desexing

Should my bunny have one litter before desexing?

There is no advantage to letting your bunny have a litter before desexing. Baby bunnies are gorgeous but where do
you find homes for all of them?? Rabbits can breed very young (around 3-6 months of age) and are notoriously hard
to sex. If you have young bunnies and do not want them to breed, it is best to separate them until you can clearly
identify girls from boys.

Who are you and what have you done with my bunny?

Once your bunny hits puberty, you'll notice some changes in their personality which you might not like. Bunnies can
become aggressive, territorial and can scratch and bite. They can circle you, growl, nip, refuse to use their litter tray
and if your boy bunny really loves you, you may be sprayed as a term of endearment!

If you desex your bunny, these aggressive traits will lessen and you will finally get to know the real personality of your
companion friend. Your bunny will remember their litter training and will become much more calm and relaxed.

For the boys

Boys can be desexed at around 4 months of age (depending on the weight and size of your bunny). Generally, if the
dangly bits are dangling, it's time for the operation - but check with your vet for an accurate guide.

The reason I was desexed is not only so my hormones would calm down, but I would stop spraying. Boy bunnies
tend to spray urine to mark territory (I was pretty good at this but I'm sure my human friends were getting sick of
washing down the walls!).

Another thing to tell you about boys is that we can still father babies until 4 weeks after our operation, so think again
before you put us in with an undesexed female.

For the girls

Girls are best desexed between 6 months to 1 year. Girls can be the most aggressive of the bunny world so an
undesexed girl can sometimes cause more trouble than a boy. As well as aggression, females also can have
phantom pregnancies, meaning that they pull their fur out and make nests (Dingle did this at around 6 months of age,
silly girl!).

The risk with fur pulling is that rabbits can ingest large amounts of it and this can cause blockages in their digestive
system that can result in serious illness and possibly death.

Many people also say that over the age of 3 a female rabbit has an 80% chance of uterine cancer.

Finding a vet

So, you've decided to go ahead with the operation! Good for you and your bunny!

First you'll have to find a good vet that has experience desexing rabbits. Please see the guide to finding a good vet.

Post-operative care

We need lots of love and attention after our operation so please don't forget us or you may miss any problems that
may need your urgent attention.

Keep it clean

When your bunny comes home from the vet, make sure you have cleaned out their home/enclosure so there is
nothing dirty that could infect the wound. Give them a clean litter tray so you will be able to check on whether they
are able to go to the toilet easily. It is probably best to keep your bunny away from other bunnies straight after an
operation so they will not try to run and play too strenuously. This doesn't mean they should not be with their friends,
but perhaps make up a separate area so they can still see, touch and smell each other. If your bunny is removed
from their partner, this could cause unnecessary stress for both parties

Make sure we eat

All operations for bunnies are serious so and it can take a while to get us back to being happy again. Rabbits need
to continually eat so make sure your bunny is eating after its operation. If this means sitting in front of your bunny
with his/her favourite food while you shove it in front of them until they finally eat something, then so be it. It does
work in the end!

Administering medication

Your vet should supply you with post-operative medication for pain (Metacam) and sometimes you may require
administering a gut motility medication (Prepulsid) to get the tummy moving again - not always though. Dingle &
Pancake (both girls) were both desexed and neither required any medication to get them to eat. They both did take a
while to get back to eating and did require lots of coaching but eventually (within a few hours - well Pancake took a bit
longer and we did try to give her medication...) they did both eat and go to the toilet normally.

Stitch removal

If you are concerned about stitch removal, just keep an eye on your bunny's wound regularly so you can assess
what's happening. I think it's rare for a bunny to pull out all stitches but I have heard of it happening so nothing is
impossible. Most times after desexing, your bunny will have already removed the stitches before the next vet visit but
as long as things are healing, there's no need to panic.