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to spay or not to spay?

touie

touie

Wise Old Thumper
I am talking about bella here.

Bella is an 8 month old continental giant with no behavioural problems who already lives with a neutered male.

I have had all my females spayed in the past and lost one under anaesthetic :cry:

Bearing in mind that larger breeds don't tend to live as long, and that the research into reproductive cancers in famales used mature females over 5 years of age as subjects; should I have Bella spayed when the chances of her reaching an age where cancer could develop are slim? :?
 
If she was mine I would do it. I would spay one of my rats if my vet recommended it and they only live 2-3 years and are smaller so won't react to anaesthetic as well.
 
I would have her spayed. Imagine how bad you'd feel if she did develope anything serious from not being spayed.
 
I know that another reason you are asking this. When you lose one during the operation, it becomes a tougher decision to make. The vet told us that it is rare, and they told us that Bungle was the healthiest, happiest bunny they had ever seen. You know its a risk when you get them done but you dont actually expect them to die. We have our 3 boys booked in for next Friday and I am pooping my pants.
 
tabby's spay made her ill, sore and confused and i felt very guilty. why did mummy take her to be hurt again and again?(she had to keep going back). but she's almost perfect now and i'm hoping to have her for many years. i'd have felt awful if she had cancer and i could have prevented it.
 
I would also get her spayed, it's not just cancer but also pyometra which is not uncommon in domestic animals and that can get incredibly serious very quickly and result in needing to spay a very poorly bun.
 
Should she get uterine cancer or pyometra, she would definitely have to go under anaesthetic then. And it's a lot more risky when the animal is already seriously ill. Have you looked into what giant rabbits die of to shorten their average lifespan to under 5? Is she sexually mature yet? I presume giant rabbits develop more slowly than normal sized ones?

Why not sit back, give it another 4 months and re-asses it from there? When she's a year old she will definitely be sexually mature but is probably at minimal risk of any reproductive problems.
 
I lost my girl to her spay... the most traumatic experience I have ever been through. And then I stupidly fell in love with a new girl for Oscar who was unspayed. To tell you the truth I was so relieved that my vet said she wouldn't spay her becuase of all her health problems... she's been a very ill bun from day one. But it kills me me to know that she could die from cancer at any time :cry:
 
Santa said:
I would also get her spayed, it's not just cancer but also pyometra which is not uncommon in domestic animals and that can get incredibly serious very quickly and result in needing to spay a very poorly bun.
Click to expand...

Our bridge british giant Jemima developed a pyometra last October due to being unspeyed & we had no choice but to have an emergency spey done when she became very ill :cry: She would have died without it. It gave her another 3 months with us, which I'll always be grateful for. I just wish we'd had her done when we rescued her, but she was 4 1/2 years old, so on our vets advice didn't have her initially speyed. We thought it too old for a giant bun to risk it. Having gone through what we did when Jemima was so poorly, personally I would always have any female speyed now.
 
I have just had a conti giant spayed at 8 months and she was absolutely fine, so personally i would definately have it done.
 
She is due for her vaccs in Feb so i think I will have a word with the vet then and see what they think. I just really don't want to risk the anaesthetic if it's not totally necessary. i know with the study that found that upto 80% of unspayed female rabbits can develop uterine cancer used a sample of does over the age of 5!

I don't know anything about pyometra though :?
 
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