Please help - Newbie - NEUTERING?!

[victoriamarina]

Hello everyone
My baby boy Winston was born September 10th, and looking ahead to the new year i have contacted my local veterinary clinic in order to get a quote on rabbit neutering there.

I found this response from the vet's office.

"It is 93.00 plus tax. They should come in
a cage along with some food. You also may need to purchase an e-collar because they are known for not leaving the surgical site alone".

I then asked which method they use..

"With rabbits we use the open castration method not the abdominal method unless they are cryptorchid. No external sutures are used as these usually cause more self-mutilation in rabbits"

So my question to all of you - When is the best time to get my boy neutered in your experience?
Have any of you had your bun neutered with this method?
I also read and i don't feel comfortable with an e-collar i've never heard of a rabbit getting this and I feel like it would really stress/scare winston to have to have that on him

Any help is greatly appreciated <3

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Males can be done once their testicles drop, that is usually around 3-5 months of age. Personally, I would wait a bit longer so they can benefit from some of the hormones. As long as he isn't getting really hormonal (humping, spraying etc), then it won't hurt to wait an extra month or two. Getting him neutered around 5-6 months is usually a good time, but larger breeds may benefit from waiting a bit longer than that even.

I have only have one boy neutered and that was almost 7 years ago, so I am a bit fuzzy on what exactly they did. I do see more bucks getting done where they go into the testicle rather than the abdomen.

I would not really use an e-collar unless the rabbit is really going at the incision. Most rabbits will leave it alone and not cause a problem. A cone can cause other problem like them not wanting to eat and being unable to eat the cecotropes. Most vets seem to do internal sutures that dissolve and then have skin glue on the outside. This does mean there aren't stitches to pull out.

Males usually recover quickly and are back to normal the next day. You do need to keep them from running around and jumping so the incision doesn't open.

 

[ldoerr]

I tried an E-collar with Shiny Things after her spay because she took off her bandages that held her pain parch on. She HATED it and took it off of herself. They really do not need the e-collar. I have no experience with neutering rabbits though so can not help you much more.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We've had 8 males neutered and were lucky we never had to use a collar. Most were done around 4 months/when they showed--they are all rescues so age is a guess. A couple were done when they were much older--past 4 years, but again, this is a guess.

 

[JBun]

I agree that an e-collar can cause problems. I had to put one on a rabbit and it made her depressed and she stopped eating. I ended up taking it off the same day. I would never use one again unless absolutely neccessary and no other solution. A no chew vet wrap would be better if you had to protect the incision site from chewing.

 

[Imbrium]

I ordered no-chew vet wrap here - http://www.leithpetwerks.com/prodpage.cfm?prod_code=GR541 along with numerous other items for my bunny emergency kit (probiotics, papaya tablets, critical care, etc... it's the only place I was able to find that sells critical care online). when my bunnies got spayed, Nala was licking at her incision a lot the first day, so I just put a gauze pad over it and then wrapped some of the no-chew vet wrap around her a couple times and it worked like a charm - a nice alternative to using a collar of shame.

 

[victoriamarina]

Imbrium wrote:

I ordered no-chew vet wrap here - http://www.leithpetwerks.com/prodpage.cfm?prod_code=GR541 along with numerous other items for my bunny emergency kit (probiotics, papaya tablets, critical care, etc... it's the only place I was able to find that sells critical care online). when my bunnies got spayed, Nala was licking at her incision a lot the first day, so I just put a gauze pad over it and then wrapped some of the no-chew vet wrap around her a couple times and it worked like a charm - a nice alternative to using a collar of shame.

That is wonderful! Thank-you everyone for all of the advice I greatly appreciate all of it