Pet Information > ASK Experts > Exotic Pets > Rabbits > spayed rabbit false pregnancy?

spayed rabbit false pregnancy?

22 11:09:15

Question
Hello! We have a couple rabbits (one male, one female) we adopted at
different times from the humane society a few years ago. Our boy has a bit of
a chronic respiratory condition that we've been monitoring, and so they live in
separate cages yet still play together, but they've never tried to mate or
mount each other. We were told they were both fixed when we got each of
them, and until now have had no reason to believe otherwise. Their behavior
is normal, until we noticed our female rabbit had been pulling hair from her
chest and making a nest. She's about 4 years old. After doing some research,
it seems like a false pregnancy is very rare for a spayed rabbit. We really don't
believe there's a possibility of her being pregnant. We did go out of town for
a couple days over Thanksgiving, and so there's a possibility she was just
feeling ignored.

Long story short, I guess my questions are: Can a spayed rabbit get false
pregnancies? How can you tell if a rabbit has been spayed? What else goes on
with a false pregnancy besides tearing out fur from her chest? How do we
know if something is wrong or if she's just freaking out momentarily?

Thanks so much for your help!!  

Answer
Dear Marianne,

It is very unusual for a spayed rabbit to have a false pregnancy, though I have heard of rare occasions where this has happened.  In your case, since this bunny was from a shelter, I would not assume she's spayed.

A good, experienced rabbit vet can palpate her abdomen to feel if there is still a uterus.  If so, she should be spayed for her own health and longevity.  You can find a good vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope that helps.

Dana