two questions

Question
ok my first question is can rabbits eat fresh pumpkin or pumpkin seeds and my second question is i have a female dwarf rabbit she is about 5 months old i dont plan on getting another rabbit so how necessary is it to have her spayed?

Answer
Hi,

normally the rule of thumb is not to give rabbits seeds from anything. Often there's things in the seeds that can potentially be toxic to rabbits, so even though I know in this case, pumpkin seeds are safe for them - not toxic - they are fattening so I'd probably avoid them.  Possibly 1 or two as an occasional treat, but there are better things for treats than this.

As per spaying her, it is really a good thing to consider, primarily because it will extend her life about double.  Unspayed females develop uterine cancer at shockingly high rates - 85% by age 5 or 6. So in reality you're doubling her lifespan, most likely.  Second you will get rid of some negative hormonal behaviors that will typically develop when she hits sexual maturity, most common is cage aggression, she will not like you having hands in her cage when she's in there and may box or nip your hands.  Litterpan habits can also get worse, and she may start marking boundaries of her territory in the house.  Spaying will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, many of these problems.  You might just see a 1-2 week jump in negative behavior in the spring when her remaining hormone levels naturally rise, but nothing like you'd see in an unspayed rabbit.

The KEY is gettign a good rabbit vet who does this operation routinely - several a week or at least once a week - to do this.  And you need to read up on it yourself.  If you need to find a vet and also to read up on spaying go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  Their web site is searchable so you can find articles on spaying and things to do when planning a surgery.