spaying females or not....?

Hiya

Just after a bit of advic e regarding spaying. I read that females are at high risk of uterine cancer if you do not spay them and they have not had a litter. So, if a female is 1year old and has been bred from, do I need to spay her? I also reaqd their temperments can change once they hit sexual maturity, but if the doe is placid and friendly at 1 yr old, does this mean she will stay like that?

What age can you spay up to?

THank you in advance for your help
Elaine

Female rabbits can be very territorial when they hit sexual maturity. Obviously, they have their own personalities but 'whole' rabbits tend to be ruled more by their hormones. You may find that a placid doe turns a lot grumpier and will lunge and grunt especially if you put your hand into her space, even to put in food.

when I first got buns, I got a whole doe from a friend who was getting divorced. When I learnt about the risk of cancer, I had her spayed (she was about 4) and she was fine. My current doe, Gloria, has also been spayed when she was about 2.5 yrs old.

Neither bun had a problem with the operation and made very quick recoveries. I brought them indoors for the first week until their incision had healed up and so I could keep an eye on their gut processes.

I can't say I have noticed a lot of difference in their temperaments but am happy to know that the uterine cancer risk is lowered and they are not at risk of getting pregnant by a stray bun breaking into the run as happened to my cousin's two female buns who were visited by a wildie and left with 11 babies!!

If I remember rightly, (and I don't always..) Snowy had a bun in her sanctuary who was spayed at around 5 yrs old (I think, could have been older) who already had uterine cancer. Although the uterus was removed, the cancer cells had already spread to other organs.

I'm unsure as to whether having a litter makes any difference, I've not heard that before, but the chance of Doe's developing uterine cancer is high, so it is usually recommended, unless there is a medical reason not to do it.

I got Josephine desexed at about 6 months old and honestly, I didn't notice any difference in her behaviour. From what I understand rabbits are meant to act less "hormonal" after their neuter or spey, but Josephine wasn't acting very "hormonal" before her spey (which sounds like your bunny) so there was no real difference in her behaviour. As such, I don't imagine your rabbit's behaviour will change but I am no expert.

When I got Josephine desexed it was solely because of the risk of cancer - the idea of my baby dying prematurely from preventable cancer really worried me. Hopefully someone else will know about does who have had babies, I have no clue about them.

None of my bunnies are done they are all fine my eldest is coming up to 5 and Holly is 4 next march. But the rest are just over 1 and under 1

Velvet.Tears wrote:None of my bunnies are done they are all fine my eldest is coming up to 5 and Holly is 4 next march...

This is the age when they become vulnerable to cancer.

The Rabbit Welfare Assoc. have this information sheet which explains the evidence re: uterine cancer. It is completely preventable if the bun is spayed early in life. As I mentioned above, even if spayed later, if cancer has already developed, it could spread, and negate the benefits of a spay.
The House rabbit network have this information about it.

Perhaps you could talk to your vet about it

Im going to be taking Paris in for an MOT my vet is cheap but very good. For £30 she will have a blood test & health check

I have sadly lost unneutered does to uterine cancer, it does not make a difference whether they had been bred from or not, so all of mine are now spayed, I have had two spayed at 4 years old and two done at 5 years old with no complications, as long as your vet is good and the rabbit is in good health there is no reason to believe there will be any problems.

Thank you for all your replies, I will spey the female. Thanks