Is it time to spay? Please help.

I got Claudia about 4 months ago, when I got her she was the size of my palm but I'm not sure how old she was.
She is litter trained and only had two accidents of peeing outside the litter box and that was when she was still fairly young and in the training process, never had any accidents after.
However, in the past week I started to notice that there are small yellow spots with white dots in the middle of them scattered around in her cage and on my bed and they're dried out so the yellowish white spots stood out and became noticeable and the amount of them increased with time.

I am not sure how they're made but they're there, I also don't know how rabbits 'spray' so I can't tell for sure but when I put white vinegar on them and scrub a little they disappear. They don't have an odor though that could be because they're fairly small in size. And they can't be from her feet because as I mentioned, she's litter trained, and I also have a shallow tray of warm water in her cage occasionally for her to walk over to clean up her fur just in case and she doesn't mind it nor does it bother her but I like the idea that her feet are always clean even if she does clean them herself, so.

Any idea what this could be?

I've been depressed for the past two hours dwelling on the idea that my little baby might have to finally go through surgery and I'm really scared and worried for her but it's something that every rabbit savvy has been saying for owning rabbits that aren't meant to be bred.. I need to hear from you guys. Sigh.

Edit*** She was just next to me in a meat-loaf position and then ran to her litter but underneath her was one of those small spots just wet .. Why is she doing that?

What that could be? Oh my, puberty is in full swing. Asking "why" doesn't make much sense.

I once had a young doe as house bunny, intact, for 8 months, and although my Fury is somewhat special (Alpha to everything with 4 legs, including cats and dogs) I think females have much more drive when it comes to marking, digging, chewing, craving for being bred, false pregnancys etc. She even had a litter in my kitchen because that second doe I bought wasn't a doe at all...

So, I know there's that cancer thing repeated all over the internet, but imho a real good reason to getting her spayed is relieving her from those hormonell pressure. Rabbits evolved for breeding like, uhm, well, rabbits. Spaying relieves them from that craving. And, as a bonus, there are some health benefits too (imho outweighting the few drawbacks by far)

There's no denial that surgery is a risk, a lot depends on the experience of the vet, but also on things like the genes of the rabbit. I can't tell you numbers, no idea, but it wouldn't be common practice if it were too bad.

Just as a side note, I had my Fury inside because Myxo was raging outside, and she destroyed the vinyl flooring with pee stais, reduced all plinth to splinters and flakes - wood and PVC alike, tried to kill me twice by removing insulation from power cables, any USB cables and the like ended as little snippets, and finally decided to start a tunnel, straight into the wall, after 1" of plaster the bricks stopped her. She's a very happy outdoor bunny now. Now my free range house bunny is a 3yo intact buck, perfectly housebbroken, doesn't chew anything, perfect.

Preitler said:

What that could be? Oh my, puberty is in full swing. Asking "why" doesn't make much sense.

I once had a young doe as house bunny, intact, for 8 months, and although my Fury is somewhat special (Alpha to everything with 4 legs, including cats and dogs) I think females have much more drive when it comes to marking, digging, chewing, craving for being bred, false pregnancys etc. She even had a litter in my kitchen because that second doe I bought wasn't a doe at all...

So, I know there's that cancer thing repeated all over the internet, but imho a real good reason to getting her spayed is relieving her from those hormonell pressure. Rabbits evolved for breeding like, uhm, well, rabbits. Spaying relieves them from that craving. And, as a bonus, there are some health benefits too (imho outweighting the few drawbacks by far)

There's no denial that surgery is a risk, a lot depends on the experience of the vet, but also on things like the genes of the rabbit. I can't tell you numbers, no idea, but it wouldn't be common practice if it were too bad.

