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Spay or not?

chloeturner

chloeturner

Warren Veteran
My rabbit is around 4 years old. I know ideally I shouldve had her spayed a couple of years ago, but finances and all that. She's booked in to be spayed a week on Wednesday, but is this really the best thing? For a middle aged, overweight rabbit, do the risks outweigh the avantages? I love my rabbit a lot, and as I've said in a previous post, its 99% my mothers fault that shes overweight, but the matter is in hand. My vets is having a month of half price spaying for dogs, cats and rabbits, so overweight or not, this really has to be the time that it happens... I'm just worried about losing her, any advice or words from own experience would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I had my sneezy rabbit spayed at 4 years old :) that was last year and she's fine now. She is also a bit of a porker because she is on a pellet only diet as she can't eat hay :) The risk of uterine cancer was just too high for me to have left her unspayed. Now I don't have to worry about it :)
 
Being overweight means she will just take a bit longer to recover. A lot also depends on whether you have good vets and nurses to monitor the operation. The best thing would be to get some weight off her first but your vet will be able to tell you if the excess weight will be a problem. Good luck with her.
 
I've never lost a bun under GA through spaying or dentals, so I think the benefits far outweigh the risks. There is a very high risk of her getting uterine cancer, whereas a very tiny risk of complications of spaying. Only thing I would say, is to ask the vet to close up the outside with superglue instead of stitches..my female got her stitches out straight away, and emergency vet stapled her up again and she had those out in 20 minutes...glue worked a treat on her and so I had Poppy glued without any problems that I can remember.
 
Thank goodness for that, ive been reading all these horror stories of peoples buns dying because they were too old to have the op, and I know that obviously there are risks with the anaesthetic itself, and theres a small risk of anything serious happening, but from what ive read it would be a "huge mistake" to have a rabbit spayed at 4 years old, but you cant beat advice from people with actual experience from these things! thank you :)
 
I'll be facing the same decision with my Bella, who's turning 4 this year and still isn't spayed because the local vets weren't rabbit savvy enough to do it :( There is still one I haven't asked that is pretty new in the area as far as I've understood, so I'm contacting him asap, if that one isn't good enough I'll have to bring her here first (better access to good vets around here). I'm terrified of losing her to cancer, especially now that I've lost my little boy prematurely :( I don't want her to go in a similar way. I'd hate myself forever for not getting it sorted sooner :(

I hope all goes well for your little girl xxx
 
aww :( its an awful decision to have to make, you're condemned either way, if you dont then theres the probability that she WILL die of cancer, and if you dont then you face losing her anyway :( hope everything goes well with your furry friend too!
 
It is tough to make a choice but I don't think 4 is particularly old anymore...maybe 20 years ago when pets weren't so skilled in rabbit surgery, and the risks of uterine cancer weren't well known, most buns only lived to 4 or 5 probably due to the uterine cancer cutting their life short. Now, the majority of buns can be expected to live much longer with better vet care. I have that some worry every time my Pebs needs a dental. I don't know how old he is, but I've had him nearly 3 years, and last time he was slower to get back to normal. But I've experienced the loss of a bun to tooth abscess leading to jaw infection ...so I would rather lose him under GA without pain.
 
I had a 5 year old and a 2 year old spayed on Wednesday. They were both fine, in fact the 5 year old bounced back quicker than the 2 year old. Despite pulling all her stitches out after 24 hours :roll: the wound had healed enough already. So I'd go for it xx
 
Reading this with interest as I am going to RSPCA tomorrow to meet an approx. 5 year doe. She will come with a voucher if all goes well, and I have been pondering this issue.
 
Taking everything into consideration, I think I've made the right decision, better late that never :) and like you say, better to lose them while they're asleep and pain free than to wait for them to get cancer and die, at least you know they died and you made the right decision to try to prolong their life. Thanks guys :)
 
We routinely spay 3-4 year old rabbits at the sanctuary, the last rabbit to be spayed was 7 and She had a uterine tumour when they opened her up. We lost her companion, aged 3.5, to a uterine tumour before we got her spayed. As said, 4 isn't that old now, the bigger worry wound be excess weight- with all animals it increases the risk with any op.
 
Think its a good thing to do, would just say...

halfpenny said:
We routinely spay 3-4 year old rabbits at the sanctuary, the last rabbit to be spayed was 7 and She had a uterine tumour when they opened her up. We lost her companion, aged 3.5, to a uterine tumour before we got her spayed. As said, 4 isn't that old now, the bigger worry wound be excess weight- with all animals it increases the risk with any op.
Click to expand...

I had my two bunny girls spayed last year and all was fine. One did take a bit longer to recover than the other, I had to take her back to the vet for a further pain relieving injection a day or so after. She was right as rain after this and went back on her food. Just all buns are different, the other one was absolutely fine straight away. I think it does need to be done though as it seems almost certain that they develop uterine cancer otherwise.
 
Having lost a bun to cancer when I was not as bunny savvy, I would have no hesitation in putting a healthy 4 year old in for an op so long as the vet did a health check prior to the op (which I think they have to do anyway).
 
Definitely spay! The risks of uterine tumours are so high, so it's far better to put a healthy 4 year old through the op than to have to do an emergency spay on a 6+year old bunny who is poorly with cancer!
 
Yes, the vet will be doing a health check before hand. She's lost about a pound in weight, maybe just needs to lose another 2 pound to be at the proper weight she should be, but other than being a little podgey, theres absolutely nothing wrong with her. The health check is free of chrge, in with the cost of the operation. It's a week today, and I really hope she'll pull through ok, let you all know how she gets on! Can I expect her to be a little off colour for a few days after?
 
She will probably be under the weather for a few days. When you get her home make sure you have some Oxbow critical care to hand to syringe feed her if necessary. Also lots of nice food to tempt her to eat. I often buy kale, carrots with the tops (they love the tops) and thyme as they seem to go for these first over other things.

She will also need pain relief so check with your vet it has been given and also when you can give some more (they should give you some metacam to take home).

Hope all goes well x
 
Hi :wave:
I had a bunny spayed at five years old and she was absolutely fine and she lived to the grand old age of twelve
 
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