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Spaying - advice?

M

Mischief and Tinker's Mum

Wise Old Thumper
:wave: Hi everyone, it's been so long since I've had a rabbit neutered/spayed as all mine are rescues! However I have offered to spay my 2 new girls (I'm their failed fosterer!) because their rescue has had an awful lot of expenses recently and I feel bad and thought it would be the least I could do seen as I've decided to keep them anyway! The minimum age they could possibly be at the moment is 18 weeks however I believe they're likely to be older. Is this a good age to spay or should I wait even longer? Very nervous to be honest. :( They've bonded with neutered male Robin and currently living as a trio. They haven't displayed any hormonal behaviour yet. I don't know whether to wait until they do or get them done before this to avoid possible fall outs! Ruby currently weighs 1.3kg and Scarlett is 1.5kg. Robin is 1.9kg so they’re catching him up! They’re going to be huge!

Any advice welcomed! Thank you :)

Here’s a recent pic of the girls with Robin!

a22888c1b6478e835db5145a02a2ae7f.jpg
 
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I've just had the baby I kept from an unwanted litter spayed, she was just over 6 months. Showing no signs of hormonal behaviour but I'm keen to get her bonded once recovered. I prefer to wait until 6 months since Bigwig was quite small/hand reared but most vets are happy to spay from 4 months as long as bunny is a good weight which I see your girls are :) Best of luck! When I went to collect Bigwig I could hear her eating in the carrier and she was acting absolutely fine, on pain relief and hasn't bothered at all with the spay wound, fingers crossed your girls will recover as easily x
 
Tui is a NZW/Californian cross and so looks very similar to your girlies. I had her spayed at 4 1/2 months because she was displaying hormonal behaviour towards the buck, with whom she is bonded. I had to arrange it and get it done very quickly, because once the hormonal behaviour started it was just like a light switch and was pretty full on. Similarly, once the spay had been done it was as if the light switch had been turned off again :)

I would say it's probably impossible to tell when hormones will kick in for your two and also when they do, what form this will take and whether it will be constant. I had wanted to wait until Tui was 6 months, but just be aware that you might have to act quickly when the time comes.
 
Mischief and Tinker's Mum said:
:wave: Hi everyone, it's been so long since I've had a rabbit neutered/spayed as all mine are rescues! However I have offered to spay my 2 new girls (I'm their failed fosterer!) because their rescue has had an awful lot of expenses recently and I feel bad and thought it would be the least I could do seen as I've decided to keep them anyway! The minimum age they could possibly be at the moment is 18 weeks however I believe they're likely to be older. Is this a good age to spay or should I wait even longer? Very nervous to be honest. :( They've bonded with neutered male Robin and currently living as a trio. They haven't displayed any hormonal behaviour yet. I don't know whether to wait until they do or get them done before this to avoid possible fall outs! Ruby currently weighs 1.3kg and Scarlett is 1.5kg. Robin is 1.9kg so they’re catching him up! They’re going to be huge!

Any advice welcomed! Thank you :)

Here’s a recent pic of the girls with Robin!

a22888c1b6478e835db5145a02a2ae7f.jpg
Click to expand...


Hi there :)

If they aren't hormonal and they are of an age where they can be spayed (which they are), then I think you can work the timings to suit you and them. It's lovely they've bonded so well!

If it were me, I would pre-empt any hormonal behaviour if possible, mainly because you've two girls in the group and I would probably think about getting it done in the next couple of weeks or so.
 
I had 2 sisters some years ago who I had spayed around 4 1/2 months as they had become hormonal, they were small bunnies (lion heads) my rabbit savvy vet will spay at that age so long as they are over 1kg.

Fern was spayed in rescue by the same vets I use at around the same age and seems to be fine. I know some vets prefer to wait till after 6 months though.

They make an adorable trio :love:
 
I had my two californian sisters spayed at what I thought was 7 months old, because they were hurting each other (I only got them at 6 months old and did vaccinations first), but my vet said afterwards he thinks they were much younger and around 4 months, based on the size of their insides.. So he said it was fine but he prefers to deal with them when they're more developed.. But clearly it can be done [emoji38]
 
Graciee said:
I had my two californian sisters spayed at what I thought was 7 months old, because they were hurting each other (I only got them at 6 months old and did vaccinations first), but my vet said afterwards he thinks they were much younger and around 4 months, based on the size of their insides.. So he said it was fine but he prefers to deal with them when they're more developed.. But clearly it can be done [emoji38]
Click to expand...


