DIY Castration

Question
Do you mean an injection is more painful than surgery? Is it that pain killers work better on cuts than on pressure or effects of the chemical?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Other than size, is rabbit castration different from pig or sheep castration?  Do rabbits heal faster or slower than pigs?

What do you think about chemical castration? Inject 0.2 Milliliter of 10 percent calcium chloride solution into the bottom of each testical The Calsium chloride is a desiccant that will dry up the testicle in a few days.
-----Answer-----
Dear Tom,

Pre-scrotal neuters are preferred in rabbits, as they are far less painful and traumatic.  I have no experience with sheep or pigs, so I cannot compare their recovery rate.  But a rabbit usually is fairly well recovered from anesthesia and surgery in about 48 hours.  Pain medication (e.g., metacam or Banamine) will help speed recovery, as rabbits are *extremely* sensitive to pain, and can suffer from ileus and death if they are subjected to a great deal of pain without anesthesia and/or analgesia.

I know that sometimes pigs and sheep are castrated without anesthesia for economic reasons.  I hope you do not plan to do this on a rabbit, as it would not only be incredibly cruel, but also could result in almost immediate death from cardiac arrest.  Rabbits are small prey species, not evolved for pain and trauma, and the most likely result of a castration without any anesthesia would be death.  I hope I'm just being over-cautious in telling you this, and that you would NEVER consider it.  NOT EVEN FOR A NANOSECOND.

I know of a few people who have tried chemical castration on rabbits, and this was discussed on the boards for a while.  It's not widely used except in cases where a rabbit is a very poor surgical risk due to other factors, such as respiratory infection or chronic liver disease.

I suspect that being injected with calcium chloride would be painful, and that would be my main concern with this option.

Dana  

Answer
Dear Tom,

Well, I personally don't have testicles, so I can't really say for sure whether an injection or surgery would be more wince-inducing.  I don't think anyone has done a controlled study to test which is more painful.

Calcium chloride is caustic, and would burn like the dickens.  Of that, I'm pretty sure.

If you compare injecting a strong calcium salt into that delicate area versus a pre-scrotal neuter that doesn't even cut into the sensitive scrotal sac, then I think the choice would be easy to make.

(If you ask the bunny, he'll surely give you another opinion!)  ;)

Dana