To old to concieve?

Question
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Hi Dana, thanks for the thoughts on age and concieving. The bun in question is my friends bunny, domestic, sorry I didnt clarify that. I have the cottons, she doesnt, and trust me, with every thing I can find online and at the library to read, I do know cottons and domestics cant have babies. Had Rami even verify that on EB when the orange physcho bunny came to me and people kept insisting he could be a cross breed. Yes, I rescued the lunatic bunny and him and an unreleasable cotton with a bad leg flew to Regina in Dec.
Anyhow, the bunny I asked about concieving at her age, is in fact dying, and my friend will probably have take her to tomorrow to be put to sleep. She thought she wouldnt make it past saturday, but is still hanging in there, but becomes weaker as the days have went by, and has been having labored breathing. Shes been on meds for the past year, and has went severly downhill since losing her mate, another female a couple weeks ago. Poor old girl, my friend rescued her, saved her life, but now it seems its time to help her along to the Bridge.
Hmmmm, I cant imagine any cotontail snuggling with any type of bun, least not my Buddy, queen and ruler of the household and all buns who reside in it. It seems much more fun to flaunt to this status, then to make nicey with a stupid ole domestic bunny wabbit she says!
I'll pass along your email to my other friend. Thanks a bunch Dana
Followup To
Question -
Hi Dana, me Amy with Buddy the cotton. Question for you, posted to EB but they dont always respond to questions like that and my friend is frantic. She has a health compromised 8-9 year old girl she took in a year ago near death. Shes not had her spayed because of her health, head tilt, etc. One of the rescue rabbits she had home, escaped (sally has free run) and she found them snuggled together. Considering her age, is she still able to get pregnant at that age? I'm guessing they probably can till their old and ripe, but cant seem to find anything on it. Could you please let me know what you know about this if anything asap?
I hear you been talking to Regina about the physcho mutant rabbit I sent out to her? She didnt believe me that he was crazy till he flew from her lap and started banging into the fence.....lol I have a friend who is going to Miami soon and is hoping to be able to meet you somehow. She also rehabs cottons and is a smart cookie trying to make some serious advances in caring for cottons and saving them. Thanks Dana!
Answer -
Hi, Amy

Hmm!  A sexy little senior mama!  Okay, dumb question:  was the male bunny she was snuggled with a cotton?  If so, they might have done a bit more than snuggling.  And yes, that means she could be pregnant.  She's probably not too old to conceive, but if she's had babies in the past, her pelvis might already be large enough for her to accomodate babies.  ARGH.  Tough question.

If she's really health compromised, then spaying might not be an option.  If she's pregnant, that's risky too, but maybe not as risky as a spay.  It really depends on her health.  Then again, she might not even have a litter if her body thinks she's too old:  she might resorb them.  Only time will tell, I guess.

If the bunny she was snuggling with was a domestic bun, then there's no need to fear.  The two species cannot breed to produce viable offspring.

Your bunny is the orange cotton? And he's psycho, too?  Wow!  What a cool-looking rabbit!

I hope your friend will contact me to come visit the hares!  Please feel free to give her my email:  dana@miami.edu

Fun!

Dana

Answer
Hi, Amy

I'm sorry the old bunny girl isn't doing well.  I'm glad she at least found a pal to snuggle with in her last days.  Labored breathing could be anything from pneumonia to a thymoma impinging on her lung capacity, so it's possible this could be treatable, if your friend is willing to spend the $$ on diagnostics and treatment.  We have an old bunny, Sven, who's going through a similar thing now.  He *was* going to have cataract surgery next week, but I don't think he's a very good candidate for it at the moment.  :(

Anyway, hops to all!

Dana