Risks of not spaying (inexperienced vets)

[Haru the Lionhead]

Hello guys, I just saw a rabbit pass because of cancer. I had totally forgotten about these risks and never thought about them in the past couple of years, but now I’m worried.
We only have two vets in the whole country that works with rabbits, and they are not rabbit savvy vets, they are just the only ones that accept them.
One of them had told me that I should shower my rabbit.. (with a few other false informations) i never went back there since. And the other one, well.. I took Haru to spay her when she was 7 months old, she’s now 3. She went under anesthesia, he opened her up, then called me saying that he couldn’t find her uterus, and that she was either spayed when she was younger (I’ve had her since she was four months old), or that she might be male what vet doesn’t know if an adult rabbit was male or female!!!
Then, he blamed me for not fasting her, saying that he couldn’t find the uterus because her stomach was full
Healing from that surgery was the hardest month of my entire life. I never slept or ate or anything. She chewed her stitches, went under anesthesia again to got restitched.
After a few months I took her to the first vet to get ultrasound. He told me that he can see the edges of her uterus from the side, so she 100% has one. However, we can’t see the whole uterus because her scar tissue was covering the whole area . Which means that if I wanted to check for any signs of anything bad, it wouldn’t be visible.
I know that not getting her spayed is risky, but I think that spaying her here is suicide. Yes the vets did do a few surgeries on rabbits, but not enough for them to be experienced. I also worry about anesthesia. What do you guys think?

 

[chietheridder]

Not spaying isn't a death sentence. I've seen many rabbits raised on farms that were never spayed or neutered and never had cancer. Keep her healthy and her immune system strong. Rabbits and other small exotics are scary to put under anesthesia if you don't know what you're doing. This sounds like a totally avoidable blunder if the vet actually had rabbit experience.

You're more likely to run into hormonal issues than anything. Is it possible to save up and make a trip a couple hours away to find a better vet? I have to drive 1.5 hrs to get to any decent equine vets. Luckily I'm an hour north of a big city with several exotic vets but even some of them I wouldn't let touch my bun. They're so fragile.

 

[LadyGrey]

The research on uterine cancer is interesting. If you actually read the studies there is many concepts that have been overlooked and many that have been blown out of proportion.

I'm going to briefly describe some of these, but its been a few years since I read these studies. But I encourge you to go out and find the studies and look over them yourself.

There was a study done where they took 72 sick does from a farm ( of different ages) and opened them up. This was the study that said 70% of the does had some sort of cancer, tumor, or well any abnormalities in the reproductive tract. Ive seen a great deal of websites claiming 70% of does by the age of 6 will develope cancer. But they always fail to mention this 70% came from a pool of sick rabbits.

There is another study that compared the likely hood of cancer was most frequently seen in the Havana breed of rabbit. Suddgesting it could be a genetic component.

There are other studies that suggest that development of does who arent breed are more likely to develop abnormalities in the reproductive tract. Putting the blame on the high cellular activity.

Hopefully this helps and maybe you can find some new evidence or research. My own research ended up inconclusive at best.

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

Not spaying isn't a death sentence. I've seen many rabbits raised on farms that were never spayed or neutered and never had cancer. Keep her healthy and her immune system strong. Rabbits and other small exotics are scary to put under anesthesia if you don't know what you're doing. This sounds like a totally avoidable blunder if the vet actually had rabbit experience.

You're more likely to run into hormonal issues than anything. Is it possible to save up and make a trip a couple hours away to find a better vet? I have to drive 1.5 hrs to get to any decent equine vets. Luckily I'm an hour north of a big city with several exotic vets but even some of them I wouldn't let touch my bun. They're so fragile.

As I said, these are the only ones that see rabbits in the whole country. There is a really good vet in a neighboring country, but I’d have to take a four hour flight to see her.
Haru stops eating and pooping as soon as we go outside. The whole trip till we reach the hotel would probably take over eight hours. And I don’t think she’ll want to eat at the first few hours in the hotel.

