What would you consider an old rabbit?

i have a 6 maybe 7 yr old bunny snowy, i was wondering if she was too old to get fixed?

I'm scared because she is like a first born child to me but she humps my 4 m paisley whom i plan on getting fixed also

What would you do?

6 or 7 isn't too old. I had a 7 yr old doe spayed. She was slower to recover than my younger rabbits, but provided you have a blood test done to ensure good health and organ function, as well as having a very good rabbit vet do the surgery. chances are she will be fine. Though there is always some risk with any surgery, so that does need to be considered when making your decision. You will also need to consider uterine cancer risks for a doe that age. Rabbits over 5 years of age have a very high chance of developing it.

JBun said:

6 or 7 isn't too old. I had a 7 yr old doe spayed. She was slower to recover than my younger rabbits, but provided you have a blood test done to ensure good health and organ function, as well as having a very good rabbit vet do the surgery. chances are she will be fine. Though there is always some risk with any surgery, so that does need to be considered when making your decision. You will also need to consider uterine cancer risks for a doe that age. Rabbits over 5 years of age have a very high chance of developing it.

Click to expand...

calling me vet tm to see what they think!

I can understand your concerns. I was quite nervous about getting my last doe spayed, but was worried about cancer enough to go ahead with it. If you are too worried about risking surgery, you may still want to find a good rabbit vet and at least have a check up to make sure there are no signs of uterine cancer. Then if you want to continue to bond your girls, have your young bunny spayed and see if bonding will be possible without having your older doe spayed. It can be more difficult to attempt with an unspayed doe, and riskier, but not completely impossible. I have had unspayed does bonded before. It doesn't usually work out, but in some cases it can. It just needs to be approached carefully.

I found one positive review from a rabbit owner, for All Critters Pet Hospital, though the other reviews were varied. Supposedly Dr. McGraw Aguirre at Bakersfield Vet Hospital is good with cavies, so she might be good with rabbits as well. Pretty much all of the rabbit savvy vet recommendations seem to be around LA. You could also try contacting one of the rabbit rescues near LA, and ask if they know of a rabbit savvy vet near you.

You could try calling some cat and dog vets and see who they recommend and refer rabbits to. When you call one of the vets that says they treat rabbits, ask if they have a vet that actually specializes in rabbits. It's also good to ask questions as a sort of interview in order to determine how experienced they are. It may be easier to email the vet with your questions.
-ask how many rabbits the vet sees in a month
-ask how many rabbits the vet spays in a month or year
-ask the success rate of those spays(you want a low percentage of fatalities)
-ask if you should fast your rabbit before the surgery. Answer should be you should not fast your rabbit before surgery. If the receptionist says you should, then ask them to check with the vet personally. If the vet is saying to fast your rabbit, avoid that vet.
-ask if they provide take home pain relief post spay, or at least suggest it for post spay as a recommended option. You want a vet that sends home several days of oral metacam for pain relief, and avoid any vet that doesn't provide or recommend take home pain meds. Ask the dosage they give for metacam. Should be around 0.3-0.6mg/kg, preferably twice daily. If they give too low a dose, it won't be effective.
-ask if they intubate the rabbit for surgery and if the vet is very experienced intubating rabbits, as it requires expertise to do safely. I prefer intubation as it gives the vet better control over the rabbits airway, especially if there are any complications.
-ask if it is drop off and take home the same day of surgery. I don't like to leave a rabbit in a strange vet office overnight if at all possible, as the added stress of being in a strange place could make recovery more difficult. If they require the rabbit to stay overnight, I probably wouldn't go to that vet, unless I wasn't able to provide round the clock care post spay, and they would provide 24 hour care with someone there routinely checking my rabbit and providing the needed meds and feeding.
- ask if the vet recommends a blood panel done prior to spay, for an older rabbit. Answer should be yes.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=671
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

Whether or not you decide to get your older doe spayed is going to be a very personal decision. I got my older doe spayed because there were indications she may have had uterine cancer. I have a male bun that I won't get neutered because I'm terrified of losing him, plus he already had problems with previous anesthesia, so is high risk for further procedures where anesthesia is required. So I totally understand if it's something you decide against. You have to decide whether the benefits outweigh the risks. Benefits being that it settles the hormones and may help make bonding more of a possibility(not guaranteed though). Also deciding if the risk of uterine cancer is great enough to outweigh the risk of surgery. It's certainly not an easy decision. It took me 6 months to finally decide to have my last doe spayed. I picked the best and most expensive rabbit vet in the area. And I'm glad I did. She was a wonderful vet and there were no complications with my rabbit, besides needing a little syringe feeding post spay. Best of luck with your future bonding attempts, whatever you decide

JBun said:

-ask if you should fast your rabbit before the surgery. Answer should be you should not fast your rabbit before surgery. If the receptionist says you should, then ask them to check with the vet personally. If the vet is saying to fast your rabbit, avoid that vet.

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity why shouldn't you fast your rabbit but cats and dogs are supposed to be fasted before their surgeries?

ShreddersMom said:

Just out of curiosity why shouldn't you fast your rabbit but cats and dogs are supposed to be fasted before their surgeries?

Click to expand...

The reason for fasting before surgery is to prevent choking if the animal vomits while under anesthesia. Rabbits cannot vomit, therefore no fasting is necessary.

Also, dogs and cats are carnivores - meat has a lot of energy, so they don't need to feed very often. Rabbits are herbivores. Plants have less energy, so they have to eat much more frequently to keep their digestive systems in action. Fasting a rabbit is potentially dangerous, and they can go downhill very quickly if they cannot eat.

You risk gut stasis by fasting. And Mike is right, they don't vomit.

I would double check with your vet about the fasting.

Horses have to be fasted for certain procedures (sometimes up to 48 hours prior) and they cannot vomit either.

Rabbits shouldnt be fasted for spays and neuters.
If rabbits guts are not constantly moving and processing things they can cause lots of problems.
Rabbits are not horses.

Agreed, rabbits should never be fasted.

BrittsBunny said:

I would double check with your vet about the fasting.

Horses have to be fasted for certain procedures (sometimes up to 48 hours prior) and they cannot vomit either.

Click to expand...

It is true that horses are fasted before surgery to avoid a large GI system that might get in the way but today people are starting to look at the possibilities that fasting a horse before a surgery can lead to illeus and colic. No consensus has come about this just yet but it may. Many people with rabbits know that when they don't eat you have a long road ahead of you when trying to get the gut back to normal. Why create that problem when you can just avoid it. I know when we had surgeries on bunnies we tell the owners to bring their food (pellets and hay) so we can get them to eat as soon as they are aware of their surroundings after coming out of anesthesia.

woahlookitsme said:

It is true that horses are fasted before surgery to avoid a large GI system that might get in the way but today people are starting to look at the possibilities that fasting a horse before a surgery can lead to illeus and colic. No consensus has come about this just yet but it may. Many people with rabbits know that when they don't eat you have a long road ahead of you when trying to get the gut back to normal. Why create that problem when you can just avoid it. I know when we had surgeries on bunnies we tell the owners to bring their food (pellets and hay) so we can get them to eat as soon as they are aware of their surroundings after coming out of anesthesia.

Click to expand...

Oh I definitely agree. As a horse owner I understand the fear. Horses have to constantly keep their gut moving too. But I also understand if an animal needs to be fasted before an endoscopy of the stomach, etc.