Rabbit Neutering

Advantages to having male rabbits castrated:

• Uncastrated males can breed. Neutering/castration prevents this.
• Uncastrated male rabbits often spray urine like tom cats over their territory, their possessions (including their rabbit companions) and maybe over you, too!
• Unneutered males occasionally develop cancer in their testes and prostate gland. Although the risk is small, castration removes that risk completely
• Neutering usually make litter training much easier.
• Some unneutered males are aggressive. After castration, testosterone levels will fall dramatically which should reduce aggression or get rid of it completely.
• Uncastrated male rabbits can’t live bonded with any other rabbit safely.

Advantages of having female rabbits spayed:

• Unspayed females are at very high risk of two potentially fatal conditions: uterine cancer and pyometra (infection of the uterus/womb).
• Less commonly, they may develop mammary tumours
• Some unspayed females are aggressive and territorial. Many have repeated phantom pregnancies and may growl, lunge at, scratch or bite their owners or other rabbits, particularly in spring and summer.
• Keeping two unspayed females together, even if they are sisters, is very likely to result in serious fighting and the risk of injuries.
• Female rabbits are able to have kits from about 4-6 months of age.

Rabbit pregnancies are short – around 31 days – and there are several kits to each litter. Females are able to mate again immediately after they have given birth, so if the dad is still around, it’s obviously very likely that you will have a population explosion.

The procedure itself is carried out as a day procedure. Your pet is admitted in the morning and the procedure is performed during the morning. We monitor them for the rest of the day to ensure they come around well after anaesthesia, and you’ll be able to pick them up that evening. All our bunnies go home with post-op medication including pain medication, and we check their wounds two and seven days after the procedure. In most instances there is no need for stitch removal as we apply tissue glue to the skin; but we always check your pet in the post-op period to ensure good wound healing and reduce the risk of complications.

Here at Beaufield we recommend the neutering of rabbits from five months of age onwards. We are always happy to discuss any queries or concerns you may have regarding the procedure so please contact us if you would like to do so.