Neuter risks

[lavendertealatte]

how risky is a neuter procedure?

there's a vet here who can do it, she says she's done a lot of rabbits before but that there's always a risk.

exactly how risky is it? are there stats anywhere on how many die from this kind of procedure?

 

[Popsicles]

It’s dependent on so many different factors. We are told that there is a 1% chance of anaesthetic death in rabbits. This is even lower with experience rabbit Vets. It depends on how often the vet operates on rabbits, how straightforward the neuter is (i.e. any complications such as a retained testicle will make the op take longer), whether the rabbit has any underlying health issues (e.g. heart problems, which are near impossible to diagnose in a rabbit with a heart rate of 150bpm).
Truly, there is of course a risk with any anaesthetic, and the same goes for us humans. But the actual neutering surgery itself is one of the least risky, and a very quick op, so for most rabbit owners the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risks.

 

[Blue eyes]

she says she's done a lot of rabbits before but that there's always a risk.

What does she mean by "a lot" and has she lost any? What are her statistics? How often does she do them? How recent was the last one? Those are questions that come to my mind.

Oh, thinking about this made me remember that House Rabbit Society had a list of questions for a potential vet for rabbit spay or neuter:
https://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

Scroll down on that link for great questions to ask your vet -- especially given your concerns.