| The Benefits of Spaying and Neutering |
| What!? "Spay or neuter your rabbit." Yes, you read that right! Spay or neuter your pet rabbit if you intend on giving it a good home for the longest time possible. Unless you are involved in a responsible breeding program, spay or neuter your rabbit(s)!!! The benefits far outweigh any reason not to, in my opinion. First of all, the behavior of hormonal bunnies is less than preferable. Digging, biting, scratching, URINE SPRAYING (on things including yourself...trust me, this is no fun at all...) are a few bad behaviors that will more than likely improve after your rabbit is altered. Secondly, he or she will calm down a bit. The hormones seem to drive them crazy and since "those parts" are removed, the hormones causing the bad behaviors and hyperness are no longer produced. Another reason to have your rabbit spayed or neutered is to eliminate the risk of an "oopsie" pregnancy. Go to Petfinder.com and count all of the rabbits listed in all 50 states and then double the sum. That is roughly how many homeless rabbits there are in the U.S., give or take around 100. (This is my guess...not a proven fact, however it is a reasonable guess considering the number of rabbits listed and the unknown amount not listed.) By breeding your rabbit even once, you are taking away possible homes for shelter rabbits. It is one thing to breed purebred, pedigreed show rabbits, and it is a completely different thing to breed mutt pet buns. A person who wants a purebred rabbit is going to go to a breeder rather than a shelter, so the so-called "fact" that a breeder rabbit steals a home from a shelter rabbit is just ridiculous. A person who doesn't care about the breed is going to go to either a pet store, a BYB (YOU if you breed pet rabbits), or (hopefully) a shelter. It is up to us, the responsible pet owners and breeders, to steer people in the right direction. DO NOT BREED PET RABBITS!!!!!!!!! And finally, but most importantly, the cancer rate in unaltered rabbits is extremely high. There is about a 65% chance that an unspayed doe will develop uterine or ovarian cancer before 7 years of age. Please remember that this is an unspayed, unbred doe; just a run-of-the-mill pet. Because brood-does are bred, the uterus and ovaries are doing work, therefore the cancer will not develop as often as in pet does, where obviously the reproductive organs are going unused.. The statistics for testicular cancer in bucks is equally as high, but not as high as the rate is for does. In either case, if you want to ensure that your rabbit has the longest life possible, spay or neuter them!! Home |