Should I Find A New Vet For My Rabbit?

so I want to try to bond my female rabbit to a male i'm adopting, so I was doing some research on that whole process and while doing that I found out how important it is to get rabbits fixed especially females, so I went to the vet and asked if they could do rabbits and the person at the front desk asked the vet, the vet replied "why? are you planning on having an unfixed male with it? just get get the male fixed." I just said no the male is fixed but the female is very territorial. which is all true but i'm wondering if I should even get my rabbit fixed there, because I know its a little more risky then cats and dogs so I want a vet that knows what there doing, and if they don't know why females should be fixed i'm not sure I want them doing surgery on mine. should I get a new vet?

 

it may not be the vet doesn't know how but females weather it be human, dog, cat or rabbit are harder and have more risk of complications than getting a male fixed. If the male is fixed why put the other rabbit threw it?

 

it may not be the vet doesn't know how but females weather it be human, dog, cat or rabbit are harder and have more risk of complications than getting a male fixed. If the male is fixed why put the other rabbit threw it?

because if there not fixed female rabbits are very hard to bond with other rabbits because they are very territorial, she is even territorial towards me sometimes. also unfixed female rabbits have a very high chance of developing uterine cancer by the age of 3, this actually happened to me before with one of my rabbits when I heard her scream and about 20 minutes later she died in my arms. considering how common this is any vet that knows what there doing should know very well why you should get female rabbits fixed.

 

About 11 years ago now, I was asked to take care of two rabbits (didn't know a thing about rabbits, had to literally do a crash course of reading up on them while caring for them). If I, only ever taking care of two rabbits in my life, know this about females, then I say you ask a different vet to fix the female for you. Luckily the rabbits that I cared for were already fixed

 

This might be me rambling because I never get to talk about my buns and serious issues so you can completely ignore me if you want

Hi! I had a male and female bun (now I have two females, my boy passed away) and I always considered getting my female fixed to bond them. My boy was from a show breeder and I didn't want to get him fixed "just in case". She was moody and always had false pregnancy, shed nip at me. Well now, fast forward to her being 4 yrs old. She's calmed down and I now have a 2yr old female who is fixed. If aggression is your main issue, I wouldn't do it. I'm glad I didn't so far. I saved myself a bunch of money and heartache in case something went wrong. My female who is fixed I got through a rescue so I just paid a small adoption fee. I don't think the cancer thing is as popular as they make it out to seem. So far I haven't met anyone who has had a female with it, you're the first person Ive heard say they have, and Ive been in the bunny family for a few years. I have met people who have sent their buns in to get fixed and they never woke up and that's it.
I used to worry about getting my girl fixed for the past 3ish years, Ive had her since she was almost a baby. Now I'm like, she four, shes not as bad as she was as a babe, she's older now and there's that risk.
I was recommended to spay my girl when I got the new girl and I'm like, if I'm bonding them, they're going to get a new living area that isn't dedicated to just them anymore and they won't see it as "their territory" and my older girl is no longer that territorial.
I would try bonding before getting her fixed in a neutral area just as an added thing.
If you're really worried about the cancer than yes ofc find a new vet. The least the vet should do is explain your concerns but it's also your job to bring up the cancer concern as well (idk if you did), maybe she was a new vet and isn't experienced in talking to people. Because if you just said territorial, there's way of adjusting that like a neutral setting for specifically bonding and she might of just been thinking of that. Or maybe it was just a vet assistant.
I'm not saying don't get your rabbit fix I'm just rambling here.

 

This is all very scary. I'm almost glad I don't have rabbits though I find them adorable.

But, you must have confidence in your vet. I would find a vet I was comfortable with and who knows about rabbits and keeps them.

This is what I did when I had Guinea Pigs and my vet was lovely. This made a big difference to me and my piggies.

 

I am a Vet from Australia.

In general if you lose confidence in your Vet it is going to be better for both of you if you find a new Vet.

I can say from personal experience that having a client who dosn’t have confidence in the Hospital for whatever reason tends to be harder to interact with and the risks of further problems escalates.

Desexing rabbits is a little different than cats and dogs but not so much that any Vet wouldnt be fine performing the surgery but experience never goes astray. The anaesthetics are probably a bit riskier than cats and dogs but probably more down to experience and confidence.