Just as a side note, I had my Fury inside because Myxo was raging outside, and she destroyed the vinyl flooring with pee stais, reduced all plinth to splinters and flakes - wood and PVC alike, tried to kill me twice by removing insulation from power cables, any USB cables and the like ended as little snippets, and finally decided to start a tunnel, straight into the wall, after 1" of plaster the bricks stopped her. She's a very happy outdoor bunny now. Now my free range house bunny is a 3yo intact buck, perfectly housebbroken, doesn't chew anything, perfect.

Click to expand...

I am aware of all that, I made a decision before getting a rabbit, that I will have it fixed because there's no way I am breeding it every month with poor little kits that may go homeless or be soup to some others; However, that is not the case.
Just now I read a post someone posted on their poor little doe not making it out from her spaying surgery and it made me cry even more. I live in IRAQ. You can only imagine how bad vets can be since us, humans, don't even get the right prescriptions or care at hospitals. I, myself, got myself sicker and had my health at risk 3 times at our hospitals here. I can only worry so much about my little girl. Even the place I bought her from was hell. Animals are highly mistreated here and I'm worried that I might lose her in the surgery if she's too young or the vet is not good enough. And just for the record, there isn't a rabbit savvy vet, just the regular cats & dogs vets that are quite popular since that's all what people care about, fancy dogs and cats.

Normally I would recommend spaying for most pet owners, however I would not recommend you do it with your bun. You don't have access to a good rabbit vet, and you really need one for your bun to have the best chance of surviving a spay surgery.

The peeing that she is doing may not be hormonal. Those white spots in the urine are dried calcium deposits. It's possible she could be getting too much calcium in her diet and it's causing bladder irritation, which is causing her to dribble urine. What are you feeding her now? Any high calcium veggies?

JBun said:

Normally I would recommend spaying for most pet owners, however I would not recommend you do it with your bun. You don't have access to a good rabbit vet, and you really need one for your bun to have the best chance of surviving a spay surgery.

The peeing that she is doing may not be hormonal. Those white spots in the urine are dried calcium deposits. It's possible she could be getting too much calcium in her diet and it's causing bladder irritation, which is causing her to dribble urine. What are you feeding her now? Any high calcium veggies?

Click to expand...

Not really, I don't give her much veggies at all, like I give her some every other day or two, her diet is based on grass and dried grass and some herbs that come with it...

However, I remembered that last night when she did that, that she hadn't peed in like over 12 hours so I gave her some veggies and she peed right away in her litter box and it was reddish/orange in color. Since last night until today she peed like 4 times and all were reddish in color. But yesterday morning her pee was light yellow/clear.. So I don't think it's something with the bladder?
But maybe she accidentally peed those small spots because she held it in for too long? I don't know..

Okay, so after noticing that those small yellow dots only happen when she lies down, I grabbed her and held her and checked her private areas and gently pressed a folded tissue against it and a spot of yellow transferred onto it. Her entrance is slightly wet and/or discharging. What could be the cause of this? I dried it up and let her go but I don't know if it'll discharge again.

If she is dribbling urine it could be a few different things, especially some sort of UTI? Is there any way you could buy a thermometer to check her temperature rectally?

Popsicles said:

If she is dribbling urine it could be a few different things, especially some sort of UTI? Is there any way you could buy a thermometer to check her temperature rectally?

Click to expand...

Her temperature is normal from what I can feel, she's quite active and and happy, she still loves her food and runs fast speed for treats. I don't think it's urine, I read that rabbits can have vaginal discharge and that's what's worrying me so much. It says it could be cancer or something if there's some enlarging in her uterus or glands but after touching her I didn't feel anything enlarged and yesterday and today she hasn't made any spots I can see anywhere.. So I'm hoping it's nothing serious and that she's okay ..

You won’t be able to feel a fever externally. It could certainly be vaginal discharge, in which case it is important you take her to a vet - even if not rabbit savvy they will know how to recognise pyometra etc. It sounds more like urine to me, just because it it yellow and quite calcified but it is difficult to know when we can’t see the rabbit.

