Bandit's getting the snip.

My bunny's at the vets getting his manhood taken away. Silly beast was so excited when I put him in the carrier as the last place he went to in it was his holiday boarding- which he loved! He was still looking all excited and curious when we left him with the vet - poor thing's in for a shock! I'm anxiously waiting for a call to say all's gone well and I'm going to set up his hutch with cosy extra hay for him, though he'll probably be too groggy to care.

Awww bless little bandit, they usually recover from the male snip extremely quickly, so hopefully he'll be right as rain very soon! Remember he needs to be indoors tonight if he usually lives outside, and give him a bowl as well as a bottle to drink from, they usually prefer that after an anaesthetic.

Hope the little monkey came through his op well?

What made you decide to have him castrated? I did that to my last bunny and it was the worst thing i ever did. Hope he came through ok.
Dawn.

He came through the op fine. He's drinking well but hasn't eaten properly yet. He's taken two treats but isn't interested in his pellets. I'm not too worried as he's got a bit in reserve to keep him going until he feels up to eating again. Why was it the worst thing you did border? I got him done so he could be bonded with another bunny, as he's fairly aloof with us humans and I think he'd prefer bunny company. X

Hi Nicky.
I had mine done because he started spraying urine at us, this did stop but his coat bcame absolutely dreadful, he also became moody and withdrawn, from a social Rabbit to one hat kept his own company. The fur got so thick it had to be cut away from his bottom every week or so, very very unpleasant for all concerned.

Strangely enough "Fluffybunny" asked on another foum about negative points after rabbits were neutered, if I remember correctly the number who changed for the worse was very high.

Glad he is ok.
Dawn.

Yes it was higher than I expected, but to put those results in context, the discussion then went on to say that in actual fact most people who said that their rabbit got less social, recognised that this was due to the fact that the rabbit was sexually frustrated before the snip, and therefore calmer and less inclined to be so friendly afterwards - so different, but not particularly in a problematic way. Also, people tend to get rabbits neutered at around puberty, when their personality would be changing anyway, and therefore they associate the change in behaviour with neutering, when in fact it would probably have happened anyway - and possibly been much worse! The sort of problem you described with the coat is extremely rare - I work with rescues who probably neuter 1000 rabbits a year between them, and I could list on one hand, those who have had problems as a result, and it was a long time ago I seem to recall, since when techniques, anaesthetics and drugs have moved on absolutely loads and make it all much safer.

Glad he's doing well Nicky, I think you did absolutely the right thing, buns are social creatures who really thrive with company of their own kind. If he is still not eating today, I would suggest you get him back to a vet - their stomachs need to continually process food and it can be life threatening to them if they do not eat for a period of more than 24 hours, as it allows 'bad' bacteria to multiply in the gut. Your vet should be able to give him an injection to stimulate his guts, and possibly another painkiller, and hopefully that will get him going nicely again!

Best wishes, xxx