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To spay or not to spay

Thanks so much for all the advice. I’m sorry to hear about those with rabbits who’ve not been spayed in time. I will definitely get her done x
 
Well, I think that cancer thing is blown out of proportion, if you start to look for evidence there's nothing proveable even close to the numbers always repeated by people with a pro-spay agenda. As far as I've read the rate is actually about max double as those of humans, about 20% (tumors in lifetime, not life ending cancer, that's still high, and we humans are closing in fast on that). It may depend on breed lines, but with the meat mutts here this is a complete nonissue.

Anyway, that's not the point, if you want her as a pet spaying is a great idea. None of my 4 girls is spayed, and they go through their hormonell cycle regularily, it dominates their behaviour (including digging, marking, craving for being bred, dominance behaviour etc.) . And if there is any buck nearby (a wild one will do, it's unbelievable how good a fence needs to be to fend those off) they'll manage to get knocked up. :roll:

Now my (intact) buck is my house bunny - perfect. Had a doe in my apartment for 8 months once (myxo quarantine), she destroyed everything, reduced all plinth to flakes and splinters - PVC and wood alike - , peed in every corner (closet, whatever), started to dig a tunnel straight into the wall - after 2" of plaster the bricks stopped her, any kind of cables were prey....

There are lots of really good reasons to get a pet doe spayed. It really doesn't need that cancer scare.
 
Well, I think that cancer thing is blown out of proportion, if you start to look for evidence there's nothing proveable even close to the numbers always repeated by people with a pro-spay agenda. As far as I've read the rate is actually about max double as those of humans, about 20% (tumors in lifetime, not life ending cancer, that's still high, and we humans are closing in fast on that). It may depend on breed lines, but with the meat mutts here this is a complete nonissue.

Anyway, that's not the point, if you want her as a pet spaying is a great idea. None of my 4 girls is spayed, and they go through their hormonell cycle regularily, it dominates their behaviour (including digging, marking, craving for being bred, dominance behaviour etc.) . And if there is any buck nearby (a wild one will do, it's unbelievable how good a fence needs to be to fend those off) they'll manage to get knocked up. :roll:

Now my (intact) buck is my house bunny - perfect. Had a doe in my apartment for 8 months once (myxo quarantine), she destroyed everything, reduced all plinth to flakes and splinters - PVC and wood alike - , peed in every corner (closet, whatever), started to dig a tunnel straight into the wall - after 2" of plaster the bricks stopped her, any kind of cables were prey....

There are lots of really good reasons to get a pet doe spayed. It really doesn't need that cancer scare.
It's not trying to scare people, we are just sharing real life experiences that could of been avoided had the bunnies been spayed earlier.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
It's not trying to scare people, we are just sharing real life experiences that could of been avoided had the bunnies been spayed earlier.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Absolutely Loobers. I’ll keep advising it and passing on my story, thanks. Yep there are many other reasons to spay but I see the cancer risk as just as important as all the the others.
The best known rabbit vet in the UK, Richard Saunders, quotes the 80% figure - that’s good enough for me rather than what random people on the internet say.

http://kanin.org/node/182
 
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I've had the heartache of losing enough rabbits without the extra and avoidable worry of thinking my buns could get cancer. I know they can get other cancers but at least I can protect them from one cancer.
I wish an operation could prevent all the other things that have killed my babies.
 
Quick update. Clover is booked in for spaying next Friday...yikes!! The vet was really kind and said that Snickers is welcome to go with her to keep her company. Fingers crossed it all goes well xx
 
Quick update. Clover is booked in for spaying next Friday...yikes!! The vet was really kind and said that Snickers is welcome to go with her to keep her company. Fingers crossed it all goes well xx


Ah I will be thinking of you both :)

Yes, a companion is always a good idea on hospital visits :thumb:
 
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