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Should I Spay and Vaccinate my Rabbit?

Meg362

New Kit
Sorry for all the posts, I'm a new rabbit owner.

I have some questions about getting my rabbit spayed and vaccinated. My rabbit Junebug is around one and a half years old. We adopted her when she was about a year old. We adopted her from a farm but she was currently staying with a veterinarian technician. We asked her previous owner if Junebug was spayed or vaccinated or needed to be and she said no and that rabbits really don't need to be spayed or vaccinated. I obviously trust her because she's a veterinarian technician. However recently many people have said I should spay Junebug because she has started chewing everything. Taking her to a vet unless it was a true emergency would be hard because we don't live very close to a vet that accepts rabbits and because of what her previous owner said I didn't think I had to spay her, unless not spaying her really could cause serious health problems. I also worry about anesthesia because I know small animals can sometimes have complications with it and because she is over the best age to get rabbits spayed. I also wouldn't want her personality to change. She is very funny and energetic. I just would like to know if spaying and vaccinating is necessary, if anesthesia is a risk, and if her personality could change if I get her spayed.
 
I seem to remember from a previous thread that you live in the US (apologies if I'm wrong)? If so then no you don't need to vaccinate, there is no myxi or VHD vaccinations in the US. And she doesn't need rabies vaccinations or cat/dog vaccinations obviously.

If you're in the UK you do need to vaccinate for myxi and VHD though as those diseases are really rife over there.

She should definitely be spayed for health reasons, at least. Something like 80% of unspayed rabbits over the age of 3 get uterine cancer.

You need to make sure you find a rabbit savvy vet that has experience in spaying rabbits - you might have to drive a good ways, depending on your area. You might be able to find online a list of vets in your area that are experienced in spaying rabbits (here's a small list of vets by state http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/ ) and there's also a list of screening questions you should ask the vet you choose to spay her, to ensure they do know what they're doing. (sorry, I can't find one of those lists right now but the questions are like 'how many rabbits have you neutered/spayed?' 'should food be withheld before the surgery?' 'is pain relief given after the surgery?')

Her personality won't change and she's at a good age for spaying as well :) It's good you're thinking of this now, instead of later on when she's at the age where uterine cancer is common. The anesthesia shouldn't be an issue with an experienced vet.
 
I seem to remember from a previous thread that you live in the US (apologies if I'm wrong)? If so then no you don't need to vaccinate, there is no myxi or VHD vaccinations in the US. And she doesn't need rabies vaccinations or cat/dog vaccinations obviously.

If you're in the UK you do need to vaccinate for myxi and VHD though as those diseases are really rife over there.

She should definitely be spayed for health reasons, at least. Something like 80% of unspayed rabbits over the age of 3 get uterine cancer.

You need to make sure you find a rabbit savvy vet that has experience in spaying rabbits - you might have to drive a good ways, depending on your area. You might be able to find online a list of vets in your area that are experienced in spaying rabbits (here's a small list of vets by state http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/ ) and there's also a list of screening questions you should ask the vet you choose to spay her, to ensure they do know what they're doing. (sorry, I can't find one of those lists right now but the questions are like 'how many rabbits have you neutered/spayed?' 'should food be withheld before the surgery?' 'is pain relief given after the surgery?')

Her personality won't change and she's at a good age for spaying as well :) It's good you're thinking of this now, instead of later on when she's at the age where uterine cancer is common. The anesthesia shouldn't be an issue with an experienced vet.

Exactly this :) If you're in the UK vaccinations are very important. No matter where you live, spaying is too. I once put off spaying my female bunny, I thought 'she's still young she'll be okay' (she was only 3), when they opened her up they found two huge uterine tumours that had started to wrap around her bowels and it'd destroyed one of her kidneys. Luckily the vet removed the kidney and tumours and the cancer didn't come back, but she was extremely lucky and I would never forgive myself if she had of died. Female rabbits are extremely likely to get uterine cancer, so save them a lot of pain and yourself a lot of heartbreak and get it done sooner rather than later :) But do find a good rabbit savvy vet, if they are not confident about spaying rabbits or if they tell you to starve your rabbit before the operation do NOT use that vet!
 
Sorry for all the posts, I'm a new rabbit owner.

I have some questions about getting my rabbit spayed and vaccinated. My rabbit Junebug is around one and a half years old. We adopted her when she was about a year old. We adopted her from a farm but she was currently staying with a veterinarian technician. We asked her previous owner if Junebug was spayed or vaccinated or needed to be and she said no and that rabbits really don't need to be spayed or vaccinated. I obviously trust her because she's a veterinarian technician. However recently many people have said I should spay Junebug because she has started chewing everything. Taking her to a vet unless it was a true emergency would be hard because we don't live very close to a vet that accepts rabbits and because of what her previous owner said I didn't think I had to spay her, unless not spaying her really could cause serious health problems. I also worry about anesthesia because I know small animals can sometimes have complications with it and because she is over the best age to get rabbits spayed. I also wouldn't want her personality to change. She is very funny and energetic. I just would like to know if spaying and vaccinating is necessary, if anesthesia is a risk, and if her personality could change if I get her spayed.

Hi Meg

Up to 80% of unspayed does get uterine cancer by the age of 5 years:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/neutering28807.pdf

It won't change her personality to get her spayed, but it almost certainly will ensure she has a long and happy and healthy life with you!

Similarly with vaccinations. They really are essential :D

You say you won't be able to get to a vet unless it's a true emergency. Is this because you have no transport or access to public transport? Can someone here help to recommend a vet for you? :wave:
 
Not getting her to a vet was because the closest rabbit vet I knew of was an hour away. After some research on The House Rabbit Society I discovered that there is a rabbit vet only a few minutes away at a veterinary hospital I thought only accepted cats and dogs! So I will definitely look into spaying her. How could I convince my parents about spaying her though? They love Junebug but it's definitely a more invasive surgery on a small animal and I need to convince them that spaying her is ok. :)
 
We neutered our rabbit. There has been studies showing that it prolongs their life due to obtaining cancer etc.

The only thing is cause we had to deal with it, is that bunnies are very sensitive to surgeries and can easily go into what's called G-stasis(not sure if it's accurate name lol) Basically they'll stop eating an possibly can die.

We almost lost our rabbit but is thankful that we had a good vet. So keep an eye on yours. Buy a pack of criticare incase you have to force feed them, and a follow up if nothing changes.

Our vet basically had to inject this stuff to force his stomach to move again.

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Not getting her to a vet was because the closest rabbit vet I knew of was an hour away. After some research on The House Rabbit Society I discovered that there is a rabbit vet only a few minutes away at a veterinary hospital I thought only accepted cats and dogs! So I will definitely look into spaying her. How could I convince my parents about spaying her though? They love Junebug but it's definitely a more invasive surgery on a small animal and I need to convince them that spaying her is ok. :)

If they love her, and you show them the link and statistics I have mentioned, how can they not want to safeguard Junebug's life? :D
 
If they love her, and you show them the link and statistics I have mentioned, how can they not want to safeguard Junebug's life? :D
It should be easy to covince them.
Surgery has come a long way in the last 10 - 15 years.

I myself have taken part in 100s of exotic GA's and all but one went to plan. The one that didn't go to plan was fine, he just took a little longer to wake up than we would have liked.

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