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

The research on uterine cancer is interesting. If you actually read the studies there is many concepts that have been overlooked and many that have been blown out of proportion.

I'm going to briefly describe some of these, but its been a few years since I read these studies. But I encourge you to go out and find the studies and look over them yourself.

There was a study done where they took 72 sick does from a farm ( of different ages) and opened them up. This was the study that said 70% of the does had some sort of cancer, tumor, or well any abnormalities in the reproductive tract. Ive seen a great deal of websites claiming 70% of does by the age of 6 will develope cancer. But they always fail to mention this 70% came from a pool of sick rabbits.

There is another study that compared the likely hood of cancer was most frequently seen in the Havana breed of rabbit. Suddgesting it could be a genetic component.

There are other studies that suggest that development of does who arent breed are more likely to develop abnormalities in the reproductive tract. Putting the blame on the high cellular activity.

Hopefully this helps and maybe you can find some new evidence or research. My own research ended up inconclusive at best.

Should i breed her? I worry about getting her a husbun. She’s very sweet with us but hates other animals and strangers.

 

[JBun]

It's a risk based decision. Yes there may be some possible risk of being unspayed, but that is an unknown risk at this point. However having an inexperienced vet attempt to perform the surgery is a known and very big risk for where you live. It's not a risk I would take, unless my rabbit was already sick and likely dying anyways. That would be the only time I would risk an invasive surgery with an inexperienced vet.

I would just leave her be. She's happy and doing fine right now.

 

[Diane R]

Should i breed her? I worry about getting her a husbun. She’s very sweet with us but hates other animals and strangers.

No, don't breed her. As JBun said, leave her be.

 

[roytaa]

As I said, these are the only ones that see rabbits in the whole country. There is a really good vet in a neighboring country, but I’d have to take a four hour flight to see her.
Haru stops eating and pooping as soon as we go outside. The whole trip till we reach the hotel would probably take over eight hours. And I don’t think she’ll want to eat at the first few hours in the hotel.

i feel you about inexperienced vets,
i had same problem(my rabbit died few weeks ago for unknow reason) and i blame the injections from vets for it
do not let them touch your rabbit ever again. not for surgery not for sickness of your rabbit or anything else
they will kill your rabbit with wrong medications or injections because they treat them as dog or cat.
afterward you gonna feel Sh^$ and not forgive yourself because YOU are the one who let vets do it to your bunny.
just ask for help here or on internet if anything wrong happens to your bunny

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

i feel you about inexperienced vets,
i had same problem(my rabbit died few weeks ago for unknow reason) and i blame the injections from vets for it
do not let them touch your rabbit ever again. not for surgery not for sickness of your rabbit or anything else
they will kill your rabbit with wrong medications or injections because they treat them as dog or cat.
afterward you gonna feel Sh^$ and not forgive yourself because YOU are the one who let vets do it to your bunny.
just ask for help here or on internet if anything wrong happens to your bunny

I’m so sorry for your loss
When I first got Haru I got worried about every little thing and kept taking her to the vet. Every time I tell him that I’m concerned she might have something, he’d say yes!! She does have it and she needs a course of antibiotics. Now that I have more knowledge about rabbits I realized that she was totally fine, and I hate myself for stressing her out, giving her medications that she doesn’t need, AND throwing my money instead of using it to get her a new toy or something.
I had a younger bunny two years ago (Fuyu). When I got her I was told that she was two months old but I think she might be younger. She had sludge from the alfalfa, which could easily be fixed in early stages. She also got moist dermatitis from drooling because something was stuck in her teeth. I immediately changed her hay, cleaned what was inside her mouth, and gave her water. If I had waited just a couple of days, I would’ve seen results. But i was worried I might loose her, so I took her to the vet. They gave her medication, I don’t remember what it was, it was safe for rabbits if administered correctly. She passed the next day. I miss her so much, and I blame myself everyday for taking her to that vet.