why do you spay or nueter yur rabbit

[Bun Bun]

I don't know what the reason for fixing your bunnies I had a rabbit when I was young she lived for 6 years the vet said it was a good age and the rabbit was well taken care of BUT she had this thing for rubber she ate a whole bike cycle pedal and the paint had rubber base my dad said and was starting on the lawn mower tire, we didn't know any better and didn't think it would hurt her.
She got tumors all through her body and we put her down I think the rubber did it but if we were a little more knowing of this she would not of ate the rubber the vet said the white animals get this or was in white rabbits but I never came across this again in any white rabbit I have had but then again my bunnies don't last long enough to find out.

so whay areyou do you spay or nuter is it like the dogs that they can get cancer? that is a one in a billion chance isn't it the a rabbit would get this and if they do where is it they get in from they don't smoke or be around smoke or eat anything to cause this I reckon it is like the kids that have cancer they get it and don't know how they got it huh?

Rhayden

 

[MiniLopHop]

The incidence of cancer in unspayed females in particular is allarmingly high- up to 85% by age 6 have reproductive cancer. Sounds to me like that is what happened to your previous bun.

Just like cats and dogs, an altered rabbit makes a better pet. They aren't consumed with wanting to mate and protect territory. It reduces territorial behavior such as marking, humping, grunting, boxing, and even biting. Plus I personally think unaltered buns stink. When they are fixed the smell goes away and makes them much more pleasant to have in the house. Plus then they don't mark so they are faithful to their litter box.

Rabbits are notorious for eating rubber. I have no idea why they do it, but remote control buttons don't last long unless they are kept out of reach. The biggest issue with the rubber would be intestinal blockage if they are not passed, not cancer.

 

[gmas rabbit]

Just had Derby neutered for the exact reasons Brandy listed above. He was the most stinky of rabbits. Since he is an inside bunny, with litter boxes in both living room and our bedroom, this was an issue. He also molested his stuffies non stop and then start to bite the grandkids. The stuffies were fine with it, but his behavior was progressively getting worse. He didn't want to snuggle anymore. As far as cancer goes, it is a huge concern. For some reason, rabbits are very susceptible to cancers.

 

[ZRabbits]

I got my first two males neutered because I was really new to rabbits. I was used to getting my dogs neutered, which did give them a longer, healthier life. I have to say that now that I'm more intuned with bunnies, neutering of my males depends on their attitude and personality. I don't regret neutering Dobby and Kreacher, but seeing how sweet Willard and Neville have been, I plan in the future to wait until I get to know them before taking them in to loose their manhood.

Regarding females, due to all the research I did, I feel it would benefit healthwise for any all my girls that join the Z-Tribe. Though I plan to breed, all females who will retire will be spayed.

And the stinky part, both intact and neutered/spay are stinky IMHO. I've learned and found ACV can cut down the smell and also more frequent litter box changing, which i don't mind since they all live in my house.



K

 

[LakeCondo]

The chance of a doe getting uterine cancer is certainly a lot more than 1 in a thousand, much less 1 in a billion. One study someone on RO cited recently said that at age 6 it was 50%. I thought the number of rabbits at that age was too small to give a reliable figure, but it would have to be at least 20%.

Cancer isn't a disease that is caught. It can be caused by a number of things in combination: a genetic predisposition, a cell that happens to mutate when it's dividing, etc. If the ovaries are removed, ovarian cells can't mutate & cause cancer.

 

[agnesthelion]

I put a lot of thought and research into this and decided to spay Agnes. The cancer statistics definetely weighed into my decided to fix her. But in addition, the thought of her having this gigantic natural pull to reproduce and care for babies but not ever getting to, and having hormones racing through her to cause possible false pregnancies and possible behavior changes also caused me to make the decision to fix her.

I read once that rabbits are one big ball or hormones and it drives nearly everything they do. If I can take away that "stress" for her and reduce her cancer risk....that's what I'm gonna do.

