Neutering a Netherlands Dwarf

Apologies if I've missed some obvious info somewhere, I've had a scout around and been overwhelmed by Google too General consensus seems to be to neuter at around 3 1/2 months. Does that vary for smaller breeds? Pudding is a Netherlands Dwarf and I'm keen to get him neutered as soon as possible, but obviously I want to make sure that it's the right time. Also, what about after care? The vet said they usually do the operation at 11am and keep them in until around 5:30pm, then just to keep an eye on him that evening. I'd rather make sure I'm around for him for a couple of days, am I being totally neurotic?! I don't work Fridays, so he could get the op on a Thursday and I'd then have three full days to make sure he's perfectly happy. Lastly, I've read that a couple of days of cage rest is a good idea. What sort of space does that mean? He has a double level cage with a run attached, but even if the run is closed off he will binky around the cage. Do I just bribe him with banana to sit nicely?

I'd leave it until the bun is a bit older if possible, and also check your vet has experience neutering this particular breed - anaesthetic can be riskier because they're so tiny... :?

Thank you. I do want to suss the vet out a bit more. I'm happy to use them for vaccinations and whatnot but I'm not overly confident about them, so I will grill them a bit! What sort of age do you think would be better? It's so tricky because there seem to be a million different opinions!

To be honest, my netherland dwarf was only spayed in August and she is nearly six years old so i can't help you on age! However like Tinsel said, make sure you go to a rabbit savvy vet when getting Pudding done. Dee (my doe) got through her spay fine, although she had big problems afterwards and we nearly lost her due to her not recovering as well because she was a bit old and frail bless her The age is around 5-6 months generally, I had my other doe done at 4.5 months but that was only because I needed to bond her with her brother ASAP as we weren't coping with the separate accomodation. Her brother had E.C. at 5 weeks old though until he was 4 months so he wasn't able to be spayed until he was 5.5 months old.:wave:

charlioe ios a minilop and was done at 4months but it usually depends on weight i think. he was quiet when i brought himj home and didnt want hay or pellets but took leaves from the garden. by the next day he was pooing eating as normal. i had to confine him for about a week so he didnt over do it but he was fine

here is a good rabbit savvy vet in windlesham- i know a rescue that usues it for all their spays and neuters
http://www.windleshamvet.com/index.html

ask for Gill :wave:

Thank you both! So maybe holding off might be better for him then. By confining, is that just their usual night time cage or a smaller space?

Sorry Lucy, missed that last bit! I'll see how close that is, we're in Walton on Thames. I'd like to stay as local as I can as he seems to find his carrier a bit stressful.

of course i understand-mine hate travelling so i go somewhere nearer to me too.

his usual nightime space should be fine as long as their is nothing to jump on etc... the vet should give you advice on the day anyway good luck!

cm85 said:

Thank you both! So maybe holding off might be better for him then. By confining, is that just their usual night time cage or a smaller space?

Click to expand...

my first female, the one who was done at 4.5 months, had two days cage rest in the largest of the Pets at Home indoor cages, then I introduced a small, ten minute run round in a small pen once a day and gradually increased it until she was back to normal a couple of weeks afterwards. However my other female was so poorly she didn't move from the corner of her Pets at Home 100 for a few days apart from vet visits at least once a day where she had to go in the carrier! Even when she was hospitalised, she didn't move about in her cage. I had to force her to move on the fifth or sixth day when she was at home though because she wasn't pooing and I hoped it'd get her guts moving, which it did! It varies on the bun. my male didn't have any cage rest as such, they all stayed inside for 3 days at least, but Dee was in for two weeks cus she was so ill, and my male went crazy in the cage! we had to attach a makeshift run for him so he didn't go so mad :roll::lol:

I can see Pudding being very indignant about not being able to binky around with us! He's got a double level, so maybe I'd be best off putting his food and water on the ground floor with his litter and making his run much smaller so he's got a single level space to recover.

i think that would be best to be honest- he looks lovely by the way!

He's gorgeous, we're so in love with him. I think I've just found a more promising vet, woop! I'll give them a ring in the week but they look good from the website and weirdly, I recognise one of their vets. He used to treat my childhood cat and was amazing with him, so I feel like I could trust somewhere that he's now running

:thumb:

I have predominantly nethies from my original bunch of bunnies and as long as the vet feels they are healthy and big enough and competent to do the op, then I don't see a reason to delay it any more than it needs to be, so don't worry too much about it.

Also, I tend to give this advice about spaying and neutering, which may be worth a read

My previous vet before I moved, would castrate as soon as the balls dropped AND the bunny was over 1KG. For the buns that were under 1KG she would do them over 6 months old, I believe to ensure they were as big as they were going to get to help them cope with the anesthetic. She would only spay over 6 months old. I always follow that as a general rule.

(because someone got it mixed up)
Neuter- male or female desexing
Spay- female desexing
Castration- Male desexing

blue_vix said:

My previous vet before I moved, would castrate as soon as the balls dropped AND the bunny was over 1KG. For the buns that were under 1KG she would do them over 6 months old, I believe to ensure they were as big as they were going to get to help them cope with the anesthetic. She would only spay over 6 months old. I always follow that as a general rule.

(because someone got it mixed up)
Neuter- male or female desexing
Spay- female desexing
Castration- Male desexing

Click to expand...

Totallly agree. I lost a little Nethie girl during a spay - she was old enough but maybe not big enough, although the vet obviously didn't foresee it.

Thanks all, this is really usefull! Sky-O, I've read and bookmarked that, it will come in handy when he does have the op.

blue_vix said:

My previous vet before I moved, would castrate as soon as the balls dropped AND the bunny was over 1KG. For the buns that were under 1KG she would do them over 6 months old, I believe to ensure they were as big as they were going to get to help them cope with the anesthetic. She would only spay over 6 months old. I always follow that as a general rule.

(because someone got it mixed up)
Neuter- male or female desexing
Spay- female desexing
Castration- Male desexing

Click to expand...

Oops! Made myself look a right pleb I do know the difference honest, my mind was on female buns :lol:

I just thought I'd update this. We went to the new vets last night and they're great! The receptionist and nurse were in love with Pudding (we arrived a bit early) and asking lots of questions about him. The vet was great too, bringing up lots of basic stuff just to make sure I knew about it, asking about Pud's housing and diet, handling him really gently. He mentioned that he's currently treating a bun with myxomatosis and reassured me that we're doing the right thing getting him vaccinated. I knew that, but I was feeling guilty. The first vet we tried told me that you can't treat myxomatosis, which set off some alarm bells for me. They also said the combined vaccination would be available in a few months, the new vet have been offering it since March! It feels like such a relief to have a vet that I feel happy leaving Pud with if something happened.
They've recommended that he has a yearly health check for now, increasing to every 6 months when he gets to about 4. Neutering is going to be done at 6 months to give things time to er..emerge. He's very healthy and weighs in at a whopping 0.85kg :lol: So, he's been vaccinated now, was very brave and the vet apologised because they usually have bunny treats in to give them after their jabs.