Rabbit cancer rates

Question
Hello, I have 2 1-year-old Lionhead rabbits, a male and a female. The male is fixed, but the female is not since my former vet told me he had not typically experienced much uterine cancer in does in his career. My new vet, however, says there IS a high instance of female bunnies getting uterine cancer if they are not fixed. What is your opinion?

Answer
Dear Becca,

I agree completely with your second vet, who appears to be much more experienced with rabbits than the first.  Unbred, unspayed female rabbits have a *very* high risk of uterine cancer.  Not all of them get it, but why take the chance?

Please read:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

I hope that will help you make the right decision, which I believe is to have her spayed.  No surgery is 100% risk-free, but since she is young and healthy, now would be the time to take that risk and prevent the very real threat of uterine cancer in the future.

I hope this helps.

Dana