But I'm still nervous!!!!! Hahahaha

 

[Nancy McClelland]

First to prevent cancer/tumors. Next, to make them better citizens behavior wise--spraying, humping, courting behaviors and general pestiness. They are much better behaved and will live longer. Almost all of ours have lived to ten and beyond. Coal made to 13 1/2.

 

[Bun Bun]

so if you have a breeding bunny then from what you are saying if I am understanding this is that the breeding bunny will not live as long as aone that is fixed or if you have the breeding bunny then this makes things different since it breeds

Do I understand this correctly??

Ok not trying to get anyone aggro here just trying to understand if a breeding bunny has less of a chance to get tumors or cancer.

Rhayden

 

[MiniLopHop]

If they are intact, breeding or not, it raises their risks considerably. Many breeders would say they don't see it in their heards, but they also tend to remove older does from their programs because they don't produce, so it makes sense they don't see it. They don't keep the individuals to the older ages pet homes do. (note this is a huge generalization)

 

[ZRabbits]

Bun Bun wrote:

so if you have a breeding bunny then from what you are saying if I am understanding this is that the breeding bunny will not live as long as aone that is fixed or if you have the breeding bunny then this makes things different since it breeds

Do I understand this correctly??

Ok not trying to get anyone aggro here just trying to understand if a breeding bunny has less of a chance to get tumors or cancer.

Rhayden

My thinking is if a doe is actually doing what she is intended to do as a prey animal(have babies) then cancer might not show up. Rabbits are prey animals, bottom of the list. Everyone eats rabbits. So they are designed to have as many litters as possible. Their reproduction system must be used or things happen.

I plan to breed my doe Luna. When I feel she is ready to retire from breeding, my plans will be to spay her. Though she used her reproduction system in the past, since she will stop, cancer can form.

It's the lack of use of reproduction that will bring on tumors and cancer. Hormones need to do what they do....make babies. But without the hormones, no babies and less likely for something to happen in that area.

This is just my opinion, Not a Vet. But read lots of about cancer. And not just in rabbits either. Cancer is a real sore subject here.

Hope this helps.

K

 

[MiniLopHop]

I don't think reproducing helps. In the wild, as you stated, they are prey animals. They don't live long enough to develop cancer. We are creating a much safer, healthier environment for them as pets. That makes it our responsibility to get them fixed to prevent the cancer. Even humans are seeing more and more cancers as the population gets older. In the past people would have died of infection, or heart attacks, or whatever. Now that medicine is better they get through thoes things (like protecting buns from preditors) so they live long enough to develop cancer.

 

[ZRabbits]

MiniLopHop wrote:

I don't think reproducing helps. In the wild, as you stated, they are prey animals. They don't live long enough to develop cancer. We are creating a much safer, healthier environment for them as pets. That makes it our responsibility to get them fixed to prevent the cancer. Even humans are seeing more and more cancers as the population gets older. In the past people would have died of infection, or heart attacks, or whatever. Now that medicine is better they get through thoes things (like protecting buns from preditors) so they live long enough to develop cancer.

Reproduction does help because the bunny is doing the function it was made to do. Plus as you say, wild bunnies don't live that long, so we are keeping our bunniesalive longer so because they don't use theirreproduction organs, they getcancer.

And the cancer rate is rising because of the environment, not age. Should take your bunnies to Philadelphia's Children's Hospital, it will drop your jaw.

BTW, did the research on environment and cancer. And regarding drugs keeping us alive longer, you should look into some of those studies. Find out you are the guinea pigs on some of them too.

K

 

[MiniLopHop]

LOL I work in pharmaceuticals, so I know all about it. I interviewed at CHOP years ago and decided I would rather be in industry rather than academics.

 

[ZRabbits]

MiniLopHop wrote:

LOL I work in pharmaceuticals, so I know all about it. I interviewed at CHOP years ago and decided I would rather be in industry rather than academics.

Oh now I see, and understand your response.

