Spay Scar

[MeowBun]

I've got a bit of a conundrum. I have a 5-7-year-old female mini rex named Lily who I adopted around 3.5 months ago. I was told she was fixed. Since then, however, she has displayed a bit (and I mean a bit, only once each) of behavior (nesting, urine spraying) I believe to be more associated with unspayed females.

So when I took her into the vet for a general checkup, I asked them to shave her belly to check for a spay scar and they were unable to definitively find one! There is a VERY pale line, but it really looks more like just a skin crease... and when I asked the previous owner, she says she was told Lily was fixed before she adopted her, and she doesn't remember the contact info of the original owner. Very annoying.

My question is: is it possible for a spay scar to heal so well that you can hardly tell it's there? We seem to be looking at a time frame of 2-5 years ago the procedure was done. I just don't want to put her through the unnecessary risk and pain (not to mention the $450) of a spay procedure if she may be already fixed, but I also don't want to increase her risk of uterine cancer! Do you have any bunnies who have a spay scar that's hardly visible?

 

[Aki]

Yes, mine. I was surprised by how quickly the scar disappeared and it's really hard to tell it's there now. She was spayed quite young (around 7 months old) and by a very good specialist, so I guessed it was the reason why...
Isn't there any way to tell if she was spayed? Ultrasound, maybe? I really don't know. I find the urine spraying thing a bit suspicious. I don't know any spayed female who does that, but maybe if she was spayed late in her life? Might be the reason why she was given away, though. People tend to be unfairly hateful of urine spraying. Pff, show what they know XD

On the same note, about 2 years ago, I found a cat. After having no luck finding her owners, I took her to a vet who confirmed that she was not identified. I found new owners for the cat and booked her for a spay, supposing that she was not done considering she was not identified.
The vet called me during the operation. It was actually a neutered male cat and the vet only realized it when she had began to operate the poor thing. ^^'
So yeah, I guess it's sometimes hard to tell (and I suppose it depends on the vet too, I trusted her so I hadn't taken a very close look to the poor kitty either and considering that the cat was very small and underfed, the girl theory sounded reliable).

 

[MeowBun]

Thanks for the reply, Aki. My vet told me the only way to tell would be an ultrasound (also $400), so I'd be better off just going for the surgery and seeing what they find. We've dropped more than $1500 on her in the last few months between vet appointments and emergency stuff, so I really can't afford to make this decision lightly. I guess another way to tell would be to put her in with an unneutered male, but I really don't want babies. It's good to know that the scar can heal so well that it's hardly visible, though; it gives me hope that she may already be fixed.

 

[JBun]

A little bit of spraying won't necessarily mean hormonal behavior. I have a spayed female that will do a bit of urine marking when around other rabbits, and that marking can end up in a spray if she is moving at the moment.

Not that I'm recommending it, but one thing that might indicate if she wasn't spayed, is if she were to 'lift' for an unneutered buck. This may possibly work with them being in cages next to each other, and you wouldn't risk pregnancy which would actually be dangerous for her at that age and something you certainly don't want to risk.

Something else that might work is a blood test checking hormone levels, and should be less expensive than a surgery. This isn't definitive, as it could also be an indication of adrenal problems causing the hormonal behavior, but would at least let you know if there are hormones causing this behavior and if it needs to be investigated further.

I would say if these are just one time things, you could maybe just wait and see if these behaviors continue or not, which might give a better indication if she is in fact still having hormonal related behaviors.

 

[MeowBun]

Thanks, JBun! I'm going to call around to see if I can get a better price on an ultrasound and ask about blood tests! Hopefully I can find someone here who'll do it for closer to the price you quoted.

 

[Aki]

Ah, that's really expensive - it's more expensive than the spay in itself! :faint: I had one done for one of my rabbits before and it wasn't that much.
I hadn't thought about the blood test, that may indeed be a good idea.
I hope for you she is spayed. It's really annoying when you get an animal from people who are lying about their condition, neutering or age and it happens a lot.

 

[MeowBun]

Thanks, JBun! I'm going to call around to see if I can get a better price on an ultrasound and ask about blood tests! Hopefully I can find someone here who'll do it for closer to the price you quoted.

Sorry, I got your reply confused with another on a different forum.

 

[MeowBun]

Just an update:

I noticed a spot of blood in Lily's urine and she had a lump on her breast that had been aspirated but the results were inconclusive, so we ended up booking a surgery to get that removed and have her spayed at the same time. It turns out not only was she not spayed, but she had uterine cancer. She's recovering great and we're hoping the lump was just a cyst and the cancer hadn't metastasized; we're still waiting on the results from the lab. It's so disappointing that her previous owner lied about her being fixed and put her health in jeopardy, but we're hopeful we caught it in time!

Thanks for the help!

 

[missyscove]

Thanks for updating us!
I hope she recovers smoothly. My first rabbit was spayed when I adopted her but developed mammary cancer. It's possible that her previous owner really did think she was spayed when she got her.
Spay scars can heal to an almost invisible line. It makes it harder since we make the incision on top of the linea alba so there's already a line there. There's a hormone assay that I know is used in dogs to check for the possibility of an ovarian remnant, but I don't know if it would work in rabbits, especially considering they don't have the same sort of estrous cycle.