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A 'whole' rabbit healthier that a neutered or speyed one??

Which is the better option for buns health??

  • Being speyed or neutered??

    Votes: 36 92.3%

  • Or being left 'whole'

    Votes: 3 7.7%
  • Total voters
    39
TeflonsShadow

TeflonsShadow

Wise Old Thumper
After a sweeping statement from another thread, I was wondering what everyones thoughts really were?

Some people say a whole rabbit is healthier, and that a speyed or neutered bun is more likly to get sick....

Please vote and comment, oh, and if there are any illnesses that only affect a speyed or neutered bun, I want to know, honestly, I have never heard of any.....
 
no idea tbh. but spayed or unspayed pearl would still have a poorly heart and Alvin would still have an iffy tummy.

i cant help but think if pearl had been used for breeding her heart would not of coped so i suppose i vote spayed is healthier :D
 
donnamt said:
no idea tbh. but spayed or unspayed pearl would still have a poorly heart and Alvin would still have an iffy tummy.

i cant help but think if pearl had been used for breeding her heart would not of coped so i suppose i vote spayed is healthier :D
Click to expand...

Poor babs... hope theyre doing ok :D
 
From a behavioural point then neutering is definately healthier and also for females the cancer issue also makes it a must.

Rabbits get sick from a whole host of different illnesses and having an animal neutered would, of course, not stop them suffering from illness unrelated to neutering.

But, as with getting your rabbits vaccinated, it is always beneficial for both your rabbits and your own peace of mind, to try to at least do your best to avoid preventable illness.
 
Even leaving the reduced-stress benefits aside, "not having a womb" eliminates two very serious rabbit illnesses - uterine cancer, and pyometra. Sure, there's a small risk associated with the anaesthetic, but that only manifests itself very occasionally and usually in animals with a pre-existing medical condition, and the risk of developing one of these conditions - and dying from it - are far greater. But after the op, the fact that a uterus isn't present means that these two conditions will not occur. Simple as, really.

If it was the other way round, the leading welfare associations would be advising against neutering, not for it as they currently do...
 
Having lost a bunny through cancer, definitely spaying now I know better. Would not want to put another rabbit through that (or myself).
 
Having had one female have uterine cancer, that later spread and lead to her being pts, definately being spayed all the way!

Having said that, being spayed doesnt mean a bun wont get ill, it'll still be prone to most things it was prone to before the op other than the cancer etc in female buns. And an unspayed bun wont always be more ill than a spayed one. All my male buns were never neutored when i was younger, and to be honest they didnt have behavioural problems and all were healthy throughout their long lives, only one got an absess aged 8.

Out of personal choice, and due to having a mixed group now, i will always get my male buns castrated, and definately get my female buns spayed to stop the other problems. But like i said, my unneutored males had long, healthy lives, so i wouldnt say it affects their health really.
 
I'm not trying to say neutering or speying your pet means they wont get ill, but someone on another thread suggested that those buns who are speyed or neutered are more likely to get ill with things that those who are whole will not..... 'worse than uterine cancer... which can be treated by the way'??

I have never heard of something only speyed or neutered buns will get?

I thought the only thing neutering/speying did was prevwent cancers of those areas and improve behaviour (aggression etc... but not guarenteed)
 
I read the whple thread I guess your talking about and never saw anything :?

Only two of mine arent done and thats because ones too young and the other hasnt been able to yet as the vet didnt want to until she was abit older and stronger
 
Rachel89 said:
I read the whple thread I guess your talking about and never saw anything :?

Only two of mine arent done and thats because ones too young and the other hasnt been able to yet as the vet didnt want to until she was abit older and stronger
Click to expand...

I dont understand what you're trying to say...? I think you need to read it again :lol:
 
Shame we cant see who voted for keeping a rabbit whole, I would have liked to know what benefits leaving a rabbit whole has, I know the benefits of speying and neutering, and thought leaving a rabbit whole had no benefits unless you wanted to breed or show the rabbit or the rabbit is too unless to be put under GA.
 
I think you asked the wrong question.

No. I don't think if you got a large sample of rabbits, half neutered and half not, that there would be much discernible difference in their health.

It does prevent uterine cancer. However the possibility an unspayed rabbit may get cancer in the future doesn't make it an unhealthy rabbit.

It does increase average life expectancy in females. Obviously any time you remove one possible cause of premature death you up the life expectancy. It doesn't mean an individual is any less prone to illness or any other of the many potential causes of death. Cancer in males is much more rare and easy to detect so the benefits are less.

By far the biggest benefit of neutering is behavioural. It enables better social interaction with both humans and other rabbits which improves quality of life. As a knock on effect that can improve general health (minimising stress, increasing exercise) but that's influenced by other factors too.

Do the benefits of neutering outweigh the risks of the op? Yes, in the majority cases.
 
Tamsin said:
I think you asked the wrong question.

No. I don't think if you got a large sample of rabbits, half neutered and half not, that there would be much discernible difference in their health.

It does prevent uterine cancer. However the possibility an unspayed rabbit may get cancer in the future doesn't make it an unhealthy rabbit.

It does increase average life expectancy in females. Obviously any time you remove one possible cause of premature death you up the life expectancy. It doesn't mean an individual is any less prone to illness or any other of the many potential causes of death. Cancer in males is much more rare and easy to detect so the benefits are less.

By far the biggest benefit of neutering is behavioural. It enables better social interaction with both humans and other rabbits which improves quality of life. As a knock on effect that can improve general health (minimising stress, increasing exercise) but that's influenced by other factors too.

Do the benefits of neutering outweigh the risks of the op? Yes, in the majority cases.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tamsin, would you say keeping a rabbit whole would prevent it from any type of illnesses that a speyed or neutered on may be prone to...?

I mean, in your experience maybe?
 
Jaysmonkey said:
The topic of 'keeping a rabbit whole' begins post 182 onwards in the ' Woohoo im on Telly 9 oct' thread.
Click to expand...

I know, but not everyone would have visited that thread or have the stamina to keep reading through all those pages to find it!!

I wanted to see what the general forums ideas were.
 
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