We have not had any problems with rabbit surgeries but I doubt that they would be more than 5% of what we do so while I am quite confident with rabbits I would say I am not quite as comfortable doing procedures on them compared to dogs and cats.
I suspect that would be typical of many general practice vets.

If you call around I would not be surprised to find a clinic somewhere in you area that does deal with more bunnies and other small pets than the other clinics. We certainly do and they have been a great help to us in adding to our confidence with bunnies over the years and we have referred bunnies over to them that had problems that we were not comfortable treating.

In my opinion desexing female rabbits is a good idea. It will significantly reduce the risk of a range of reproductive diseases and cancers as well as mammary tumours. The procedure is not without risk (but quite minimal) but are outweighed by the benefits in the long run (the problems we are preventing are diseases of old bunnies!)

I pulled up a couple of figures but the studies were from the 1930s-60s after that there seem to be mainly case reports that don’t help with risk statistics.

“What is important is that he found uterine tumor incidence was 4.2% in rabbits aged 2-3 years, but 79.1% in rabbits aged 5-6 years.”

A different study,

“He found that no uterine tumors were observed in rabbits less than 2.5 years of age. He found the incidence of tumors showed a steady increase of 15-20% for each 6 months of age beyond 2.5 to 3 years.”

The opinions of current vets generally supported desexing as the benefits (both direct health as well as behavioural) appear to outweigh the risks however at least some Vets thought that the incidence of reproductive disease in the rabbits they saw was low enough that they no longer recommended desexing on medical grounds.

It appears that there may be significant breed/Family line differences in susceptibility to reproductive tract diseases that may explain the varying opinions but there does not appear to be data available to shed any further light on that theory.

Rob

 

This might be me rambling because I never get to talk about my buns and serious issues so you can completely ignore me if you want

Hi! I had a male and female bun (now I have two females, my boy passed away) and I always considered getting my female fixed to bond them. My boy was from a show breeder and I didn't want to get him fixed "just in case". She was moody and always had false pregnancy, shed nip at me. Well now, fast forward to her being 4 yrs old. She's calmed down and I now have a 2yr old female who is fixed. If aggression is your main issue, I wouldn't do it. I'm glad I didn't so far. I saved myself a bunch of money and heartache in case something went wrong. My female who is fixed I got through a rescue so I just paid a small adoption fee. I don't think the cancer thing is as popular as they make it out to seem. So far I haven't met anyone who has had a female with it, you're the first person Ive heard say they have, and Ive been in the bunny family for a few years. I have met people who have sent their buns in to get fixed and they never woke up and that's it.
I used to worry about getting my girl fixed for the past 3ish years, Ive had her since she was almost a baby. Now I'm like, she four, shes not as bad as she was as a babe, she's older now and there's that risk.
I was recommended to spay my girl when I got the new girl and I'm like, if I'm bonding them, they're going to get a new living area that isn't dedicated to just them anymore and they won't see it as "their territory" and my older girl is no longer that territorial.
I would try bonding before getting her fixed in a neutral area just as an added thing.
If you're really worried about the cancer than yes ofc find a new vet. The least the vet should do is explain your concerns but it's also your job to bring up the cancer concern as well (idk if you did), maybe she was a new vet and isn't experienced in talking to people. Because if you just said territorial, there's way of adjusting that like a neutral setting for specifically bonding and she might of just been thinking of that. Or maybe it was just a vet assistant.
I'm not saying don't get your rabbit fix I'm just rambling here.

i'm not as worried about the territorial thing as I am worried about her getting cancer mainly because I forgot to mention that the rabbit that died was actually this ones mom. it was probably the worst day of my life when her mom died and even though shes almost 2 years older than her mom was when she died i'm still kinda paranoid that I might just wake up one day and she's dead. I think i'm just gonna ask the vet if she has ever spayed a rabbit before and if it went well, cause the problem is the only other vet near me that will do rabbits is pretty far away, and I don't want to stress the rabbit out to much cause she already doesn't like car rides.

 

I am a Vet from Australia.

In general if you lose confidence in your Vet it is going to be better for both of you if you find a new Vet.

I can say from personal experience that having a client who dosn’t have confidence in the Hospital for whatever reason tends to be harder to interact with and the risks of further problems escalates.

