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Some very shocking news - mid rabbit spay...

LauryStevens

Mama Doe
Well both my little girls went in for their spay this morning, they're 4 months old and I've had them since they were 6 and 7 weeks old. Skittles was first for her op...then I get a surprise call at work...............

"Hi Laura....blah blah blah......Skittles is a hermaphrodite......blah blah blah.....she is female on the outside but has no internal sexual organs.....blah blah blah....we checked behind her kidneys and even emptied some of her gut, but they aren't there after looking for them for 40 minutes.......it's very uncommon but I have seen it before.....blah blah blah.....just keep an eye on her when breeding season starts in February as her behaviour/hormones may go very hectic and unpredictable....blah blah blah"

Richard, my rabbit savy vet who spoke to me, said he has a female pair, both sister and one of his is a hermaphrodite....

Well I'm shocked to say the least, it won't stop me loving her. I suggested it may have been from incest as her mum was a captive breeder with a tag? Both the mum and Skittles were from the RSPCA but mum had to be PTS for major teeth issues just before we adopted her too.

So she obviosuly isn't spayed, as there is nothing to spay, Richard said other things like blood tests later on in time if I wanted to see what hormones she has....etc etc etc

I hope bonding still works :S Not sure what to think now though about it all. My poor baby Skittles x
 
Aw, poor vet. Sounded very confused.

I have a hermaphrodite (testes but vulva- you may find 'she' drops some small, underformed testes at some point so do watch for that) and his bonding was fine, he shows no hormones or anything and is very happy. He does have gut issues which I think is likely to be related because often in humans who are hrmaphrodites, they have additional problems too, but hopefully yours will remain happy and healthy and have a lovely life :)
 
Aw, poor vet. Sounded very confused.

I have a hermaphrodite (testes but vulva- you may find 'she' drops some small, underformed testes at some point so do watch for that) and his bonding was fine, he shows no hormones or anything and is very happy. He does have gut issues which I think is likely to be related because often in humans who are hrmaphrodites, they have additional problems too, but hopefully yours will remain happy and healthy and have a lovely life :)

Yes, Richard did say about the testes dropping. I feel so sorry for her, bless her. She's also got a nibbled, slightly deformed ear too thanks to her mum cleaning her a birth :shock: But yes apparently she has no female parts inside at all but may have overies...? Which he recons will probably be in-active, I may have heard wrong, it was all very fast on the phone though, just a bit shocked and hot flushed at the time.

Well I hope Skittles doesn't have problems in the future, her tummy is always great as she eats lots of hay and is VERY hyper active, but doesn't do greatly on very wet fruit/veg so I will now stay clear and stick to leafy greens for her. I just hope there aren't any complications later on in life for her :(
 
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wow never heard that one......i hope she settles okay for bonding for u hun :D

Thank you, I hope so too. I hope she doesn't get hormone problems, I'd hate to deprive her of a companion because of possible swinging hormones, worst comes to worst, she'll live in my room with me :) But I'm sure she'll be ok, we have space space outside as we were planning to bond all 4 bunnies together, so we have 2 permanent set ups currently :)
 
I've heard of this on the forum before, I hope Skittles has no further problems and good luck with the bonding!
 
Not wanting to look on the black side but it might be an idea to get her insured just incase she encounters any future problems.
 
Not wanting to look on the black side but it might be an idea to get her insured just incase she encounters any future problems.

Thats a good point, I'll have to bare that in mind so thank you for raising that point. Considering the events of today...Beela looks a lot worse off then Skittles. Skittles is bouncing about...a little subdued but very hoppy still. Bella looks so ruff and definatly not her self, bless her. Apparently Bella has the smalled sexual organs the vet had ever removed, porbably due to her age and size, but at least she if spayed and safe now.

I've been advised to keep them in until their check up on Saturday due to all the events and everything, so they'll have spent yesterday all the day through to friday night (maybe longer) in the spare room in a 3ft by 3ft pen (to limit activity)

The vets found the whole thing rather amusing which was good, made me feel better about the situation :) I'm so glad I have decent vets!
 
So by the sound of it, it isn't totally unheard of then, but definalty not common? My vet said it is an uncommon thing but he also has a rabbit who is a hermaphrodite, she's bonded with her sister who is a "normal" female who is spayed.

Seems like a few people have had hermaphrodite rabbits then?
 
So by the sound of it, it isn't totally unheard of then, but definalty not common? My vet said it is an uncommon thing but he also has a rabbit who is a hermaphrodite, she's bonded with her sister who is a "normal" female who is spayed.

Seems like a few people have had hermaphrodite rabbits then?

Yep! it's usually caused by interbreeding but not always
 
Yep! it's usually caused by interbreeding but not always

Skittles mum was a breeding rabbits, she had the ring around her foot. We were going to adopt the pair of them from the RSPCA...but mum had to be pts for dental issues before we were due to bring her home. I was putting it down to incest etc but you never know. :(
 
Oh jeez, do you reckon she'll have male and female hormones then? That must be confusing, poor thing wont know if she wants to make babies or bear them :oops: I've heard of a few hemephrodite bunnies (sp), and they've lived a happy healthy life :)
 
Oh jeez, do you reckon she'll have male and female hormones then? That must be confusing, poor thing wont know if she wants to make babies or bear them :oops: I've heard of a few hemephrodite bunnies (sp), and they've lived a happy healthy life :)

Well the vet said then next step would be to have a blood test, but he also said it's very expensive (our cat recently cost around £150 for bloods) and although we would find out what her hormones were, there isn't anything really that we could do with the results. So it's likely that we'd know what is going on in her body but nothing we could do about it.

She's a happy, lively little girl, so friendly too. It's hard to imagine her becoming teritorial or aggressive, but hormones effect us all, especially us ladies ;) she's just our extra special bunny :D Despite it all, she looks as if the op never even happened...I mean seriously, nothing about her has changed! She's eating and pooing like a trooper! Bella is eating but not to her full capacity...at least Bella did manage to sort her coat out this morning as it was a right state! :lol::lol:

Btw Skittles is the little Orange on in my signature :)
 
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