Castration and over 18? -_-

My friends parents dont agree with the rabbit being castrated and bonded with a female. They think they will not get along and it will die during surgery anyway. No matter what you tell them. Anything you tell them they ignoor and make an excuse they think is right. Poeples attitude seriousley need to change, as we all know its better for thei welfare. Anyway my friend decided to take her to the vet behind their backs which is risky if there is a complecation or whatever but she must have felt it was worth it :/ so don't mention about that, its over with and this isnt about that its about what the vet said to her.

They said you can only be over 18. We were a bit shocked by this but you know i agree, its only fair i guess to make sure the rabbit ha adult supervision and is ok. But in part of my mind i'm also really annoyed about that. This rabbit isnt going to be able to be castrated untill my friend is 18 and by that time he will be 5 which is risky. We were trying to think of people that would go to the vet for her, my parents wouldnt because its like going against another parent, its not their place. and the same thing with the rest of her family memebers. No friends over 18 either, oh dear :lol: no one can help us with this rabbit that we want the best for. Any advice on what we should do.

It also got me thinking about animal welfare and rights etc. Who would be to blame for not treating their pet properly? My friend (16 like me) or the parent? because she cares for the bun on her own, butys it all his stuff but isnt aloowed to do do the most important things for the rabbit. If someone asked her if her rabbit was castrated and she said no, i know so many people who would jump at her and blame her for everything when she relaly has no choice in the matter.

So what can we do? wait untill she is 18 or we find someone over 18 for her and who, if you didnt know the situation, would you blame for not giving the bun what he needs? xxx

Hi there,

I really feel for you and your friend. What a tricky situation to be in. You are right that it is best if bunny can be neutered and live with a female bunny - he will live a much happier life with a partner than he would alone, unless your friend and her family are able to give him a lot of hours of attention each day.

I think I am right in saying that the Animal Welfare Act states that it would be the parents (ie adults), who carry ultimate responsibility for a pet, even if the child is the one who does all the looking after.

Could your friend perhaps explain some of the other benefits of castration to her parents? For example a castrated male will usually be a lot more 'chilled out' than an entire male. Entire males also have a tendency to spray urine, which is obviously not very nice for the owner, but this sort of behaviour should stop if he is neutered. Un-neutered bunnies can sometimes 'hump' inanimate objects or even your arm/leg oops when they get excited. Aggression can be another problem in un-neutered bunnies.

Personally I wouldn't recommend going against your friend's parents. I'm sure others might disagree with this. I think the answer is to try and educate them about why neutering is a good thing, and perhaps offering to save up for the operation herself, or offering to go halves on the bill with her parents if money is an issue (you don't say whether this is or not, but just a thought).

I'm sure you will get lots of advice on here. Good luck

Hiya! :wave:

I do sympathise with you here, my own parents were a bit the same and as a parent myself now I would say that maybe thier reasons for refusing the castration and then subsequently the new female rabbit might be down to "how much is this gonna cost us?" and also " what about in two years time when she looses interest?" They might be a little bit ignorant of the facts yes however my sugestion is this ..can your friend raise the money for the operation herself by doing a car boot sale maybe? Or make a sacrifice somehow, maybe asking for this to be her birthday/xmas pressie instead of anything else? Also if she proves to them how serious she is about animal welfare and that she really does take this seriously, get lots of books out of the library on the subject so that they really do see she is doing her homework on this one!? Maybe she could volunteer to help out at a local rabbit rescue as well? They might help with the advising the parents side of things and with finding him a new mate afterwards!? I hope this doesnt sound patronising at all - it's just that I know how my parents always thought about my love of animals and it took a long time to prove that I wasnt going to loose interest any time soon! Good Luck, I really hope they come around to your way of thinking (and should be so proud of having such a caring, intelligent daughter ( and you for her friend!) as well) !!!!!!!

AnnieElms said:

Hi there,

Could your friend perhaps explain some of the other benefits of castration to her parents? For example a castrated male will usually be a lot more 'chilled out' than an entire male. Entire males also have a tendency to spray urine, which is obviously not very nice for the owner, but this sort of behaviour should stop if he is neutered. Un-neutered bunnies can sometimes 'hump' inanimate objects or even your arm/leg oops when they get excited. Aggression can be another problem in un-neutered bunnies.

Personally I wouldn't recommend going against your friend's parents. I'm sure others might disagree with this. I think the answer is to try and educate them about why neutering is a good thing, and perhaps offering to save up for the operation herself, or offering to go halves on the bill with her parents if money is an issue (you don't say whether this is or not, but just a thought).

I'm sure you will get lots of advice on here. Good luck

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She is paying for it herself and we have, about cancer and helath and behaviour etc leterally every possibe thing you can think of to try and convince her parents, not having any of it. They had rabbits when they were young and never did and so think htye ont need too. Their attitude is 'its just a rabbit if it dies get a new one' :evil::evil::evil:

popcornpigs said:

Hiya! :wave:

I do sympathise with you here, my own parents were a bit the same and as a parent myself now I would say that maybe thier reasons for refusing the castration and then subsequently the new female rabbit might be down to "how much is this gonna cost us?" and also " what about in two years time when she looses interest?"

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She has over £200 saved from work for it. She was so excited about being able to look after him and they go ahead and say that. The only reason she got the job was for this and shes gutted Shes also had the bun for 4 years now (she is quite an innocent person and what her parents think is best she went along with. Now she is 16 and done her own reaserch and knows the facts she wants to do more to help.) so she is most certianly not going to get bored of it after all this time :wave: We just dont know what to do because next year she can get it done, it will be more risky but i've known buns over 5 to come through the surgery well. ~Anothier thing is the hate she is getting from people even though it is not her fault drives me mad, shes doing all she can and then they say shes 'abusing' animals because she will not give him what he needs. Really, she has all this money saved and knows all the facts, her parents attitude is the only thing in the way and it drives me insane because there is no reason not to, only because they don't want to :evil:

Ohh no! This is an awful situation.. especially as your friend has been working to pay for it! To be honest I dont get what thier problem is then!!?? Baffling as they dont have to pay for it and your friend is obviously mature enough to take care of the rabbit! Do they simply not want her to "waste" her money or do they just not want to be bothered with having to take the rabbit to the vet? OR is this more about her getting a second rabbit? If she is paying for it all then I just dont get it! If another adult agreed to take the rabbit to the vet would this then have to be kept a secret from them? ( be hard because she would have to have a post op follow up appointment as well and be away for the whole day - possibly overnight) or would they not object as long as someone else is doing it?

Please - but who is directing all this "hate" at her? That is really not on at all - no wonder this is upsetting her so much!! It is so obvious to me that she cares for this bun and wants to do the best for her.

Maybe she could try contacting a local rescue center and ask if she can help out as work experience??? (my 14 yr old daughter does 3 hrs on a saturday cleaning out ect ) and once there she could explain the dilemma and they might offer to help and talk to her parents? They can also help find a perfect match for her bunny!

They never asked me for my age when I took mine to be neutered. My mum didn't want me to, but it's my money and they're my rabbits, quite frankly I didn't care what she thought and I had them done. Maybe try a different vets?

The rabbit is VERY unlikely to die in surgery, it IS likely to be more relaxed and happier should it be bonded with a friend

I would try a different vets. My vets ask you to be 16.

vee-jay said:

I would try a different vets. My vets ask you to be 16.

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:O :O :O :O So going to tell her to try another vets! we both emailed the vets and she said we had to be over 18! thanks xxx