When to neuter?

Beans is only 10 weeks at the moment, and the vet has said I can neuter him from the end of August, so he'd be 5 months old. He said to weigh up the pros and cons and his only concern with rabbits is the anaesthetic, but he definitely thinks it's better to neuter than not neuter. I always knew aneasthetic was a risk but I've never really thought about it until now and I'm a bit worried. I definitely want him neutered though, and is 5 months too early? I know dogs it's better to wait a bit longer so they can fully mature, would there be any benefit to waiting a bit longer or no different? Or the earlier the better?

I don't think with bunnies it makes too much of a difference. for me its earlier the better (as long as its safe) as many males begin to spray quite early. their hormones really kick in and it doesn't take long for the humping, spraying, circling to start.

generally males can be neutered as soon as their testicles descend.

as long as you have a good vet who knows what he's doing, id say the risk is quite low : )

Males can be neutered from 3 months. When the testicles descend.
I've had females neutered around 14 weeks too with no problems.

So long as the vet is confident in the surgery, and the nurse is confident in the anaesthetic I wouldn't be concerned.

Anaesthetic risk is much lower than it used to be and the main worry I have is getting them eating after surgery and keeping pain levels under control.

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Alicia said:

Beans is only 10 weeks at the moment, and the vet has said I can neuter him from the end of August, so he'd be 5 months old. He said to weigh up the pros and cons and his only concern with rabbits is the anaesthetic, but he definitely thinks it's better to neuter than not neuter. I always knew aneasthetic was a risk but I've never really thought about it until now and I'm a bit worried. I definitely want him neutered though, and is 5 months too early? I know dogs it's better to wait a bit longer so they can fully mature, would there be any benefit to waiting a bit longer or no different? Or the earlier the better?

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He can be neutered as soon as his plums have descended as long as he is in good health and weighs over 1kg. In the past you have expressed some doubts about how Rabbit savvy your current Vet is. Perhaps now would be a good time to try to locate one who is more experienced/Rabbit Savvy ?

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/rabbit-friendly-vets/

I think I have already mentioned Gill Tose at Windlesham Village Vets

http://www.windleshamvet.com/home.html

If you could get to her you would be in A* Rabbit Savvy hands................

A bit more info here ;

http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/scivac/2005/Harcourt6_en.pdf?LA=1

http://www.canonburyvets.com/news/2015/01/05/rabbit-anaesthesia-the-gold-standard

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/neutering/

daphnephoebe said:

Males can be neutered from 3 months. When the testicles descend.
I've had females neutered around 14 weeks too with no problems.

So long as the vet is confident in the surgery, and the nurse is confident in the anaesthetic I wouldn't be concerned.

Anaesthetic risk is much lower than it used to be and the main worry I have is getting them eating after surgery and keeping pain levels under control.

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I agree with dp

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/neutering/

So would it be best to look for another vet that will do it sooner? My vet said 5 months.

Alicia said:

So would it be best to look for another vet that will do it sooner? My vet said 5 months.

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I only suggested looking elsewhere as recently you have expressed concerns that your current Vet is not that Rabbit Savvy. Personally I would only want a Rabbit savvy Vet to neuter my Rabbit

Alicia said:

So would it be best to look for another vet that will do it sooner? My vet said 5 months.

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If he's a good weight, thriving and healthy, I see no reason to wait until 5 months, unless his testicles haven't descended!

Alicia said:

So would it be best to look for another vet that will do it sooner? My vet said 5 months.

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MightyMax said:

If he's a good weight, thriving and healthy, I see no reason to wait until 5 months, unless his testicles haven't descended!

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As MM has said. If healthy I'd have him neutered once his "friends" appear but only if the vet is confident in their skills.
It sounds as if yours may not be so looking for recommendations on a rabbit savvy vet would be worthwhile.

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I took my boys to the vets when they were 4 months and the vet said wait until their balls dropped, unfortunately they started fighting a few days before they were due to be neutered. I knew it was a little bit riskier doing it early but because we needed to rebond them as soon as possible we did it as early as we could. If you're not in a rush to bond him then you could wait a little longer. Also sometimes they can retract their bits, when I first saw that they'd dropped I looked again the next day and one had disappeared, I was very confused but the vet said it's fine and they can still neuter

DemiS said:

I took my boys to the vets when they were 4 months and the vet said wait until their balls dropped, unfortunately they started fighting a few days before they were due to be neutered. I knew it was a little bit riskier doing it early but because we needed to rebond them as soon as possible we did it as early as we could. If you're not in a rush to bond him then you could wait a little longer. Also sometimes they can retract their bits, when I first saw that they'd dropped I looked again the next day and one had disappeared, I was very confused but the vet said it's fine and they can still neuter

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I loved it when they retracted their bits during prep. Was always so funny.


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My vet prefers to do boy bunnies at 4 months rather than as soon as their balls drop at 3 months-ish, as she says a few weeks stretching of the testicle sack means that the wound closes up and heals more easily. Similarly she prefers to do females at 5-6 months so the uterus is a bit bigger and the op is less fiddly - hence shorter op time and less chance of adhesions or other complications, but before they've got old enough for a load of uterine fat to have formed. She will do them earlier if it's necessary or particularly desirable in the circumstances, but would rather wait a bit. So I don't think that it's always a case that a good vet will do it early and a bad vet will want to wait longer; sometimes good vets have good reason for wanting to wait a bit longer if possible If there are other reasons to question the competence of the vet with rabbit medicine/surgery of course, then changing vets would always be a sensible idea!

I've had two boys neutered, Boris was older as we found him as a stray. He came back and was bouncing around as normal, couldn't tell anything had been done! He did suffer from a little infection after but just a quick course of antibiotics sorted that. Jake was 5 months and was also the same, straight back to his usual self. I think people tend to agree males bounce back generally quicker than females, so try not to worry.

Find a rabbit savvy vet, most will neuter once testicles defend a d the rabbit is at least 1kg in weight