Spaying and Neutering Rabbits

Rabbits can reproduce many times in a year and for those who keep them as pets, this can be challenging to take care of this rapidly increasing population. In addition, sexual aggression is common and this can be eliminated by castration of the male rabbit (buck) or spaying the female rabbit (doe). Spayed doe is likely to live longer and this reduces chances of them getting uterine cancer, compared to unspayed female where the risk is more than 80 %.

Surgery can be done when the rabbits are about 5 months of age and they should be offered food right up to the time of operation and thereafter, because rabbits cannot vomit and therefore no risk of aspiration pneumonia. It is important to know that males will still have sperms in their tubes 3 weeks after surgery. It is, therefore, recommended that they are kept away from the females for a while. The reproductive power of rabbits is amazing.

Author

Dr. Anderson Gitari. Bvm, Mvet Surg.