breeding w/ smaller female

Question
Hello Lee
Thanks for being available to answer my question.  We have a 3lb female dutch rabbit and our neighbor has a 6lb male rex.  We are intrested in breeding them but, I am worried about the size difference.  Do you think she would be ok breeding with a male that is twice her size.  We would never want to do anything to hurt her.  One more question if I may.  How major is the surgery for spaying (her) Reggie?  I we can't breed her, we feel we should have her spayed.  I know it's very frustrating for her, at times.  We almost lost her to pnemonia about five months ago.  She is doing great now, we just worry about her.

Answer
Hi Shannon,

I am probably not the only one you may want to ask about breeding, as I am pretty much against it because there is a huge rabbit overpopulation problem already.  Over 40,000 rabbits a year are put down at shelters that are perfectly healthy.  Supply is greatly outpacing demand.  That's why I kind of think it's pointless to just add more supply when all it will do in the end is cause more rabbits being bought at pets stores or through private vendors, that ultimately wind up at shelters and are euthanized.

That said, I do believe there are responsible breeders out there, but they all get rid of 'imperfect' stock by selling them either as pets or fur/food.  So they all wind up contributing to the overpopulation/euthanization problem, because hard-core breeders are mainly concerned with keeping the breed they breed as perfect as possible, getting rid of unwanted inventory is secondary but necessary.

So I'm not a big fan of breeding.  You can take it for what it's worth, I am sure you'll have a different opinion if you ask a rabbit person who is a breeder.

As for mating with a larger rabbit, if they get along okay and don't fight/attack each other, it should be okay.  But they should be watched at all times.

I think you would do your girl a better service getting her spayed.  It is significant surgery, therefore it needs to be done only by an experienced rabbit vet with an excellent track record and by a vet who regularly sees and operates on rabbits.  If you do not have one, go to:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society (HRS) recommended rabbit vet in your area.  I would also spend time looking up articles in the HRS site (on the bottom of the main page) and search on the term "spay" and "altered".

With a good rabbit vet with a good surgical record, she should pull through well.  The vet should use isoflurine gas, and should giver her a pre-op sedative to calm her before she is given gas.  She also should be given pain meds for a few days after (metacam, probably) and also some baytril (anitbiotic) so that she won't get an infection from the incision/operation.  Also you shouldn't fast your rabbit before the operation as they can't vomit so no fasting is needed.  bring along her favorite foods, and they can give them to her when she is in recovery so she can start eating as soon as possible.  Some vets will let you watch the operation if you want (I did).  You'll also need to ask the vet their success rate at this operation, and how often they do it each week/month.  If it's not near perfect, or if not if the rabbits had special problems, you can take this into account.  

Ask the vet these questions beforehand.  If you don't get a good answer, you may want to find another vet.

What spaying will do is mellow her temper out a bit more, back to what she was before she hit sexual maturity.  It will also allow her to live to a ripe old age of 10-12 years instead of 5.  Most female rabbits get uterine cancer and die by 5-6 if they are not spayed.  so you're really doing her a favor by doing this, but only using a well-experienced rabbit vet.

Feel free to write back anytime.

Lee