Spaying, when?

[Mummel]

I spend some time on the forums here and read a lot about females beeing spayed. It's not very common to spay a female here. Just a few people do it and even fewer Dr.s.

I looked into it a little. Someone told me the females should be a year old or older. I have 6 females but they are all pretty young. So only Moses would have the spaying age if thats right.

A vet here told me that this surgery is rather dangerous and shouldnt be performed if not needed. But I read about the cancer rates and that really scared me...

I dont know what to think about it. I'm a little confused. Can someone tell me more about it and about the proper time and age for spaying?

Emi

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

The proper age is between 6 months and 3 years. It is not as dangerous as most surgeries as long as it is preformed by an experienced rabbit vet. It is more dangerous than a neuter simply because it's more invasive and takes more time to do. Basically the advantage to an experienced vet is they are faster, the less time they are under the safer it is.

I didn't know it was that rare in Germany but I know I talked to about 13 vets in my area and only5 of them would see rabbits and only2 would spay rabbits while the other 3 would only neuter rabbits.

 

[Jenni]

I had Gretchen spayed at about 6 months. I think the surgery could be dangerous if not performed by someone with a lot of knowledge of rabbits. They react differently to drugs and their tissue is very soft.

My vet has done tons of spays, so I felt very comfortable. You might check on the Internet for some rabbit vets in Germany. I think that spaying is common in some other parts of Europe, like the UK.

Some people make the decision not to spay their buns.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I forgot about that. Isoflourine gasis safe for rabbits while others are not. But as I said before, your rabbit will be better off the faster the surgery is. If I had to choose between the vet that took30 minutes to do a spay and one that took 15 minutes, I'd choose the 15 minute vet as long as they had knowledge about rabbits and plenty of experience in rabbit spays. My vet can do a spay in less then 15 minutes which is awesome since the less time a rabbit is under, the safer they will be.

 

[Mummel]

I think if I would go to the big pet clinics they would do spaying there. I also got a list of recommended Dr.s by bunny rescue germany.

If the cancer risk is that high I would really rather have the girls spayed. One Dr. told me its about a100 euro (about 130$), I think it was more in the states?

If 6 months and older, Moses and Susi would have the right age. I will look up some more information and talk to some bunny rescue members. Im sure there will be a Dr. thats able to do it well.

Is if of importance if the bun was pregnant before? Susi is a mommy.

 

[naturestee]

Pregnancy doesn't affect whether they can or should be spayed, so it shouldn't be a problem for Susi. Actually, spays are sometimes done to abort unwanted/accidental babies and the rabbits come through just fine.

$130 isn't a bad price. My vet charges about a hundred, but I get the blood tests done (check for liver/kidney function) and that's another $20-30. Some vets charge $300 for rabbit spays!:shock:

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Wow! $130 is CHEAP. :shock:I almost ended up paying $300 for Zoey's spay and that was the CHEAPEST.

 

[SmokeysMomMom]

I had our bunny fixed last December since female rabbits are likey to get cancer of their female organs. She did very well.

 

[Runestonez]

We had our 2 girls spayed at the same time..and it was $250 for the twoof them including the blood tests and IV etc... then again we have a really great vet and they have cut us some serious deals too!(They were housed together etc...sort of like a bunny twofer!) Our girls did really well after their spays...they took about 3 days to get back to normal, whereas the boys were up and around in a day or so. Our 2 girls were spayed at around 6 months of age...butour first girl was spayed at about 5 months. Our vet will spay or neuter as long as the organs are fully developed. I guess any surgery is dangerous really....but I would rather take the chance now with the "possiblity" of losing them, ratherthan losing them slowly to cancer or something later on!:?

 

[NZminilops]

My vet refuses to spay my rabbit :growl:, she says it is totally unnessasary and cruel to the rabbit. So I will be calling the SPCA and seeing if they can point me towards a good clinic.