What is the latest age to be spayed?

[nicolevins]

Jenni my gorgeous mixed breed is 9 months old. I want her spayed but I will pay for it myself!!


What is the risk (percentage) that I will lose her?

Is she too old to be spayed? I heard 6 months is ideal but my mam didnt have the money(so I am saving with my Christmas money!)



I know a woman who lives near me who got 6 or 8 of her buns spayed (un expected litter) and she was telling us that there is a risk that Jenni could die but it's a risk you have to take.

There is a vet savvy about a mile or two away from me that I can access on Fridays. The Blue Cross?

I dont wanna lose Jenni:tears2:

 

[ra7751]

There is risk in everything. You take a risk any time you ride in a car....or even eat food. The key is to know if the potential benefit outweighs the risks. If you don't have a non-breeding doe spayed, many will develop endometriosis or uterine cancer. There is certainly some risk in any medical procedure but in the hands of a rabbit savvy vet, the risks are quite small. As far as age, there is no "too late" unless there is a serious underlying medical condition. Most vets prefer to do blood work on most rabbits, especially older ones. Six months is generally considered the earliest to spay due to the complexity of the surgery.

Randy

 

[Maureen Las]

If the vet is experienced and has a done a number of rabbit spays you should be able to feel comfortable having it done. If the vet shows hesitation or has not done many find another vet.

I have been involved in helping getting our shelter rabbits spayed and neutered since 2005. We go to 1 clinic with 4 doctors ; they are all experienced and we have never lostany rabbits in the procedure.
Number of cases done without incident, the correct anesthesia and the skill and confidence of the physician determine the outcome

9months is a great age for a spay.

 

[nicolevins]

Yeah, at this vet, they are experienced with ALL animals big and small.

 

[missyscove]

There isn't really an oldest age for a spay. Some vets are wary of performing surgery on older buns (>5 years I'd say) because they might not do as well under anesthesia, but a 9 month old is definitely not too old to spay.

I'd say the benefits definitely outweigh the risks!

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

My Lillian was spayed in Aug at about 15 months old and she did fine. When Sophie was done, she was estimated to be 4 or 5 at the time and did well.
9 months is not too old to get it done. If you are worried, get blood work done and get a good rabbit savvy vet.

 

[Saudade]

Noticed no one said why.

Most vets are wary of doing any work on older females as fatty deposits (or is it fatty tissue? only had 3 hours sleep) begin to form around the area. Also as a rabbit gets older it is more likely to have complications in surgery.

The recommended age that I can remember was 6months to 1 year 6 months, at around 1 year the fatty bits start to form.

 

[tonyshuman]

Although it is easier to do a spay on a younger animal due to fat, reactions to anesthesia, and speed of healing, there is no upper limit on age for a spay. Like angieluv, my shelter spays bunnies that are 2+ routinely. We have a bunny that was spayed at about age 3. One of the ways they determine the age of a stray bunny at the shelter is by looking at how many of those fatty deposits are there when they do the surgery. I would say if a bunny got to age 6 or so without any uterine tumors (which would be rare), it might not be worth it to do a spay. Older bunnies get spayed often too, if uterine tumors are discovered later in life. 9 months is still a very young bunny.

edit: wanted to add, that it seems that the later a bunny is spayed, the less likely it is that the bad female hormone-driven behaviors will go away, like territorialness. Our girl who was a stray and spayed at age 3 is still very territorial.

 

[nicolevins]

My bun isnt territorial at all. She is healthy (well apart from the little sneezes I heard yesterday!) , so will it make a difference about when I get her spayed?


(I didnt explain that very well )

 

[Peek-a-boo]

now would be a great age to have her speyed and i know rescues who have speyed rabbits at 7 year old and they've come through the op great

my vets will spey as early as 4 months if the girl is of decent size and wieght i think 4 months is great because its before thier homones kick in 100%.

 

[Peek-a-boo]

nicolevins wrote:

My bun isnt territorial at all. She is healthy (well apart from the little sneezes I heard yesterday!) , so will it make a difference about when I get her spayed?


(I didnt explain that very well )

aslong as shes speyed before 3 years to avoid utrine cancer then i wouldnt say theres any major rush to have her done unless of course you have plans on getting another rabbit etc.

 

[Maureen Las]

There are some folks who believe that spaying a rabbit too young ( before the hormones kick in) can actually negatively affect growth and the integrity of bone later in the rabbit's life. Female rabbits may need some hormonal activity to adequatelycomplete the growth and development of theirbodies.
Ideally I would not spay before 6 months.

More explanation of this can be found in Etherbun archives


It is also mentioned in this article (mid-page) and is actually referring to the spaying and neutering of extremely young animals bycompanies that supply to petstores

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C300505%2C00.html