Honest advice regarding bonding a neutured male and un-neutured female?

Hi,

I am seeking for your professional advice and honest opinion. I currently own a beautiful and healthy female Old English Rabbit, who is un-neutered, living with a smooth haired guinea-pig. However I am aware of the fact that they should not be living together hence I bought them almost four years ago at Pets at Home when ‘guinea-pigs’ and ‘rabbit’ were allowed to live together. I am now so grateful that they do actually get on really well, and not have had any problems, injuries or conflicts.

Nevertheless I am thinking of adopting my Aunt’s male rabbit, due to of her lack of knowledge of looking after rabbits. It is a great shame to say that, she does not look after them correctly and I would hate to see him suffer and die at young age. So I am taking a great consideration of adopting him. Hence they are both not neutered, so if I am planning of adopting him, I was going to get him neutered, because it is much easier of getting male rabbit ‘done’, and he is younger than my female rabbit.

So will they get on well with having my female rabbit un-neutered?

I am very aware of all the facts and advantages of spaying female rabbits however I am too scared of having her done because she is nearly 4 years old, and I know there is a risk of losing her during the operation due to Anesthesia. Therefore that is why she is not ‘done’.

Lastly, I did mention I have a female guinea-pig, and if I do adopt my Aunt’s male rabbit, it will not be fair for her therefore I may also adopt her male guinea-pig. Again, they are not both neutered so it is possible to put them together if I just get the male guinea-pig neutered?
To do this I shall separate them from the rabbits, so they will have their own hutch, and run included. Also I shall buy a new 6ft rabbit hutch for my rabbit and my aunt’s rabbit.

Do you think I will be doing the right thing, if not please mention to me.

Thank-you for spending a moment or two reading this, I shall look forwards hearing from you.

Hi Lessie :wave:

Well done for caring so much to take on your aunts male bun, what a kind thing to do!

Honestly? Generally I wouldn't recommend putting him with your doe if she's not spayed. Does are very territorial, and if they're not spayed all the hormones make it worse. 4 isn't that old, if she went to a rabbit savvy vet she would be fine.

That said, it does depend on the individual buns as well. I have 2 boys who everyone (not on here, I got lots of support on here) told me could not live together, it will never work, blah, blah.

The only way to know for sure is to give it a try, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out. Give the buck about 5-6 weeks after the nuetering for his hormones to settle before you try to put them together.

If they don't get along you have 2 options. 1) Get the doe spayed and try to bond them again or 2) Keep them separately.

Good luck!

4 isnt old at all

I would definately get her speyed as she is now 85% likely to get uterine cancer.

:wave: She's a mere teenager at 4 and a good bunny savvy Vet would give her a thorough health check to assess her for spaying (I had a bunny spayed at 7 years old with no problems).

Good luck.

I would go for getting your lady bun speyed first - I know you're very worried & I always am whenever we've had girlies go in for speying, but touchwood they have all been fine so far. If she's in good health she should be ok - I learnt from a bad experience with a female bun.

Our Jemima wasn't speyed when we resuced her (she was a british giant - we lost her a few weeks ago to a heart attack) & about 4 1/2 years old which is quite old for a giant bun. Due to her age, we decided not to get her speyed - then last Oct she became really ill with pyometria. This is where the womb & uterine becomes infected with pus & unless they are speyed, they would die. I vowed after Jemima was so poorly & nearly losing her to this that I would always have our females speyed from now on.

It's such kind thing for you to do, rescuing your Aunty's bun & I'm sure once they are both speyed & neutered they will have a very happy life together

aussiebun said:

Hi Lessie :wave:

Well done for caring so much to take on your aunts male bun, what a kind thing to do!

Honestly? Generally I wouldn't recommend putting him with your doe if she's not spayed. Does are very territorial, and if they're not spayed all the hormones make it worse. 4 isn't that old, if she went to a rabbit savvy vet she would be fine.

That said, it does depend on the individual buns as well. I have 2 boys who everyone (not on here, I got lots of support on here) told me could not live together, it will never work, blah, blah.

The only way to know for sure is to give it a try, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out. Give the buck about 5-6 weeks after the nuetering for his hormones to settle before you try to put them together.

If they don't get along you have 2 options. 1) Get the doe spayed and try to bond them again or 2) Keep them separately.

Good luck!

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Hi, Thank-you for your advice, I agree with you as it is better to be safe than sorry. I was going to have my doe 'done' last year, but I wasn’t strong enough to go ahead with it because my gut feelings was she was going to be affected by the operation. Also my mum agreed with me, so I'm really stuck in between, as I really don't want her to have uterine cancer and suffer but also I don't want her to die during operation at her age.

What I shall do is I will talk to my vet on Tuesday, as she having her jabs done. Hopefully they are experienced with rabbits as some vets aren't unfortunately.

Once-again Thanks for your advice!

I agree 4 years is not too old to spay her. However if you decide to just get him done please remember he can still get her pregnant for up to 7 weeks after his op!

Yes talk to your vet. If she is a good healthy bun then the risk of not getting her neutered are higher than the risks of the operation itself. Also ask your vet how many spays they do of rabbits. If they do a lot they should be able to reassure you that they know what they are doing

Just to say if your vet advises against a spay, they may still be able to be bonded. I have an unspayed girlie with a neutered boy and they have a lovely bond now x