Anyone have a rabbit that is NOT spayed/neutered, and HAPPY the way they are?

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blondiesmommie

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Anyone have a rabbit that is NOT spayed or neutered, but your happy with them the way they are? Do they have any bad habits? Are you afraid if you get him/her fixed, their good habits could actually change to bad habits? Just curious bc I was talking to someone about this today!!! :p
 
I have 2 intact bucks who are pretty good. Tesla is humpy and doesn't like to be held (he'd rather run around than sit still), he is good with his litter habits, doesn't spray and is very friendly. Kraken is more mellow, has excellent litter habits, no spraying and is also quite friendly.
I have a good vet, so am not worried about the medical part of getting them neutered. They don't have really bad habits, so I don't feel a pressing need to get them neutered.

Now with females, they do get spayed. It is more of a health issue and to prevent breeding since breeding is harder on the female than the male.
 
My daughter has an intact female mini lop. She is incredibly good natured and gentle. My concern is that she is 3, no longer going to have any litters, and the fear of her getting uterine cancer as she gets older is now a major health issue. I would like to she her neutered for her own protection, not because of behavior problems.
 
Neither one of my rabbits is spayed. I really want to get Shiny Things spayed. She is crazy. Beauty on the other hand is perfect the way that she is. The only complaint that I could posibly have with her is that she is not fully litter box trained. But that is my fault. I have not tried to teach her.
 
My first rabbit, Scone MacBunny, was never neutered, and he lived a happy, healthy and full life before he passed away at seven-and-a-half.

As others have said, for females spaying is a health issue - I did have my current bunny, Natasha Rabbitova, spayed - but for males neutering is primarily a behavioral thing. Since Scone never sprayed and was never territorial or aggressive, I saw no reason to put him through the surgery.
 
Babbitty, Willow, Spyro and Ty are not fixed and I love the way their personalities are now. No bad habits and very loving little buns.
 
I definitely like them neutered better. It just takes the breeding instinct out of them and let's their personalities show. Besides that the main reasons are: for males, behaviors issues (humping, spraying, etc) for females, health issues & bonding is easier.
 
Mine is not neutered. I think I am okay with that but it is really depressing when I am not allowed to add a third rabbit since my mom said it is not okay to add another. My second rabbit was actually a male (pet shop owner mistaken his gender) and now my first bunny keeps sticking out his "you-know-what" when he needed to mate. Poor Monday.
 
I have a new Bunny " Merlin" he's an intact fellow and he sprays and carries on especially when I hug any other bunny. He's in love with "me"!! I spray him with a water bottle if he sprays me and this settles him.He is gorgeous and is so loyal and was easy to litter train. The only thing is the other male "Jones" has gone a bit looney with the new male around. He was a sweet quiet boy , not any more. I just accept them the way they are an adjust my behaviour to cope with them.:biggrin::pray:
 
Peppy is not neutered. We have no other buns so it's not a pressing concern. No spraying or aggression, only humping which I can deal with. I DO want to get him neutered some day, he's 4 now though so I doubt the humping will really stop. Hopefully he'll be a bit less frustrated when fixed though.
 
I'm presently mulling that myself right now. Of course I just got my bunny barely a week now, and he's only 15 weeks but puberty is around the corner so a decision will have to be made.

My situation is that we have only the one Flemish Giant, and are not interested in getting any other rabbits. We own a pair of birds and we are very happy at keeping it at that. I was always led to believe you've got to spay/neuter the pets in your life and was all ready to do so until the wonderful breeder I implicitly trust mentioned it might not be necessary.

She said since I do not intend on getting another rabbit, and she breeds rabbits with very good behaviors, its quite possible it would be more traumatic to do that for little benifit. Now I'm not naive, if behavior does become an issue after several months (is 6 months enough to ride out the worst?) I'll have to but if I can spare that well as a man how could I not save another male from getting their danglies chopped...

