• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

I've just done an experiment...

KTJ

Alpha Buck
... to find out if many vets in the UK give out the same information regarding rabbit neutering (yes, I have been that bored this afternoon!!)

Basically, I rang up 30 vets in the UK. I typed in "vets in manchester/vets in devon" etc in google, then rang up a veterinary practice at random and claimed I am planning on getting 2 rabbits soon, one male and one female, and asked how long they would need to be kept apart after the male was neutered. (no plans for having the female speyed)

I realise there are many flaws to my experiment, as I only rang up 30 different vets (including my own) and considering there are thousands of vets in the UK, my findings are not proof, it was just something I found interesting.

I will not name any of the vets, but here are answers I was given from the shortest amount of time, to the longest..........


- Overnight (as the male rabbit will need to be kept in and monitored)

-2-3 days to allow the male some time to recover from the GA

- A week so that the female cannot re-open the wound by being too playful

- 7-10 days so that the wound can heal properly

- 1-2 weeks, depending on how well the rabbit recovers from the operation

- 3-4 weeks

- 4-6 weeks to be on the safe side

- 6-8 weeks to ensure no risk is taken.

Out of the 30 vets I rang, not ONCE was the idea suggested to me to rescue the rabbits instead of get them from a breeder/pet shop (I'm not suggesting that all breeders/pet shop rabbits are bad, I was just shocked that no one suggested rescue rabbits at all!)

Only ONE of the vets I rang advised having the female speyed too and I was informed about the risk of uterine cancer. The same vets also told me about vaccinations and petplan insurance.

Only TWO vets out of the 30 I rang asked if I planned on getting my rabbits vaccinated.

The vets I rang were completely random (my geography is TERRIBLE so I don't even know where I was ringing to!) and ofcourse it is not a generalisation of all vets, I may have just rang the less informed ones!

Either way, it was interesting experiment and I am still shocked at the fact that 2 vets told me I'd only have to keep a un-neutered doe apart from a recently neutered buck OVERNIGHT!!!! :shock:
 
Interesting, though rather depressing! Did you actually speak to the vets, or just reception staff?
 
Interesting, though rather depressing! Did you actually speak to the vets, or just reception staff?

A lot of the reception staff had a guess at how long they thought it would be, then rang through to the vets and asked them for clarification.
One receptionist asked if she could take my number and ring me back when she had spoken to the vet who was busy at that moment in time...... she seemed shocked when she realised I lived about 400 miles away! :lol:
 
An interesting experiment, but I know that at my vets the receptionists know to get a rabbit in asap if it's not eating, and can quote for vaccs etc, but it is the vets themselves who when I first took my boys in for a check up when I first got them advised vaccinations, neutering and told me insurance was available. They also told me approx 4 - 6 weeks for the hormones to settle, but I wasn't putting them in with does (they did say it would be longer for male/female partnerships).
 
An interesting experiment, but I know that at my vets the receptionists know to get a rabbit in asap if it's not eating, and can quote for vaccs etc, but it is the vets themselves who when I first took my boys in for a check up when I first got them advised vaccinations, neutering and told me insurance was available. They also told me approx 4 - 6 weeks for the hormones to settle, but I wasn't putting them in with does (they did say it would be longer for male/female partnerships).

my vets are the same :)
 
After my previous thread, I changed vets but still go to vets for pets for vaccinations as they are by far the cheapest. Anyway I said to the vet about getting Lola spayed and about being worried about uterine(sp?) cancer, and she asked me if that was common in rabbits?! Anyway I got the feeling she was going to go and get a bit more clued up as she seemed genuinly suprised when I told her I had read 80% over the age of 3 :shock:
 
like others have said, you only spoke to a receptionist in most cases, who won't have the expertise that a vet will. It's bad that they just guess at things or give you false information but in most cases the vet would give you the correct information when you spoke to them.
The receptionist at my vet told me not to feed Eli for 24 hours before his neuter - it's a good job I knew not to or I could have done a lot of harm.

When we took our girls in for neutering they actually insisted we have them jabbed first so that they wouldn't be at further risk after the surgery and even though we went in with the plan of having them spayed she still told us all about the risks of uterine cancer vs the risks of the surgery, how female rabbits will fight if left unspayed etc. The receptionist was just there to book our appointment, the vet is usually the one to consult with.
 
I've rung all vets in my local area and none of them mentioned rescue bunnies either. I was speaking to reception though so, with all due respect, they might not have really been bothered too much.
 
Back
Top