neutering

Hi

i have 2 lovely mini lops who are siblings they have been for their vaccs today and the vet has advised they can be neutered from 4 months of age the lady of got them from said a buck can be neutered from 12 weeks of age...

the vet advised that there would be no need to split them apart in the mean time as doe's will not take a buck before they reach 5 months

just wanted to know what is your opinion or experience on this ?

many thanks

I would say find a vet who will neuter from 12 weeks. As with humans there are only guidelines on these things and no hard and fast rules. Your buck with still be fertile for up to 6 weeks after neutering so some form of splitting up is essential. If you can just separate them with a wire divider that should ensure they continue to get enough contact not to loose the bond.

I separated my two at 12 weeks. The last thing I wanted to do was contribute to the amount of homeless bunnies out there.

I've just double checked and my little guy was neutered at 13 weeks. When I booked his neuter, the vet went mental at me because he (incorrectly) assumed they were still living together and he told me that Molly was likely pregnant I took great pleasure in telling him he was wrong!!!

Molly was done several weeks later.

If I were you, I would separate them now and like Cheryl said, look for another vet to neuter your male.

thank you for your comments

the vet has assured me keeping them together should not be a problem but if he was getting too interested in her them they would do him earlier

she also said the doe could be done at the same time ,16 weeks i would of hoped the vet would know her stuff but now i'm confused and will call another vet to get a second opinion.

regards

https://happyhoppers.forumotion.co.uk/t89-neutering-spaying-castration

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/neutering28.8.07.pdf

Should provide you with more information

thank you

the rabbit welfare advises to neuter from 4 months i will keep an eye on them and if starts mounting her i will get him neutered earlier .

i have been told by a rabbit breeder that a doe will not take a buck until at least 20 weeks old and if they do manage to mate before then its normally a missed mating

regards

I wouldn't take the chance jag. You may not see the mounting - I doubt you are with them all the time. People end up with pregnant pets from pets shops exactly because of this reason. Your breeder is talking in generalisations - lots of does get pregnant under 20 weeks. I would also say that the RWAF leaflet, though excellent, is a few years old now. In the last year or 2 it has become much more commonplace to neuter buns at a younger age. Vets have become more confident in doing this, the anaesthetic risks have decreased and the signs have been that buns recover better when neutered early. It has just occurred to me that the RWAF have published more up to date advice in their new booklet - http://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/RWAbrochuremaster.pdf

I agree with Cheryl.

When I separated Molly and Junior, the original plan was to let them out together for supervised play time but Junior got far too humpy between booking his neuter and having it done. I was pushing him off her constantly, couldn't take my eyes off them for a second. Instead, they had about 8 weeks of getting out to play in shifts. Not ideal but it had to be done.

I think if you were to leave it until he is starting to hump her, it might be too late to prevent pregnancy.

hi yes i getting more and more concerned about this

but i cant understand my vets advise after all she is the medical expert i partically chose this vet practise has they were recommended for their expertise in rabbits?

Ask your vet is she is willing to meet every expense that may arise from an unplanned litter, neuter and vaccinate all the offspring and find them wonderful homes.

Then ask her again if she will neuter your buck at 12 weeks

I agree with all the comments made above. It is not worth the risk of your girl getting pregnant.

It may be that the vet you saw is not the bunny expert at the practice. Generally boy buns can be neutered as soon as his testicles drop, for Herbie this was at 14 weeks.

Most of the advice and timelines given are general and as in life, some things happen earlier or later. What you do not want to happen is for your very young doe to end up with an unplanned litter at such a young age. If you are able to stop this now then it is important that you do it.

Vets can be wrong even if they are experts and the sign of a really good vet is one who is able to admit that don't know everything. Vets who listen to their customers and react appropriately are good vets. I would get a second opinion.

Hi

i have called a few vets and cannot find one that will neuter the buck at 12 weeks they are all of the opinion that the rabbit needs to be fully developed which is from 16 weeks on wards

i have spoken to a couple of breeders who advise that the cut off point for keeping them together safely is 16 weeks.

so i have decided to keep a watchful eye on them i do spend a lot of time with them and if they begin to get frisky i will take measures to split them up.

i thank every one for their input.

We are here to help!

