How to tell if a bunny is spayed?

Our rescue bun Bella is a French Lop, 2.5 years old. The rescue was told by her owner that she's been spayed but I really need to make sure. We lost Ellie back in the summer, she didn't make it through her dental, and so Bella is supposed to be for our very lonely Bandit...but it's just not working out.
Bella is the most laid back rabbit I've ever met, she's just but her and Bandit have been living side by side for3 months and she still goes for him occasionally through the wires, like really goes for him...and all he wants to do is make friends it's so sad.

They are house bunnies and at night times I get Bella doing seriously loud buzzing round my ankles, climbing up my legs like she's going to hump me as I'm walking round, she chases me and nips the bottom of my legs. Do spayed bunnies do this? It just seems pretty hormonal behaviour. She's never shown any nesting behaviour though...

I was speaking to the vet and he's getting back to me with the best way to make sure she is spayed. Says there are a couple of ways, blood tests a few weeks apart to test hormone levels or alternatively open her up and see. He said even if she has been spayed if it wasn't done properly there could be a chance of a tiny piece of ovarian tissue been left behind somewhere which would still make her produce the hormones.

They are supposed to be going for bonding after Christmas but I don't think the bond stands any chance at all as she is, and Bandit is sooooo desperate for a friend He's my naughty BARC bunny so been neutered for best part of 4 years...and for the first time EVER it seems he's not the problem bless him :lol:

The only way I know is by a very specific blood test. Bunny needs to be admitted for the day. A blood sample is taken as a baseline. Then bunny is given an injection to stimulate any remaining uterine tissue. Then a second blood test is taken. If the hormone levels are significantly higher in the second sample then it indicates there is some uterine tissue still there.

I had the test done a couple of years ago and it cost around £100 for everything. I have the name of the test written down somewhere, I can dig it out if you are interested x

Thank you for the info, so you'd go down the route of the blood test rather than the full on open her up investigation? It just seems a weird thing for her previous owner to say that she has been spayed if she hasn't...just her behaviour doesn't convince me...

If there is any contact with the original owner, can you go back to their vet and ask - I know it isn't foolproof as the vet may not know / be able to identify the rabbit or be able to tell you for other reasons - but maybe worth a shot. It might be better if your vet contacts the vet who was supposed to have done the neuter - but you might have to do some asking around via the rescue.

If there is no definitive answer from this and she continues to show hormonal behaviour, I would probably be favouring the surgical route to be certain, if the blood tests are a similar price. I wouldn't normally suggest a possibly unnecessary procedure - maybe get her teeth checked at the same time while she is under so that you don't have to think about it later - but you do need to be absolutely certain in this case, and at her age she is more at risk from uterine cancer (if she's not been spayed) but should be fine for an anaesthetic with an experienced vet.

Did your vet give any indication which he would recommend under these circumstances?

It might also be possible for the vet to clip her tummy and look for a scar and perform an ultrasound to look for a womb. It's a really tricky one - personally I agree with you, I wouldn't take anyone's word for it that a bunny is spayed especially if they're handing it to a rescue, as people will tell you what they think you want to hear. I'd want to see evidence (e.g. an invoice, original notes/verification from the vet, a vacc card from the original vet which states that the bunny is neutered) otherwise I'd also be checking to be certain! It's such a tricky one though and shame there's no cheap, easy way to tell, but better to be safe than sorry all round.

You say your 2 have lived side by side for 3 months now and have you ever put them together to find out how they behave as rabbits will show aggressive behaviour through wire so this is not a very good indication as to how they would be with no wire there. They might be finding it frustrating being next to one another but not being able to interact properly so maybe this is causing the female to behave the way she is. I think if an ex owner says a rabbit has been neutered it is usually the truth although I do doubt at times! I have a spayed bunny who behaves very unspayed-like but the Vets looked her details up and she has been done!

LainiT said:

Thank you for the info, so you'd go down the route of the blood test rather than the full on open her up investigation? It just seems a weird thing for her previous owner to say that she has been spayed if she hasn't...just her behaviour doesn't convince me...

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We didn't go down the opening up route due to her age and other health issues. We were looking into her behavioural problems for health reasons rather than for bonding reasons. But its still a helpful test to know about. Personally I would rather pay the extra money for a blood test than put bunny through an unnecessary GA. It's good also because it can tell you if just a small portion of uterine tissue is left behind which a scan can't and if there isn't any tiny bits left it saves routing around inside her for something that isn't there

At the Rescue I worked at (they had a vet on the premises) we would ultrasound if unsure ...

Thanks everyone, I know its a tricky one, and I know I need to make sure she has been spayed for cancer reasons as well as hormones...The vet had a feel around her tummy for scar tissue and couldn't feel anything, but that obviously doesn't prove anything either way unfortunately.

The lady who owns the boarding place I use has bonded loads of buns...they went there the day I picked Bella up and she put them together quite a few times. They were there for a week, but Bandit can be a very stroppy bunny and she soon realised it was going to take a while.... The bonding lady was pregnant at the time, in and out of hospital so we agreed to have them living side by side and her have them back after she'd had her baby, hence the waiting til Christmas..which I why I'm hoping to find out either way in the mean time to give me chance to get her spayed if I need to. I'm really wary of putting them together because if it kicks off on my watch it'll be her that has to undo any damage! Call me a chicken but with Bella being a big girl I guess she could do a LOT of damage!!

I'm still waiting for the vet to give me a call back with all the options but I'm thinking that I'll go down the route of the blood test to start with...hopefully its just that she likes me rather a lot and she's all clear and hormone free...either way I'll be wishing the bonding lady lots of luck when I drop them off in January!!

If you are going for the blood test its called a GnRH stimulation test with a Buserelin injection. Good luck x

Hugo's There said:

If you are going for the blood test its called a GnRH stimulation test with a Buserelin injection. Good luck x

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Thank you so much for digging it out, I'll get on to it and get it sorted, you are a star xx

I had a similar problem with Flo. She was abandoned so had no history whatsoever so not sure if she was spayed or not.
I spoke to the vets I worked with at the time (exotics vets) and one said she could ultrasound or endoscope to see. She said that unfortunately it's not 100% accurate though. As she was abandoned, it was pretty unlikely that she would have been spayed so in the end I just took her in to be spayed. For me, it was the best choice. Turns out she wasn't and she was spayed then. Telling by scar is almost impossible, I had a look at Flo recently and I could not see or feel a scar.

So it's really up to you. Blood test might be more expensive but less invasive. If you think that's the best choice then go for it :thumb: Hope everything goes well x

This is really interesting as I had one of my bunnies neutered back in April. When I got her I was told she was a neutered male, but when I took her for a vet check they said she was female so I obviously had her neutered then. So, you can't always trust what you're told sadly. Also, very interested to hear about uterine tissue still being there - although she has been spayed she is still very territorial and very aggressive towards other rabbits. So I'm wondering if that may be the reason why she has been impossible to bond so far? I'm taking one of my others buns to the vets tomorrow so I will ask about the stimulation test mentioned. Glad I checked out this post!