Hi I’m Tilly. My mum said I should do this post as I was the latest one to be spayed & this is what this post is all about – Neutering. A new page has been added to our site surprisingly called Neutering. Click here to go to the page & find out what neutering is, about post op care & the benefits of neutering.
This is my story, I am 2.5 years old & my mum had me spayed towards the end of last year. I was a little bit complicated at the time of my spay as I was having a phantom pregnancy, sometimes called a pseudo pregnancy. Basically that meant I was mimicking a real pregnancy. My hormones were all over the place & I was pulling fur out, nest building & being a bit grumpy too. I couldn’t help it though. Hormones are powerful things as I am sure us girls know only too well.
My mum waited for my hormones to settle which they should have done within a couple of weeks but they didn’t. It was decided the spay operation would go ahead as the benefits for me basically meant my life would be saved. Once spayed I would not have any risk of Uterine cancer which otherwise I would have been 90% guaranteed to get. I could also have a more settled life without the ups & downs of rampaging hormones. This would be good news for my partner too!
It’s not just us girls who benefit from neutering, although our lives are more at stake than the boys because of the Uterine cancer risk, the boys are less territorial & calmer so that means a lot less spraying & bad behaviour. Occasionally, male rabbits can develop cancer in their prostrate gland & testes.
The other big benefit is it stops unwanted pregnancies. One of the biggest causes of this is if you have bought your rabbits at a young age from a pet shop, any other shop, breeder or person. It is incredibly difficult to identify the sex of very young rabbits. My mum has known a lot of people who have ended up with unwanted litters due to the fact the person they obtained the rabbits from has incorrectly identified the sex.
By taking your rabbits to the vets for a check & to discuss when they will be ready for neutering you will be able to ask your vet to double check their sex. This should help prevent unwanted pregnancies. Do not place blind faith in the seller.
Remember females can reproduce from 4-6 months old & males 3-4 months old. Also once a male is castrated he isn’t sterile immediately. Keep him away from unsprayed females for 4-8 weeks. A female is sterile immediately after the operation.
My final word is do please have all of us neutered. You will save the lives of your females, allow your males to have a calmer & healthier life & stop more unwanted bunnies going into sanctuaries. They do their best but it is not like being in a loved home. I should know I spent well over a year in a sanctuary & lots of others spend far more time than that.