Eve’s Story: The Consequences of Not Spaying
On a typical evening last November, I returned home quite late from a rehearsal and sat down on the couch to unwind. I looked over at my Dutch mix rabbit, Eve, who was sitting in her two-level condo, having not yet been given her nightly run in our living room. “Evviee! Want to go out?” I said. Strangely, instead of perking her ears up and fanatically running around her condo, she just sat there. I feared that something wasn’t right. I decided maybe she might like a treat. Skipping to her condo I yelled, “Treats, Eve, treats!” but she didn’t move. I opened the cage and placed the treat in front of her nose and she turned her head away and closed her eyes. Eve was never picky when it came to treats. Finally, I did something I knew she would hate. I picked her up. She didn’t fuss; she didn’t even seem to care. Her body felt like jelly and her usual athletic muscles were now soft. I noticed her breathing was heavy. “Peter, something is wrong with Eve,” I said. After a quick call to Angell Memorial, which I knew had after-hours emergency care, we put Eve in her carrier and got in the car.
It was 1:30AM when Eve was finally examined by an emergency vet who knew little about rabbits. He said that we would need to leave Eve overnight, as her refusal to eat was an emergency situation. I was very upset at this point, but I agreed to leave her. Eve had never been sick, so I didn’t know what to do. As we were about to leave the exam room I said to the vet, “We do know her exact age…she is four and a half years old. Also, in case it matters, she is not spayed.”
That’s right. Eve was four and a half and had not been spayed. And no, she was not a recent adoption; in fact, I adopted her at the age of ten weeks from a farm in Central Pennsylvania. Eve had been my best friend for nearly five years, which was longer than the time I had known my husband! She was definitely a spoiled bunny. I knew from my experiences with my family’s rabbit, Portia, that rabbits did not belong in hutches outdoors (this was according to my mother, who made sure we treated all of our childhood pets properly). Eve was fed an excellent diet, given ample time out of her two-level condo and showered with affection from my husband and me. But she was never spayed.
I had first heard of the concept of spaying or neutering rabbits when Eve hit her “teens” in 2001. At the time, I lived alone in a studio apartment with Eve. Each morning around 5AM, Eve knew it was time to wake me up…so, she chewed on her cage bars, rattled her dishes, bounced around, and dug litter out of her litter box. The only thing that stopped this behavior was for me to get out of bed and play with her for a good long time. Being that I was college student, 5AM was not my idea of morning…it was very much still night! I tried everything to change this behavior including more toys for Eve and earplugs for me. It was suggested on the House Rabbit Society website that spaying could curb this behavior. Although spaying such a small animal did not sound safe to me, Eve and I were off to the vet so I could ask about this procedure.
The rural Central Pennsylvania vet’s response to my inquiry was that yes, I could get her spayed and it might improve her behavior, but why do that? She is perfectly healthy, seems happy and the vet was sure her behavior would improve as she got older. She was an affectionate, wonderful rabbit and why do an invasive operation that was not necessary? I had read stories about unspayed female rabbits getting uterine cancer. The vet assured me that the incidence of uterine cancer was really quite low and compared with the risk of surgery on rabbits, I shouldn’t be thinking about any sort of surgery. I decided I shouldn’t get Eve spayed.
Eve’s behavior did improve and we started to live together more harmoniously. I was still encountering websites that spoke of the importance of spaying, so, when Eve was almost two years old, I sought a second opinion: the trusted vet that my family had used throughout my childhood. This vet said something very similar to the first…why would I want to get Eve spayed?
I know what you are thinking at this point. Perhaps these vets were not exotics specialists? They were, in fact! According to both of these veterinarians spaying rabbits was just not safe. Also, my family’s rabbit Portia was, at this time, a healthy, unspayed eight-year-old. This assured me that I had made the right choice for Eve.
Now, fast-forward to last November, two years after my move to Massachusetts. After an anxious night with no rest, an exotics specialist from Angell Memorial called with an update on Eve’s condition. Apparently, Eve had started eating again after some intensive care. The vet told me that Eve’s uterus was enlarged and asked if I was sure she was not pregnant. Yes, I was sure. She is a single rabbit living alone. The vet then told me that Eve’s symptoms almost certainly equaled uterine cancer. She had stopped eating due to pain. In fact, it was likely that the cancer had metastasized and spread to Eve’s other organs. If this was the case, nothing could be done for her.
I was devastated. For most of Eve’s life, I had a sneaking suspicion that spaying might actually be important, but I had always put it out of my mind with the evidence of a happy, healthy rabbit. However, the vet, who put the blame for this mistake solely on me, said Eve might die.
But, Eve was very lucky. After extensive testing, blood work, radiographs and exams, it was determined that Eve was actually a good candidate for a normal spay surgery. Her cancer had not spread and was confined to her uterus. I was allowed to take her home and make sure she was eating and gaining strength. Her surgery was scheduled two weeks later.
Getting any rabbit spayed is nerve-wracking, but this was extremely difficult for me. At no time through this entire ordeal was I assured I would have a happy, healthy rabbit when it was over. The vet told me that most rabbits make it through surgery safely but Eve’s tissue was already cancerous and there were great risks. However, again, we were quite blessed. Eve did well in surgery and I picked her up the next day. She sulked in her cage for two days, often only eating greens that I personally handed to her, but she was soon “bouncing off the walls” as usual. She handled the entire event like a strong, mature and composed “woman”.
If this story is not enough scare you into spaying your rabbit, maybe the following information will. Just so you know exactly what we were dealing with here, I ordered Eve’s tissue to be examined at a lab. Eve had two types of aggressive cancer throughout her entire uterus. The lab noted that the cancers had not invaded other tissues and that they appear to have been entirely removed, but that periodic monitoring is needed (Eve has not had any problems).
Are you on a tight budget? The financial strain of getting a rabbit spayed later in life is also not something I would wish on anyone. Additional testing, appointments and precautions were quite expensive …and I can’t even express how many sacrifices my husband and I had to make to get Eve well.
All in all, I cannot stress this enough; get your rabbit spayed, as soon as you can! You don’t want to go through the emotional turmoil of waiting like I did. There are so many advantages to having a spayed rabbit. In fact, after Eve was spayed, her litter box skills went from very good (she used the litter box for urine 100% of the time and droppings about 80% of the time) to excellent…she is now perfectly litter-trained. She also stopped displaying the typical false pregnancy symptoms of pulling her fur out. So, yes, behavior can change at a later age. Probably the best thing that has happened to Eve since her spay is the adoption of her friend Dorian. Rabbits must be spayed or neutered if they are to have a partner, so we had never considered another rabbit. In March, we adopted Dorian from HRN; a small white dwarf rabbit with some aggression problems. Eve and Dorian bonded very quickly. Eve had always wanted a boyfriend, we suspected, and we were now able to help out by adopting a bunny who was having a hard time finding the right home. They are inseparable and Dorian’s constant energy keeps Eve happy and young.
The fact that two exotics veterinarians in rural Pennsylvania didn’t know accurate and current information about spaying is definitely a problem. These vets and their clients, the rabbit owners, do not mean any harm, they were simply uneducated about the importance of spaying. Thankfully, I believe that the idea of spaying and neutering rabbits is not as foreign now as it was in 2001. It is important that we not judge people who have not had their rabbits spayed or neutered. Like me, many of them love their rabbits very much…so much that they don’t want to put their best friend through surgery that they believe is too risky. Let’s be sure to tell them that their rabbit will be fine and will be much happier after this routine surgery. After all, my proof is that I have a healthy, energetic five-year-old rabbit doing binkies in my living room.
by Rachel Cama-Lekx