Popsicles said:

You won’t be able to feel a fever externally. It could certainly be vaginal discharge, in which case it is important you take her to a vet - even if not rabbit savvy they will know how to recognise pyometra etc. It sounds more like urine to me, just because it it yellow and quite calcified but it is difficult to know when we can’t see the rabbit.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I take what I said back, after checking again, I found these spots on my bed among others ... What do I do now? Do I take her to the vet? If I do, what do I tell the vet about her?


And this is her entrance although it may not be very clear.. [Sorry about showing this but I'm worried about her.]

Here's another picture
http://prntscr.com/kl08og

I know you struggle to find a rabbit savvy vet, but do you have one who is at least competent? I would take her to a vet for sure, as I can’t tell from your photos if it is coming from her vagina or urethra. How is the urine that she is leaving in the litter tray?

Popsicles said:

I know you struggle to find a rabbit savvy vet, but do you have one who is at least competent? I would take her to a vet for sure, as I can’t tell from your photos if it is coming from her vagina or urethra. How is the urine that she is leaving in the litter tray?

Click to expand...

I will take her to a vet for sure, it's just that they won't open till monday since we have Eid these days.
And her urine depends, sometimes she'd hold it in for a very long time that it comes out reddish like a couple of days ago, but then I started giving her some leafy vegetables so now her urine is light yellow and clear ish.

There isn’t a single vet open between now and Monday? That can’t be possible? When you say reddish, was it bloody, or just coloured?

Popsicles said:

There isn’t a single vet open between now and Monday? That can’t be possible? When you say reddish, was it bloody, or just coloured?

Click to expand...

Yeah just colored but it's fine now in color and I can't because it's our ceremony so all shops are closed.

I didn’t realise eid could last for a whole week.. there must be emergency care? What about human doctors? I don’t understand, even on Christmas Day in this country you can still access a vet.

Popsicles said:

I didn’t realise eid could last for a whole week.. there must be emergency care? What about human doctors? I don’t understand, even on Christmas Day in this country you can still access a vet.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that this is Iraq where it's doubtful there is reliable safe vet care for rabbits. In fact I think I would be quite nervous with the prospect of vet care, since I'm fairly certain that rabbits are probably thought of differently there.

Alice Trancy, reddish orange urine is pretty normal in rabbits. It's just plant pigmentation. If you were seeing reddish dots in the yellow urine stains, then it is a likely health issue, but it doesn't sound like this is what's going on. Based on your description of everything it sounds like your bun either is being hormonal or is just trying to hold it too long before she makes it back to the litter box. I would just make sure to provide her with a second litter box close at hand so that if she needs to go potty she can easily get into the litter box.

As I suggested before, I would not encourage you to get her spayed as you aren't likely to have any experienced and reliable rabbit vets there. Getting her spayed by a vet not experienced with rabbits could very well end up with her death. But the choice is yours. I just know that I wouldn't risk it in a similar situation.

I agree I would be wary of their care, but a dog and cat knowledgable vet can apply that knowledge in the case of a UTI or genital infection, and can do more than we can over the internet when we can’t see the rabbit.
I also agree that I wouldn’t spay her with your situation, but dribbling urine isn’t a normal hormonal symptom.

Either way, I'll take her to the vet as soon as possible. There's this guy who I've seen a few rabbits at his clinic and he claims he can safely perform the spaying procedure.. But I don't know about that yet. The rabbits he helped were deformed because of scabs and weird diseases.. So maybe he can help her when his clinic opens around Monday. I'm also not home. I had to go to my grandma's house and brought her along. Today was the very first time I ever take her out and she was scared on the road that she started to drool which made me freak out because she doesn't have any dental issues as her teeth are very short and normal but as soon as we settled in and she got used to her environment she got active and happy again, thankfully. And because I don't have an x pen this is what I got her to sleep in and eat.. Though she's free roaming the room I'm in since it has very few objects and no beds.

https://imgur.com/a/TFQeWXs

That’s super cute, enjoy your stay away and I’m glad she’s settling in okay