My concern is I love to research, and well there is a lot to be found regarding the need and benifits to spay or neuter and the outcome, not a lot is available if you should choose against that route. To those who went against the grain, was it difficult? Did any errant behavior diminish over time and age? Any helpful advice?
 
My girl Cleo isn't spayed and she has the most wonderful personality. She is almost perfectly litter trained and is so loving and attention seeking.

It doesn't make sense to me that I need to rip my rabbits reproductive organs out so that she gets along with another rabbit of the same sex but all the talk of cancer and bunny fighting has me worried now that we have got a companion for her. So... :dunno I'm going to get her spayed very soon because I couldn't bare if something bad happened.

I just hope she stays the same loving, well behaved girl I have had for the past 8 months.
 
Thumper is seven months old now and is not neutered. I do not plan on having him neutered unless it would become necessary. I feel the risks of surgery outweigh the benefits right now since he does not spray, hum, behave agressively or act territorial.

He is pretty laid back except when playing and then he is just plain fun.
 
Troller wrote:
To those who went against the grain, was it difficult? Did any errant behavior diminish over time and age? Any helpful advice?
For female rabbits, spaying is no-brainer. Just too much evidence of the danger of uterine cancer.

For males, neutering is purely a matter of behavior. If your rabbit isn't showing behavior you can't put up with, then there's no reason to put him through the surgery. However little risk there is, it's too much if there's no behavioral problem to solve.

Scone began to show his hormones at around six months of age, and his teen-age months lasted until he was about a year old. After that he settled down a lot. While he was a teen-ager, though, I had to constantly remind him that I was not a female bunny. I found that pushing him away and saying, "No! Just kiss!" eventually worked.

One thing that helped was to provide Scone with a stuffed bunny to act as an ... erm ... love object. (this is a family forum, after all...)

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He would work off his urges on Butter - in fact, he'd knock any stuffed animal with uppy ears flat and have his way with it. Animals with floppy ears, or non-rabbits, he ignored. Oddly, when I bought Borders, a stuffed bunny who looked just like Scone, with a natural rabbit-like posture, Scone treated him as a friend, and would groom him and lie down next to him.

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Even though she's a female, and spayed, Natasha does the same - humps Butter and grooms Borders. It must be something about the way Borders looks.

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The reason I had Harvey neutered is his behavior got worse instead of better. He was always bugging the cats, humping, spraying and I didn't want to risk him getting bit or scratched again. My cats are well behaved but there was only so much of that behavior they would tolerate. So it was either leave him locked up all the time or try neutering. I did try to correct the behavior but it didn't work. He never did any of that with me and if I didn't have the cats I'm sure he wouldn't have gotten so bad haha. Neutering got that all out of his system and I noticed more of his personality come out when he wasn't obsessed with breeding. He actually started giving me more attention.
 
My Mini-Lop rabbit Guy, is unfixed and is a very happy, loving bunny. He is so enthusiastic about almost everything and has a buzzy excited noise that can be heard very often :bunnyheart

Yes, he likes to try and hump my hand and can be a little nippy when he gets carried away, but he is adorable and I don't want to "fix" him and have him lose his lust for life.

The only exception would be if he started spraying me, I would have to consider getting him snipped then :p

Jo x




 
Our pet rabbits have not been spayed or neutered. With the price being so high, few area vets being savvy and no concrete evidence of health benefit (other than behavioral), it was just never a big concern.

Two of ours are does. One just passed this summer at the age of 10 1/2 from unrelated health problems. She was a pet store bunny, so it was great that she was with us for so long. She was a little territorial when she was young but by 2 years old, she settled down and was very friendly. At one time, she was litter trained, but due to progressive arthritis in her later years, she had been in a regular, bedded, solid floor cage for awhile.

Another is 9 and still going strong! She is the sweetest thing ever, actively seeks out attention, follows us around. No territorial or aggressive behavior, and she is littertrained.

Our other one is an 8 1/2 year old buck. Again, very sweet and friendly. He does have a toy girlfriend, but is littertrained and never sprays or anything.
 

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