Desexing rabbits is a little different than cats and dogs but not so much that any Vet wouldnt be fine performing the surgery but experience never goes astray. The anaesthetics are probably a bit riskier than cats and dogs but probably more down to experience and confidence.

We have not had any problems with rabbit surgeries but I doubt that they would be more than 5% of what we do so while I am quite confident with rabbits I would say I am not quite as comfortable doing procedures on them compared to dogs and cats.
I suspect that would be typical of many general practice vets.

If you call around I would not be surprised to find a clinic somewhere in you area that does deal with more bunnies and other small pets than the other clinics. We certainly do and they have been a great help to us in adding to our confidence with bunnies over the years and we have referred bunnies over to them that had problems that we were not comfortable treating.

In my opinion desexing female rabbits is a good idea. It will significantly reduce the risk of a range of reproductive diseases and cancers as well as mammary tumours. The procedure is not without risk (but quite minimal) but are outweighed by the benefits in the long run (the problems we are preventing are diseases of old bunnies!)

I pulled up a couple of figures but the studies were from the 1930s-60s after that there seem to be mainly case reports that don’t help with risk statistics.

“What is important is that he found uterine tumor incidence was 4.2% in rabbits aged 2-3 years, but 79.1% in rabbits aged 5-6 years.”

A different study,

“He found that no uterine tumors were observed in rabbits less than 2.5 years of age. He found the incidence of tumors showed a steady increase of 15-20% for each 6 months of age beyond 2.5 to 3 years.”

The opinions of current vets generally supported desexing as the benefits (both direct health as well as behavioural) appear to outweigh the risks however at least some Vets thought that the incidence of reproductive disease in the rabbits they saw was low enough that they no longer recommended desexing on medical grounds.

It appears that there may be significant breed/Family line differences in susceptibility to reproductive tract diseases that may explain the varying opinions but there does not appear to be data available to shed any further light on that theory.

Rob

she is 4 years old and her mom died from uterine cancer so I want to get her spayed asap. only problem is the only 2 vets near me that will do rabbits is the one I just talked to and one that is pretty far away, I just don't want to stress my rabbit out before the surgery with a really long car ride. so I think I might just ask the vet if they have ever spayed a rabbit before and how it went.

 

Hi,

I have had rabbits for a long time. Not sure what country you are from, but in the USA it is very difficult to find rabbit vets, they are considered exotics and everything related to them is very expensive to boot.
If you are in the US, you can check out the house rabbit society to find info about vets and bonding tips and tricks.
Contacting a Humane Society or a Rabbit Rescue organization could also help with fixing your bunny.

If I were to get another rabbit, I would most likely go through a rescue org or humane society. Bonding rabbits is a nightmare

 

Hi,

I have had rabbits for a long time. Not sure what country you are from, but in the USA it is very difficult to find rabbit vets, they are considered exotics and everything related to them is very expensive to boot.
If you are in the US, you can check out the house rabbit society to find info about vets and bonding tips and tricks.
Contacting a Humane Society or a Rabbit Rescue organization could also help with fixing your bunny.

If I were to get another rabbit, I would most likely go through a rescue org or humane society. Bonding rabbits is a nightmare

I live in Canada and there considered exotic here to, its kinda weird to me cause they really aren't that uncommon, but I'll check out the websites cause I am actually a bit nervous about introducing the rabbits.

 

i'm not as worried about the territorial thing as I am worried about her getting cancer mainly because I forgot to mention that the rabbit that died was actually this ones mom. it was probably the worst day of my life when her mom died and even though shes almost 2 years older than her mom was when she died i'm still kinda paranoid that I might just wake up one day and she's dead. I think i'm just gonna ask the vet if she has ever spayed a rabbit before and if it went well, cause the problem is the only other vet near me that will do rabbits is pretty far away, and I don't want to stress the rabbit out to much cause she already doesn't like car rides.

