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biting...

emily..

Warren Scout
usually when i go and get Princess out of her cage she is really happy because she is coming out but lately when i reach in to get her she turns her head really fast like she is going to bite my hand :(, why is this....? she has never bitten before?
 
How old is she? Is she spayed?

Any changes in how you smell (of a predator, another bunny?) or her environment?
 
She is approx 32 weeks old now, and no she is not spayed (yet), and nothing has changed at all :?x
 
Are you going in too quick, i made Stu jump the other day and he turned a bit quick so i pulled away :cry:

But then when i went back and made a bit more noise getting to the hutch he was fine, hope it was just an accidental turn.:D
 
She is certainly old enough to be spayed, which I'm sure would improve her hormonal behaviour.
 
Spaying will help, tho saying that Matilda still does this if you startle her or scare her, move to fast in the blond spot etc, its more of a nateral fear reaction x
 
hmmm.. im not sure if i want to get her spayed, my auntie works on a farm and she has had loads of rabbits in the psdt and they were never spayed :? and they lived a happy life,x
 
As well as the hormonal benefits of spaying, it is also recommended to prevent uterine adenocarcinomas which are an aggressive uterine tumour that can spread very quickly to other areas such as the lungs. This is common in does over 4 years, so the earlier they are spayed the less chance of this developing.
 
i know :cry:, but its not 100 percent that she will get uterine adenocarcinomas, out of all the rabbits i have known none of them of had it, i'm not sure i want to put Princess through such a big opp
 
hmmm.. im not sure if i want to get her spayed, my auntie works on a farm and she has had loads of rabbits in the psdt and they were never spayed :? and they lived a happy life,x

But that's a bit like saying that rabbits were always stuck in a hutch at the bottom of the garden, didn't need regular exercise, didn't need proper food and hay, didn't need vaccinations .... etc.

How long did your auntie's rabbits live?

We have come a long way in our rabbit care .... and most of our rabbits are healthier and living longer (although there will still be owners who consider that what was good enough in the past is good enough now).

I would definitely recommending spaying - the risk of uterine cancer far outweighs the risks associated with the op.
 
how is it like saying they were stuck in a shed and didn't have regular exercise? i said they lived a happy life:? just because my auntie lives on a farm doesnt mean the animals are not cared for, she loves animals she does everything she thinks is the best for them!, and im not sure how long they lived for in total, i was roughly four/five when she had them and now i am 13 and a couple of them rabbits ar still alive now and have never had any opps!.. its my parents and my choice whether we wont to put Princes through it or not.
 
It is totally your choice, you're right :) This is the info I give people on the reasons and potential benefits for a spay.

The way I looked at it when I was deciding whether or not to spay my first rabbit was how will I feel if they get an illness I could have prevented. Personally, I couldn't live with myself because I had a chance to keep a bunny healthy and didn't take that choice.

I then also thought, if I don't spay when my bunny is young/healthy then there is still an 80% chance she will need to be spayed because of the 80% risk of uterine issues. Also, knowing rabbits, by the time that she had shown problems, she would be very depleted and more unlikely to survive the operation, have a harder recovery, or, she may be too ill and need to be PTS. So therefore, given 80% is pretty high, my options were to get the bunny spayed with healthy or to wait and then get her spayed when she showed signs of illness. So, either making it easier for the bunny to recover because she was fit and well, or making it harder for her to recover because she was already ill.

When I chose to have the first girls done it was terrifying (I had two done the same day), but I did what I thought was best for them and gave them the best chance for the happiest life; neither of them could be bonded because both were grumpy hormonal madams, and now both are happily bonded, well over the age that potentially uterine cancer can develop and doing really well. I know I made the right choice. I made the same choice for all my healthy bunnies.

Equally, I've had ill bunnies come through where I've had to make the decision not to spay at that point. I had one I expected would never be spayable but she got better and better and then was able to be spayed. I had to take the risk for her because her hormones were causing her fights with her bonded friends and she would either have to live a sad, lonely life not spayed having known bunny love, or risk an operation that could kill her to give her a chance of a happier life with friends. She was spayed 18 months ago and has never looked back.

Those are only my experiences, and the views I look from. You may decide to take a totally different viewpoint and that's ok. As long as you're doing what you think is best for her then you'll make the right choices. :)
 
Of course it is your choice, I don't think anyone meant to imply that you were not caring about your rabbit. People who don't care don't tend to find this forum!

I would urge you to consider it tho, some females can display moody or aggressive behaviour which it sounds like your girly is already doing. Also if you were ever to consider bonding your girly to another rabbit this would be much much harder if not impossible to do with an unspayed female, it is nice to leave this option open and she is best equipped to deal with the op when she is younger.

And finally, I have lost a bun to uterine cancer. Believe me you do not want to live with that guilt, we didn't know the importance of spaying, plus she was a rescue bun that was overweight so that would have made the descision more tricky but if something did happen in the future and with all the knowledge you have now you hadn't had her done? Personally I feel guilty about not spaying an overweight older bun when we had the chance, and she died over 8 years ago. :(

Yes all ops are risky, however she has an 80% chance of getting cancer if she is not spayed, the risks of something going wrong are much much much lower. But as sky-o said, she is your rabbit, you know her best and as long as you make the decision that you honestly believe to be the right one, it is xxx
 
how is it like saying they were stuck in a shed and didn't have regular exercise? i said they lived a happy life:? just because my auntie lives on a farm doesnt mean the animals are not cared for, she loves animals she does everything she thinks is the best for them!, and im not sure how long they lived for in total, i was roughly four/five when she had them and now i am 13 and a couple of them rabbits ar still alive now and have never had any opps!.. its my parents and my choice whether we wont to put Princes through it or not.

You misunderstood me.
What I was trying to say is that rabbit-care and knowledge has changed over the years.
The example I gave was of how they used to be housed and what was thought to be satisfactory - we know better now.
It is, of course, your choice whether or not to spay.

ETA We were, after all, trying to help you with your 'biting' problems and what might cause them.
 
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