OK this mornings results are...no difference - 11, got better - 7, got worse - 6.

Another suggestion has come forward as to why some people feel their buns temperament got worse after neutering (although it doesn't explain the loss of coat condition or Binka because he is properly aggressive isn't he??) is that some owners, especially inexperienced ones, mistake sexual frustration for friendliness, because the bun spends a lot of time circling their feet and wanting to be close to them. When the bun stops this behaviour after neutering, people therefore feel that their bun has got less friendly.

So at the moment it's 3:1 on those who feel their buns temperament has stayed the same or improved, compared to those who don't (although as I said before, some of the people, myself included, who have voted 'stayed the same' have had multiple rabbits neutered but only voted once). I think the most likely theories are the one in this thread, and the one that suggests that bunnies neutered early would have had a personality change anyway, and it is therefore assumed that this was related to neutering. Borderdawn how old was your little chap when he was done? I must admit I don't understand how neutering would affect coat condition unless the bun was a youngster with his 'baby' fur at the time

Hope that helps a bit, I'll let you know if it changes significantly or any more theories emerge!!

Do you really have to have him neutered? Anaesthetic not good the smaller the animal and I always found my males no problem at all, even had two run tog without fights cos they got used to each other from a young age, had females nearby too, think again

Well i'm not really sure now. That was the point of the post really. I didn't want him trying to get it on with Snuffs and getting hurt?!?! Now i'm even more confused!

Are their health benefits in getting a male neutered as in for females?

With the anaesthetics used nowadays there is no difference in anaesthetic risk from a rabbit to a cat or dog. It used to be the case when vets used halothane but now 99% or more of vets use isofluorane which is extremely safe and only really carries a risk if there is an underlying and unidentified problem. The only reason the statistics look 'worse' for rabbits and small animals is because often if they are sick, their owners don't take them to the vets until they are at deaths door, so the animal undergoing surgery is already more seriously ill than an equivalent cat or dog. I am good friends with three people who run rabbit rescues, and know of many others. In the past year I can think of one rabbit who died due to post-surgical complications out of the hundreds they netuer each year, and not one single case of a rabbit dying under the anaesthetic.

I have to say you were extremely lucky to have two unneutered males together and not fight. I have seen plenty of absolutely horrific injuries from rabbit fights, they can kill each other, and the risk from these fights is far greater than the risk from neutering, especially for males for whom it is a very non-invasive operation. The risk of this male getting badly bitten on his 'bits' and/or falling out with his partner through his humping, are substantially greater than the anaesthetic risk to him.

My Rabbit was 2yrs old when I had him done, he was a dwarf Lop. he became aggressive with the dogs to begin with chasing and biting their legs, I was concerned at this in itself, as the dogs were getting less tolerant of him (he had free reign of all garden and was only confined at night) He then began to run at me, spin round and spray urine at me and anyone else who came, he never tried to bite when handled, but he did begin to bite my shoes.

About 6 weeks after neutering, this behaviour stopped, although he did continue to chase the Cats not the dogs and he would bite them but they got out of the way so it was fine. Hi coat from the back of his shoulders down became incredibly thick and cotton wool like, it could not be groomed and it started to grow proffusely, to the point where every week I had to cut it away from his bottom. Over the years it got worse it was awful for him, he couldnt groom himself and I had resulted to clipping him, but this wasnt possible underneath as the coat was just too thick for the clippers to get through.

We coped though and he was 10 when he died. The Vet said they had had reports of coat changes and lethergy and weight gain in male Rabbits but not in females that had been spayed, for this reason, I wouldnt do it again.

Thanks for the info Fluffy its very interesting.
Dawn.

That's really interesting, I've not heard of coat changes before so thanks for that! I must say though if that was at least 8 years ago I don't really think it's a comparable experience now - rabbit medicine, including the drugs and techniques used, has come on so much over the past few years it's an entirely different ball game (if you'll pardon the pun LOL!) to even maybe 5 years ago.

Thinking about it Binka was a little bit aggressive last winter when he was in the shed and I put it down to the fact he was depressed because he couldn't come out as much - I did let him come out initially and wander about the shed which he loved but he was messing everywhere and it was beginning to smell and he also used to sit on the bale of hay that I used for him and the guinea pigs and messed on there too so I had to ban him from coming out and he became aggressive then. I want to keep them out all winter if I can this year so that they will alway have access to their pens through the day if they want to come out and they have two storey hutches this year and they sleep at the top so they won't be as near to the ground and will probably feel a bit warmer up there won't they

Thanks Fluffy and Dawn for all the info