Should I spay my 7-year old bunny?

[Babygroot]

Hello again! Back with another question!

Sooo, I have a 7-year old bunny whose name is Molly. I've considered getting her spayed recently and I did visit the vet about two months ago now to see if it was possible considering her age. The vet said that she was in a very good condition despite her age and basically that it's possible for Molly to get spayed. However, the reason I want to spay her is of course for health reasons, but also because she can be very aggressive at times and because I wanted to give her a partner... The vet said that despite getting her spayed it's very possible that she'll still be aggressive and since she has been alone for so many years she might not want to have a partner. Well, really that information wasn't really a surprise, but then I am considering if it's still worth spaying her. The vet said that of course I can for health reasons, although she's not very worried about Molly's health since it was surprisingly very good for a 7-year old, but it most likely won't affect her behavior and she probably doesn't feel the want to have a partner anyway... So spaying her for those reasons is probably not going to change much anyway.

So basically what I'm asking, should I still spay Molly?

 

[Abi :)]

As the vet mentioned spaying can be beneficial for female rabbits in particular for reproductive cancers which can increase their life spans. Despite the vet mentioning she is not worried about Molly's health I think you should consider the small chance that Molly could develop any reproductive issues in the future, at which point it may be too late to have the surgery. If the vet is sure that Molly is in good health and will recover from the surgery well I think you should consider doing it, not just for bonding/behaviour but also for the health aspect. As for the bonding, some rabbits do tend to prefer to be alone which is actually surprising! I have two buns, initially I had two siblings but unfortunately our male bun passed away quite young sue to health issues, which meant our female Bambi was alone for around 3-4 months before being spayed and bonded to her new partner Duke. Bambi was completely fine with being alone and from what I noticed, she actually enjoyed it, however we still decided to get her a partner since she was used to being with another bun previously. So don't stress about Molly being a solitary bun!

Hope this helps!

 

[JBun]

I had a 7 yr old rabbit spayed due to the possible beginnings of uterine cancer. Recovery was harder and slower with her, but she ended up being ok. To minimize risks and complications, I would suggest going with the best and most experienced rabbit vet you can find, and have pre surgical blood work done to check liver and kidney function.

http://www.rabbitvet.net/Eurovets.htm
Whether or not it will help calm that aggression down, depends on how hormonally driven it is, or if it's mostly due to her personality or a learned behavior. So there's no way to know if it will just help a little or a lot, except having the spay done and then seeing if there's a change.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Aggressive_rabbits
Being alone doesn't necessarily mean a rabbit won't bond easily with another rabbit. That has more to do with finding the right match of personalities than anything. But it's also possibly your rabbit could be one of the few that prefer to not have a bunny friend.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
The biggest reason to decide on a spay is the possible health risks. Rabbits over 5 years have an increased risk of uterine cancer. So that alone can be a reason to decide on a spay. But only you can decide if the benefits of a spay for your rabbit, outweigh the possible risks of surgery.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

 

[Babygroot]

As the vet mentioned spaying can be beneficial for female rabbits in particular for reproductive cancers which can increase their life spans. Despite the vet mentioning she is not worried about Molly's health I think you should consider the small chance that Molly could develop any reproductive issues in the future, at which point it may be too late to have the surgery. If the vet is sure that Molly is in good health and will recover from the surgery well I think you should consider doing it, not just for bonding/behaviour but also for the health aspect. As for the bonding, some rabbits do tend to prefer to be alone which is actually surprising! I have two buns, initially I had two siblings but unfortunately our male bun passed away quite young sue to health issues, which meant our female Bambi was alone for around 3-4 months before being spayed and bonded to her new partner Duke. Bambi was completely fine with being alone and from what I noticed, she actually enjoyed it, however we still decided to get her a partner since she was used to being with another bun previously. So don't stress about Molly being a solitary bun!

Hope this helps!

Hi, thank you so much for the response! I think that Molly definitely doesn't mind being a solitary bun since that's pretty much all she knows so she's used to it and she finds happiness despite being alone so yeah, I probably shouldn't stress too much over it. It's just that I got lots of bunnies at a young age despite my family not knowing and understanding how to properly care for bunnies which is why all of them are unspayed. I finally started doing some real proper research about bunnies about 2 years ago, which is not long ago at all really but I really didn't know any better so now I'm trying to improve all of my bunny's lifestyles so they can live longer and happier lives than the ones before. So during my research, I guess you could say, I read that bunnies often do well with a partner and that unspayed females have a rather high risk of developing uterine cancer, which is why I started looking more into the procedure and I've concluded now that I will have her spayed! I'll probably do one more check-up just to ensure that she'll be okay, and see how things will turn out! I agree that it's best to do it now while she's healthy cause you never know what could happen in the future, so I am currently waiting for my next paycheck and I'm pretty sure I'll have enough for Molly to get spayed as soon as possible!

I actually just lost one of my older buns Mimmi this night and she had bonded with my younger bunny Valerya. So I'm hoping maybe I can bond Molly with Valerya. It's very uncertain if it's going to work but I'm going to try and see and hopefully they're a match!

 

[Babygroot]

I had a 7 yr old rabbit spayed due to the possible beginnings of uterine cancer. Recovery was harder and slower with her, but she ended up being ok. To minimize risks and complications, I would suggest going with the best and most experienced rabbit vet you can find, and have pre surgical blood work done to check liver and kidney function.

http://www.rabbitvet.net/Eurovets.htm
Whether or not it will help calm that aggression down, depends on how hormonally driven it is, or if it's mostly due to her personality or a learned behavior. So there's no way to know if it will just help a little or a lot, except having the spay done and then seeing if there's a change.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Aggressive_rabbits
Being alone doesn't necessarily mean a rabbit won't bond easily with another rabbit. That has more to do with finding the right match of personalities than anything. But it's also possibly your rabbit could be one of the few that prefer to not have a bunny friend.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
The biggest reason to decide on a spay is the possible health risks. Rabbits over 5 years have an increased risk of uterine cancer. So that alone can be a reason to decide on a spay. But only you can decide if the benefits of a spay for your rabbit, outweigh the possible risks of surgery.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

Wow thanks for all the links and tips! I live in Sweden and "Blå Stjärnan" is really the place to go for surgeries like getting a bunny spayed, I saw that them on the list that you linked! They are very pricey but it sooo much safer than any other place so it's definitely worth it!

I'm pretty sure that Molly's aggressiveness comes from being quite territorial. She usually gets mad when I'm walking on her carpet, putting hay in her cage (the cage is only for hay and other bunny business, she doesn't live in it) touching or moving her stuff, and giving her food. I was thinking maybe she doesn't feel the need to be so territorial if she gets spayed but yeah.

As I wrote to Abi I have a bunny who just lost her mate and so I'm hoping that maybe she'll be able to bond with Molly, that would be ideal but it's not certain of course if they like each other. But I'm going to try and see!

I have decided to get Molly spayed! I agree with Abi that I should do it while she's still healthy and the chances of her being able to recover are higher to prevent the possible health risks that could come in the future. Maybe it could tone down her aggressiveness and maybe that'll help in finding a bonding mate, but at the moment I'm just going to prioritize her health. So we'll see how things play out!