Nuetering

Question
I am scheduled to nueter my 5 month old mini-lop on Friday. Im concerned about doing this because I dont want him to lose his personality. Hes a happy bunny, frequently doing fast bunny and binkies. Will he lose this and become complacent after being nuetered?
He hasnt shown any aggression towards me or anyone else in the house, although he is digging and chewing more lately. Should I nueter him if he isnt aggressive toward us, or humping? I just dont want to put him through unnecessary pain, and I dont want to lose his personality either.

Answer
Hi,

here's how I see what sexual maturity does.

If you have had him before his 'puberty', you have seen his real personality.

At puberty, those hormones are very high, and they make him do things he otherwise would not do.  The hormones override his personality in some ways, behaviorally.  Like before, he may have circled your feet and honked.  Now he does that plus ride your leg.  Or forearm.

Neutering will bring the hormone levels down and allow the personality to be in the forefront over the hormones.

Of course you need to have this done by an excellent rabbit vet who does this preferably several times a week. With no fatalities.

Neutering is generally easier than a spay as it is less invasive.  The key thing is, if possible, be with him in recovery, pet him, talk to him while he's recovering, observe him along with the vet techs, bring along his regular foods and have them around during recovery, they will wnat to see him eating and drinking before they consider releasing him.

They will give you (or if they don't request them) post op antibiotics to prevent infections - baytril is common - give him the proper doses as indicated until the entire amount is used up.  They should give you pain medicine - metacam probably - and do the same thing, doses in amounts indicated until that is gone.  He will probably only be down a day or two, males bounce back a little quicker because it's less traumatic.

All the while give him EXTRA attention.  He'll need it because he needs to be kept in his cage (house) for about a week to prevent him from running and jumping hard, and possibly popping an internal stitch.  Ask the vet about using dissolvable stitches so you don't have to go back in and have them taken out.  The vet may want to do a post-op check on him.  But at least he won't have to remove anything if they want to see him a week or two after.

If you notice any problems or if your bunny is off his normal routine after he appeared to get better get him back in, as a post-op infection may have developed that isn't wiped out by the baytril.