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A couple of questions

Hi all, hope you can help! :wave:

I'm planning to have both my female rabbits spayed in the near future and just wanted to ask a few things about this.
Phoebe is around 2, we've had her around 6 months now. I wanted to let her settle in really well before we put her through anything like that and I think now is the time.
I've been doing some research into vets in my area and have found one with a rabbit savvy vet (vicarage vets in Saxilby, the vet is Annick Sackx - anyone heard of either?)
First of all, i need to get her vacc'd as well. I know I need to leave 2 weeks between myxi and vhd but should there be a gap between either of those and the spay?
Also, can anyone please explain what to expect after her spay in terms of additional care, any restrictions in terms of exercise or diet etc?
Alice is 5 months now, is it right that I should wait until she's atleast 6 months to get her spayed?
And, as Phoebe is a french lop and alice a dwarf cross so around half her size, what are peoples thoughts on bonding? They're had closely supervised sniffles of each other through the bars of a playpen that I use to block doorways but nothing more than that, luckily we have enough space that they have their own rooms seperately and only one has the run of downstairs at a time.
Lastly, Phoebe occasionally likes to stretch up the back of my leg and have a bit of a hump... If i don't stop her fairly quickly she has had a bit of a nibble on my calf too! Am i right thinking this will probably stop after she's been spayed? It happened before we got Alice as well as now so can't be due to the smell of another rabbit on me. Luckily, she loves a scratch round the ears enough to stop straight away once I start that :)

Sorry for all the questions! Any help will be so useful though, thanks.
 
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:wave: Hope you enjoy the forum, right I'd get Phoebe spayed before you do anything else, she's coming up the time where she's at risk of uterine cancer etc so sooner the better, then get vac's done after she is all healed probably about a month after surgery the vet will do Myxi first, haven't heard of that vet as in Hants.

Get Alice spayed asap aswell, then vacc'd.

I've no direct experience of bonding doe's and I'd be wary if there is an obvious size difference, however it does work for some and largely depends on personality. There are lots of different threads regarding bonding, I like the gentle, stress free approach which involves housing the rabbits side by side for at least a few weeks, swapping litter trays and toys or in fact swapping them into each other's accomodation for a few hours a day to completely familiarise themselves with each others scent. I've done this with both my pairs for at about 6 months (different reasons, rescued a buck unplanned, moving house, moving 2 indoors outside etc) and they only needed 24 hours in a confined area, once I saw mutual grooming I knew it was fine and moved them into their 'new' to both of them accomodation which helped the process along. A month should be long enough i think to house side by side, maybe the recovery period from the spay's and while you get them vacc'd.

The bonding will have to be done in a completely neutral area to both rabbits, it's advisable to use a dog crate or puppy pen, lots of hay but no tray or anything that can cause them to become territorial/possessive over, I scattered food in the hay and as a distraction threw in wet herbs, I also provided a few water bottles and a bowl (neutralised).

You might have more success to be honest if you can go to a trio in sending them to a rescue to be bonded to a trio maybe? I don't know enough about two unrelated doe's bonding, I just know doe's can be tricky as they are 'territorial' so it's essential you have neutral bonding area and neutral accomodation for them after.

The 'search' facility is handy when your new and trying to research things as it brings up older threads and you can read through :wave:
 
I had my female done as follows:

myxi
2 weeks later VHD
2 weeks later spay (I would have left it a little longer only I thought we were just fostering and going to re-home her - she is still with us:love: )

She used to hump but stopped immediatley after she was done. Just make sure there are no ramps etc after the spay for about 3 weeks. Keep her warm and inside overnight after the op and keep lots of veg etc to tempt her after the op.
 
Thanks very much :)

I have a week off work soon so that would be a good time to book Phoebe in I think.
Phoebe just loves to be around anyone, she'll sit forever if you stroke her and likes to groom me back so if I can bond them I think she'd really love a permanent companion.
They should already be familiar with each others scent as they both roam the same areas of the house at different times of the day. At first Phoebe left poo piles all over! She's become really well litter trained so I was suprised but that has stopped now so hope that means she has accepted the smell of another rabbit! It's a start atleast. Although, will this smell change after spaying?
 
Thanks very much :)

I have a week off work soon so that would be a good time to book Phoebe in I think.
Phoebe just loves to be around anyone, she'll sit forever if you stroke her and likes to groom me back so if I can bond them I think she'd really love a permanent companion.
They should already be familiar with each others scent as they both roam the same areas of the house at different times of the day. At first Phoebe left poo piles all over! She's become really well litter trained so I was suprised but that has stopped now so hope that means she has accepted the smell of another rabbit! It's a start atleast. Although, will this smell change after spaying?

Yes sounds like a plan, they might be getting used to smells, I found smelling another bun will cause them to poo around the area, almost marking their scent, it's still worth housing them side by side if you can, PAH do a good rabbit playpen which would make a good outdoor run for them if you bought two to use for housing side by side and then connected together to make one large run, still swap litter trays and toys etc - I don't know about the scent changing after spaying tbh it could I suppose but I thought that might affect the males more.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/small-pet-play-pen-for-rabbits-and-guinea-pigs-by-pets-at-home-24353

I don't know why the picture only shows four panels I've bought about 5 of them and they are all 6 sides.
 
Thanks for your help. I have 2 playpens already luckily so will use those to house them side by side. I'll let you know how everything goes once we get started!
 
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