neutered male, unneutered female

Question
I read in your reply to someone else's question about not mixing neutered and unneutered rabbits. I have a male rabbit, Thumper, which was just neutered this past week. I was planning on having our female rabbit, Bella, spayed as well as soon as she was of age, however my vet informed me that he does not perform spays on female rabbits and that in his opinion there is not much of a need to. After a few weeks, is it ok to put them together? In addition to this question, I was curious what to expect for Thumper's behavior when they do get to play together for the first time. His sexual drive (i.e. mounting) should be reduced, correct? I have 3 kids so need to be sure everything is rated G, if you know what I mean.

Answer
Hi Carrie,

I'm not a vet first off.  For him to say there is not much reason to tells me he's either not a good rabbit vet, not up on the benefits of spaying females, or both.  Whatever the case, I believe that statement is wrong.

Spaying females reduces cage aggression.  Fixing rabbits in general allow them to be litterpan-trainable and keep those good habits.  For females, a large percentage develop uterine cancer by age 5-6 and die.  Normally house rabbits can live 10-12 years.  Spaying females spares them from dying prematurely.

His mounting behavior will be reduced but not gone as some mounting behavior is about dominance.  Hers will not be.  Another reason to get her spayed.

I would suggest looking for a different vet if he truly does not think there's any benefit to spaying female rabbits (for the above reasons).  Go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

for a House Rabbit Society recommended rabbit vet in your area.

Lee