Thanks for the clarification.

K

 

[LakeCondo]

Actually, our increased life expectancy has increased the frequency of cancer. A hundred years ago, the pollution from coal-fired home furnaces made pollution worse than it is today.

I guess reproduction can help prevent cancer because if a doe dies of the pregnancy or birth, she can't die of cancer.

 

[ZRabbits]

LakeCondo wrote:

Actually, our increased life expectancy has increased the frequency of cancer. A hundred years ago, the pollution from coal-fired home furnaces made pollution worse than it is today.

I guess reproduction can help prevent cancer because if a doe dies of the pregnancy or birth, she can't die of cancer.

Wow, What a cheerful outlook.

Shame you feel that the only good life for a rabbit is your way and the book you read.

Oh well.

Have a nice day.

K

 

[LakeCondo]

Knowing that pollution levels have gone down over time is a good thing, at least to me. So many people are short-sighted & education reduces that. But I guess some people prefer not to be confused by different points of view. Having taken graduate courses in demography & medical sociology, I don't care to leave opinions given as facts, unchallenged.

I'm not sure it's still in print, but I recommended to my college students A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method by Stephen S Carey.

 

[ZRabbits]

LakeCondo wrote:

Knowing that pollution levels have gone down over time is a good thing, at least to me. So many people are short-sighted & education reduces that. But I guess some people prefer not to be confused by different points of view. Having taken graduate courses in demography & medical sociology, I don't care to leave opinions given as facts, unchallenged.

I'm not sure it's still in print, but I recommended to my college students A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method by Stephen S Carey.

I choose not to live in a bubble. I am well aware of the pollution levels and the short-sightedness of people. Some on this forum show it well.

Confusion on different point of views is not what the problem is. It's the attitude of some who feel their way and their education on all that is rabbit should be the basis of this forum. Their view on rescue, their view on breeding, their view on what these rabbits should live in, eat, drink and breath.

Your books show nothing of the actual attachment of a rabbit. The EXPERIENCE is what its all about. My way of looking at advise, which is completely different as yours, is to give what I do, SHOW what I do, and let the people who love their rabbits, make their choices. I don't think all rabbit food is dog food compared to Oxbow. I don't think that every rabbit should be neutered and spayed because there are so many bunnies out there who need homes. I don't think that every rabbit should be in a crate like mine.

People are smarter than what you give them credit for. They come here, as I did, asking for advise, looking for discussion, or just plan fun with others, talking about rabbits. What's been going on recently is laughable. You and others are showing new people and people who have enjoyed this site for years, that this forum doesn't want different point of views. And if you want to breed, if you want crates or hutches, if you don't bond and rescue, you are not wanted here. That's called bullying. Good message to give others.

I don't see a Great Rabbit Community like that.

That's where the confusion on different points of view come from. Not mine.

I plan on staying. Been down this road before, and don't care what you think of me. Not here to fight, just here to talk bunnies. That's what RabbitsOnLine is all about, isn't it?

K

 

[tamsin]

Life-expectancy of a wild rabbit, presuming they're in the 10% that make it to adulthood is about 18 months. Which is probably one of the reasons for the high incidence of cancer, they don't live long enough that natural selection would weed it out. The same with domestic breeding, rabbits breed relatively young and cancer shows very few symptoms, so breeders rarely encounter in and definitely not in a way that would make it easy to select against.

Often if you ask the slightly older generation, they'll tell you the life expectancy is 5-6 years (whereas it's now quoted as 7-10). I imagine a rabbit showing gradual decline or infertility was put down to old age. It's only now that spaying is much more routine that we know cancer is seen in some does as young as 18 months and is very common in older females.

 

[Elliot]

In dogs, the incidence of prostate problems is high with intact males. I wonder if it is also the same for bunnies? I have to agree that it must be very frustrating for either sex, to be hormonal and not allowed to reproduce. I believe that it causes most of the behavioral problems seen in pet birds.