Where are you? Perhaps someone could recommend a vet

There is a member on here that rescued a 14 week old rabbit. Said rabbit was pregnant on arrival, so it does happen

thank you

they are both tiny and weigh under 1kg another reason the buck is not ready for the op i do trust my vet they are very good and have neutered many rabbits and given the same advise to owners so i don,t actually think they would continue to give the same wrong advice they are recommended on the good rabbit vet web site.

i have spent most of today in and out of their enclosure and there's no funny business going on at the moment although i am aware things can change over night

so i will be sensible and take the necessary measures if or when things change.

regards

I am sure you are right and your vet is very good. What I will say for the future is that even good vets need to learn new stuff sometimes. I have a very good vet. She is a RWAF member and attends conference every year. We have a good relationship and she seems to enjoy talking about new developments in rabbit medicine with me. However I took Bruce and Flo for their VHD vaccination last year and they were given the old Cylap vaccination - as they had done every year previously. However this time they developed 'Cylap limp'. I had never heard of it and it took some investigating before I knew what it was. I informed my vet - as you should whenever you rabbits experience a side effect to meds - and she said that she didn't think that the vaccine could be the cause. I said I had researched it online and she was welcome to take a look at that information as well. She now knows that it is more common and has seen more cases at the practice. Cylap was a known problem amongst experienced rabbit owners but not amongst vets. The company had changed their information sheet to say that 50% of rabbits would experience some side effects from it - a huge number. But they had not alerted vets to this change of information. So most vets have found out from disgruntled customers who have brought it to their attention. Vets are expected to know a huge amount of information about lots of different species of animals it would be unrealistic to expect them to be up to date with all the new info for all animals. If they aren't attending the rabbit conferences and training days from places like the RWAF or one of the specialist training schools then you may well find that there are people on forums that have more cutting edge information than them - mostly because they use vets who are expert and ground breaking in rabbit medicine. It is also worth pointing out that most vets won't see lots of cases of rabbit illnesses in their early stages as most rabbits are still rotting in hutches at the bottom of the garden. So when I turned up the other day at the vets with Flo who had early stage sore hocks the vet wasn't sure what route to take. So we tried it her way first applying cream then we tried the way that I had suggested wrapping the feet. Between us we will get her better! So what I am trying to say is don't be afraid to challenge your vet - it does them no harm to have to explain their decisions to you in detail. And if you don't like their thinking ask for a second vet to give their opinion. It doesn't mean going to a second practice or even paying any more money. Just ask for a second opinion from one of the other vets doing clinic. I hope that is a little bit helpful.

thank you very much indeed for taking the time out to share your experience i'm so sorry to hear that your bunnies got sick from the vaccine and i do hope Flo's hocks are much better and healing well, poor thing what causes that?

i did ask the vet why i would have to wait and that i would prefer him to have it carried out earlier but she replied they were still very small but if he started to show too much interest in her they would carry it out earlier rather than later...

i have since called other practises and they said the same in fact one said 5 months.

i am taking notes from all you happy hoppers so i will be very responsible and will not leave them together for a second too long if they do become sexually active.

regards

We think that Flo has a sore spine and has been sitting still too much which has caused pressure to build in the wrong place on her her foot.

Jag, I get the feeling from your replies that you may be in the US and a lot of guidelines that we are suggesting are timelines used in the UK by vets over here. The advice that members have given you has been based on personal experience - many of our members have kept rabbits for years

Whatever decision that is taken is obviously yours and it is good that you are even considering getting them neutered at all as lots of people don't bother. I hope that everything goes well and look forward to hearing more about them.

Hi there

i live in the UK ,

thank you i will keep happy hoppers updated

its a great forum by the way everyone is so helpful really appreciate it .

have a nice day

hi hoppers

just to update this post , today both bunnies were neutered they are 16 weeks old

i was very lucky i didn't have to split them up as i had no problems what so ever with them being together until 16 weeks of age.

they are both upstairs in the bedroom looking a bit worse for wear so fingers crossed for a quick recovery...

kind regards........

Hello

I'm so pleased their neutering went well

Just in case your vet didn't mention, it can take up to 6 weeks after neutering for hormones to calm down, just in case he tries to get a bit frisky before she has healed

I'm glad they are home and recovering. We have found that boys bounce back in no time

thank you

the doe was also neutered so no worries with the little guy still being fertile so they can now live happily ever after

they are the cutest little things absolutely gorgeous !

regards

Sorry, what a div, I should have been clearer

Hormones could be raging, just in case he feels a bit frisky and hurts her before she's fully recovered! The boys do tend to recover a lot quicker.

Sorry for expecting you to be able to read my mind

ETA, pics???