Yes that would be one reason. Also, there's the connection with bone development.
But it's a conversation to have with your vet when you feel the time is right x


A spay is usually done around the age of 5 months, or when the rabbit is sexually mature. At a younger age, the surgery is complicated by the difficulty to locate the very thin uterus and the very small ovaries. A spay at immature age may also have a dramatic effect on the proper calcium absorption by the bones.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/castration/Spay/Steril_en.html
 
MightyMax said:
Yes that would be one reason. Also, there's the connection with bone development.
But it's a conversation to have with your vet when you feel the time is right x


A spay is usually done around the age of 5 months, or when the rabbit is sexually mature. At a younger age, the surgery is complicated by the difficulty to locate the very thin uterus and the very small ovaries. A spay at immature age may also have a dramatic effect on the proper calcium absorption by the bones.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/castration/Spay/Steril_en.html
Click to expand...
Yea he said it was more fiddly [emoji38]

If I'd known I'd have waited longer, but I was told when I adopted them they were 6 months, maybe I should've known.. Thing that threw me more was how huge they were, I assumed they were already adult size roughly.. Which again by 6 months roughly I'd expect, normally they just fill out a bit after that ime [emoji38] they have got significantly bigger tho [emoji38]
 
Graciee said:
Yea he said it was more fiddly [emoji38]

If I'd known I'd have waited longer, but I was told when I adopted them they were 6 months, maybe I should've known.. Thing that threw me more was how huge they were, I assumed they were already adult size roughly.. Which again by 6 months roughly I'd expect, normally they just fill out a bit after that ime [emoji38] they have got significantly bigger tho [emoji38]
Click to expand...


I don't think you should've known if you were told they were 6 months.
We do our best and yours have turned out wonderful :love:
 
MightyMax said:
I don't think you should've known if you were told they were 6 months.
We do our best and yours have turned out wonderful :love:
Click to expand...
Yea just feel as though I should've been skeptical about it [emoji38] considering where they'd come from.

They're perfection though [emoji7]
 
a22888c1b6478e835db5145a02a2ae7f.jpg
[/QUOTE]

OMG - how cute do Ruby & Scarlet look with Robin. How lucky is Robin. No advice but good luck with the spays
 
The are a lovely trio :love:

Other than in exceptional circumstances my Vet prefers not to spay Does until they are 6 months of age. Not only because spaying before puberty can be a more complex operation, it can also cause problems with calcium absorption which would effect bone density and dentition. It has also been noted by our local Rescue (ARC) that Does spayed prior to 6 months of age are more likely to develop behavioural problems as adults.

Hope all goes well when the girls have their ops xx
 
Thank you everyone, really helpful! :) The youngest they could possibly be is 18 weeks and oldest is 20 weeks as when they were rescued we were told they were 8-10 weeks.

However, we later found out that they may have actually been born in August which would make them a fair bit older! I'm skeptical though so going to stick with the original dates! Think I'll wait another 3 or 4 weeks to be more on the safe side unless they start displaying hormonal behaviour!
 
Update! They’re still not spayed but still happily bonded with Robin and are yet to display any hormonal behaviour. I’ve decided to wait another 3 weeks. Even though I could technically afford to spay them now, I started putting a little money aside every week specifically for their spays so that my bank account won’t feel the pain as much when the time comes! :lol: In 3 more weeks I’ll be able to afford both spays with the money put aside and they’ll also be at least 6 months by then so seems perfect timing!

Thanks for all your help. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mischief and Tinker's Mum said:
Update! They’re still not spayed but still happily bonded with Robin and are yet to display any hormonal behaviour. I’ve decided to wait another 3 weeks. Even though I could technically afford to spay them now, I started putting a little money aside every week specifically for their spays so that my bank account won’t feel the pain as much when the time comes! :lol: In 3 more weeks I’ll be able to afford both spays with the money put aside and they’ll also be at least 6 months by then so seems perfect timing!

Thanks for all your help. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Wonderful news :D
 
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