Hermaphrodite rabbit

Question
I got my first rabbit a few months ago, his name is Toast. I had him checked out by a vet who had some experience with rabbits. He said that my bunny was a male (which I could agree with as he clearly had testicles) and so I had him fixed. I took him to another vet with much more bunny experience this week, and she said that "he" was a she....but when I explained the whole "my bunny did have nuts" thing she looked a little harder and sure enough "he" has a very small penis (clearly not a normal size), but what looks like a vulva too..the vet thinks that Toast is a hermaphrodite. She said several things I like to double check.

1. That it might be possible that his penis got smaller after he was fixed, that it is an adjustment to no longer needing to reproduce.
2. That it is not necessary to have Toast spayed
3. That there are no special health needs I will have to watch out for.

Any info on this subject will be welcome. Some first bunny!

Thanks for your time,
Sara

Answer
Dear Sara,

Wow, that is some introduction to bunnydom!

While it's *possible* that Toast is a hermaphrodite, it's also possible that s/he simply had a bit of abnormal genital development during embryogenesis, and that his external genitalia are not quite normally formed.  The opening you see might not be a vulva, but an incompletely closed penile shaft characteristic of a condition called pseudohermaphroditism.

It's true that the penis will become smaller (or not develop) after a neuter, since male sex hormones are necessary to keep it in full, macho size.  So the vet's first comment is correct.  (Although, as an evolutionary biologist, I would argue that the reason isn't an "adjustment to no longer needing to reproduce", but just a physical result of the lack of male hormones.)

I hope Toast doesn't have a uterus and ovaries upstairs, but it's not impossible.  An experienced vet should be able to palpate him/her when he's a few months old and see whether there are reproductive organs there, though they might not be normally formed, either.  If s/he starts to exhibit behaviors typical of false pregnancy (grouchiness, building a nest, pulling fur from her sides, etc.), then it's time to go on a uterus hunt and see whether Toast also needs to be spayed.

Bleeding from the "vulva" opening would be a sure sign that there's something that must be addressed.  Unspayed, unbred female rabbits have a very high risk of uterine cancer.  But I hope you never see that.

For the moment, though, I would just hope for the best and assume no further abnormality.  

Hope that helps!

Dana