I'm so sorry, I blame myself for my boy's death. He had tummy issues and I already spent a ton of money on him a few years back when he went downhill, and then it happened again and I didn't pay enough attention to say I should take him to the vet. I had to put my dog down just a couple weeks before he passed and it's not an excuse but I still blame myself. I went away for the weekend with my dad, and I was still fuzzy about my dog and forgot to feed them, so I asked my mom and brother to do it for me because they needed food. When I came home there was no food in either bun's cage and I'm sure that didn't help. Maybe is he had some hay he could of held on for me to get home who knows. He was an angel and the most well behaved bun ever, I'll miss him all the time.
How old is your girl? Is she is already 2 years older than her mom and assuming her mom was a good age when she had the babies I wouldn't worry about getting her fixed now. I'm GUESSING she's already four or something. I'm sure you know but, four isn't old, but it's the point where they start getting older and chances of complications rise. "Exotics" have a harder time waking up from anesthesia. The cancer is a eh maybe she'll get it even if her mom did, which the not waking up from anesthesia is that DEFINITELY might instead of a maybe. It's a toss up of what you want to worry about more and take in her age for consideration.
I would def ask again, I saw you're 14 so she might just be trying to pull her knowledge and age over you, so I wouldn't leave her alone and just keep "nagging" (I use the term lightly) about it since you don't have much options. If she still acts like that, take her to the other place far away. Bun might be stressed so I would let that vet know if you go there, because that might effect when she goes under.
If you ask around you might be able to find somewhere else. My mom talks all the time and she's found a bunch of random places (actually vet type places tho) that do rabbits and i'm like ???? What ???? since when ????

 

I'm so sorry, I blame myself for my boy's death. He had tummy issues and I already spent a ton of money on him a few years back when he went downhill, and then it happened again and I didn't pay enough attention to say I should take him to the vet. I had to put my dog down just a couple weeks before he passed and it's not an excuse but I still blame myself. I went away for the weekend with my dad, and I was still fuzzy about my dog and forgot to feed them, so I asked my mom and brother to do it for me because they needed food. When I came home there was no food in either bun's cage and I'm sure that didn't help. Maybe is he had some hay he could of held on for me to get home who knows. He was an angel and the most well behaved bun ever, I'll miss him all the time.
How old is your girl? Is she is already 2 years older than her mom and assuming her mom was a good age when she had the babies I wouldn't worry about getting her fixed now. I'm GUESSING she's already four or something. I'm sure you know but, four isn't old, but it's the point where they start getting older and chances of complications rise. "Exotics" have a harder time waking up from anesthesia. The cancer is a eh maybe she'll get it even if her mom did, which the not waking up from anesthesia is that DEFINITELY might instead of a maybe. It's a toss up of what you want to worry about more and take in her age for consideration.
I would def ask again, I saw you're 14 so she might just be trying to pull her knowledge and age over you, so I wouldn't leave her alone and just keep "nagging" (I use the term lightly) about it since you don't have much options. If she still acts like that, take her to the other place far away. Bun might be stressed so I would let that vet know if you go there, because that might effect when she goes under.
If you ask around you might be able to find somewhere else. My mom talks all the time and she's found a bunch of random places (actually vet type places tho) that do rabbits and i'm like ???? What ???? since when ????

ya we bred her mom when she was like 1, i'm not sure that was a good idea though cause it's still a bit young and there are so many rabbits in shelters. she was only 3 when she died, when my rabbit I have now turned 3 I was terrified, but she is 4 now so i'm a little bit less terrified, but I think it would still be a good idea to get her spayed so there is no possible chance she could get what her mom did, and it will hopefully make the bonding go better when I get my new rabbit. there is sadly no possible way that there is another vet that will do it though because I live in a small town and there is only 3 vets near me one that doesn't do rabbits, and the other 2 are an hour away and iv'e never even been to one of them. she is a pretty healthy rabbit from what I can tell though so I hope that will count for something when we get her spayed, but I will make sure the vet makes sure she is completely healthy when we take her there.

 

I bred Holland Lop rabbits for 4h for about 7 years. They are, from what I was told, extremely hard to raise because of the size of the rabbit and pure bred rabbits have genetics issues. Having raised upwards of 100 rabbits, I have had 1 die because it got an infection. It was a male and it was a fluke.
What I'm trying to say is that at least in my experience, this is a very rare occurrence, although the rabbit actually having young may help them stay healthy.
If you want to have baby bunnies though, I can tell you, second possibly to grandchildren, there is nothing cuter than a baby bunny.