I will ever get over it.

For the past week or so she was not herself so took to the vets. She stayed overnight on Tues to be booked for Xrays Wed. She had contracted cancer of the womb and it had spread everywhere and to her lungs making her wheezy. It was shocking to see her like that in very obvious pain and Id HATE for any other animal to go through what can be prevenatble (when we bought her no-one told us to get her spayed, even the books/leaflets we've got dont say despite some disgusting statics anywhere between 50-85% felmale unspayed does will get it) we would have had her spayed if we had known.

I miss her so much.

im so sorry to hear of your loss.
i know what you mean about the books etc. i only knew because mum looked it up online when we were reading up about giants.
I dont think Ginny will like staying over night at the vets or either of us like the op. but as everyone says, it's best thing for her
I hope you enjoy RU and I hope to see you around