my vet says my rabbit has hemophilia

Question
I had my dutch rabbit castrated today and although the procedure  itself went fine, i was told when i picked him up that he has a clotting problem and it took a while for him to completely stop bleeding. He's home safe now, but i was wondering how common this problem is in rabbits and whether he will need any special attention to prevent internal bleeds or anything like that. I've had him just over a year now from being a bunny and he's fully vaccinated and I've not noticed any problems like this before so i can only assume its not too serious. I've never heard of rabbits with hemophilia and couldn't find any information online.

Answer
Dear Rachael,

I have never heard of a rabbit having hemophilia, either.  I seriously doubt that he has this genetic condition, or the vet would not have been able to stop the bleeding.

Does this vet see many rabbits?  If not, then I wonder if perhaps he accidentally cut a blood vessel that isn't the same in dogs/cats, and was surprised that he could not easily stop the bleeding.

Keep a very close eye out for any sign of further bleeding/hemorrhage, since if this was a large vessel and the vet didn't properly ligate it, it could start to cause problems again.  If you see bleeding, call the vet immediately and get him in as an emergency.  I doubt the bunny has hemophilia, but if the vet saw unusual bleeding in surgery, there could be a recurrence, and you need to be ready.

Hope he'll be fine.

Dana