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Spaying/Neutering Small Mammals- Thoughts?

Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
Any thoughts or experienced on spaying/neutering small mammals? I have one breeding pair of gerbils right now, and the American Gerbil Society webpage reccomends neutering the males after breeding so the mated pair can stay together for life. We're also considering the option for our male rabbit. These guys seems so tiny compared to big dogs and cats, but I guess these surgeries are done fairly often on tiny critters, because the House Rabbit society here only adopts out altered bunnies.

Anyone had any experiences with this, positive or negative?
 
I have a friend who goes through tons of permanent and foster bunnies. I asked her on Facebook- I'll let you know what she says. I know my vet says spaying small rodents is very routine for him. He even does snakes and lizards who need to stop producing eggs for whatever reason.
 
I've assisted in many rabbit neuters and I had a pair of neutered rats. The rats were wonderful, without the greasiness, muskiness, or scent marking that un-neutered rats are prone to. I haven't come across any problems in neutering rabbits at clinics I've worked in. A customer of mine just had her three girls and one boy rabbit fixed two weeks ago, and everyone is doing fantastic!

A girl that I went to school with worked at our humane society and she told me that they did a dozen or so rabbit procedures a week and almost never had any issue. Usually any problem that DOES come up is in the does, because a spay is so much more invasive than a neuter.

In short, go for it!
 
well seeing all the nurturing on cats its the same for any male. its a very quick procedure and sadly females are the ones that really need to be spayed because small rodent females are so quick to develop palmetras which can kill them within 24 hours. granted nurturing takes away the strong male order and with male guinea pigs makes it less likely to get obstructed with fecal pellets.
 
Not to be crass, but how much do the vets that everyone has experience with cost for the small animal spay or neuter?
 
Tavia said:
Not to be crass, but how much do the vets that everyone has experience with cost for the small animal spay or neuter?
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We are fortunate to live within easy driving distance of several exotics vets-- I called the one I've had the most experience with that is open 24-7 and got a cost estimate-- $69 for the surgery/anaesthesia. Can be more if vet determines pre-surgical tests are needed, but usually not the case in a young bunny. We were told ours is about 8 to 10 weeks old, and the vet said wait until 4 or 5 months.
 
Hypancistrus said:
Any thoughts or experienced on spaying/neutering small mammals? I have one breeding pair of gerbils right now, and the American Gerbil Society webpage reccomends neutering the males after breeding so the mated pair can stay together for life. We're also considering the option for our male rabbit. These guys seems so tiny compared to big dogs and cats, but I guess these surgeries are done fairly often on tiny critters, because the House Rabbit society here only adopts out altered bunnies.

Anyone had any experiences with this, positive or negative?
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I highly recommend it for the rabbit, it keeps them from developing any cancers and it extends their life span. I had my two female rabbits spayed because rabbits are very social and need friends and mine were stressing each other out by humping each other lol, now all is peacful. It is a difficult surgery for the females because their organs are very delicate and can be torn easliy but the male should be pretty easier and less invassive.

The house rabbit society helped me pay to have my rabbit spayed. The NJ house rabbit society has a low cost spay and neuter for rabbits so that helped alot with the cost. I'm not sure if they have it in other states yet. On the house rabbit society site they have a list of vets who spay/neiter rabbits.


As far as spaying and neutering the gerbils I would assume you would do that for the same reason you would spay/neuter a rat or rabbit to prevent cancers and extend their lives but I would think it's a difficult and very expensive surgery and most vets probably don't do it and aren't very experienced with spaying/neutering somehing so small.

I would definitely do it for the rabbit, I don't know if I'd trust having it done on the gerbils but just make sure the vet is experienced and every thing should go well.
 
Thanks! I just wondered. When we got our first pair of rats, my brother 16 and I about 14, it wasn't well planned and we ended up with one female and one male. (We went looking for them the day we talked mom into it. And there had been a reptile conference thing that ended the day before and there was not more than 5 rats left in the pet stores for 150 miles around, our great mother drove us around to check! So those were the best to be had and all the stores told us they didn't know when they'd have more, everyone had also sold their breeding pairs.)
When we called around all the vets to see about getting the male fixed so they could be in the same cage, the least expensive place was a $140.
All our vets are expensive, though, that's why we have so many feral cats.

Good luck with your critter kid's surgeries, if you decide to do it!
 
Iguanagirl8662 said:
As far as spaying and neutering the gerbils I would assume you would do that for the same reason you would spay/neuter a rat or rabbit to prevent cancers and extend their lives but I would think it's a difficult and very expensive surgery and most vets probably don't do it and aren't very experienced with spaying/neutering somehing so small.

I would definitely do it for the rabbit, I don't know if I'd trust having it done on the gerbils but just make sure the vet is experienced and every thing should go well.
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That's what I figured as well, but then again, I did have a cyst removed from the posterior end of my favorite female gerbil back in 1998. So if they could do a cyst 13 years ago, I'd bet things have progressed to where they can at least do neuters these days. I am going to ask about it when I call our usual exotics vet on Monday to get their prices.
 
Tavia said:
Not to be crass, but how much do the vets that everyone has experience with cost for the small animal spay or neuter?
Click to expand...

It cost me $90 each for a spay then they charged for anesthia and then they had a fecal test done and had tapworm. Then they also got meds for the pain and the worms. All in all it cost me $400 for two spays but it varies from state to state and vet to vet.
 
Hypancistrus said:
That's what I figured as well, but then again, I did have a cyst removed from the posterior end of my favorite female gerbil back in 1998. So if they could do a cyst 13 years ago, I'd bet things have progressed to where they can at least do neuters these days. I am going to ask about it when I call our usual exotics vet on Monday to get their prices.
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If you could find a vet that would do it that would be awesome. I had to go 2 or 3 hours away to get my girls spayed because my vet wasn't comfortable spaying rabbits but she spayed my Iguana lol.
 
Just out of curiosity, why did you spay your iguana? I think it's really cool that vets can do such much in that area these days.

These two gerbils really love each other and I'd like to keep them together. Depends on the price though-- can't really justify $100+ for a tiny mammal.
 
Hypancistrus said:
Just out of curiosity, why did you spay your iguana? I think it's really cool that vets can do such much in that area these days.

These two gerbils really love each other and I'd like to keep them together. Depends on the price though-- can't really justify $100+ for a tiny mammal.
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She was in really bad shape, she was left at my high school and she was very skinny, had MBD, a broken tail and abscesses. I took her in and she wasn't expected to live. I had her for a year and she put weight back on and was doing well but still had some issues. I took her to have her foot x rayed cause it looked broken and they also got her stomach in the picture and we found out she had eggs. I had an Ig before that was rescued and I didn't know she had eggs and she became egg bound and it was late at night with no vet open and she died so I didn't want to take the chance of losing another especially since she had had MBD and she was pretty small she was only 2'8''.

The surgery was pretty costly for a high school student it was $700 for just the surgery. They removed 29 eggs from her but she recovered very quickly and I've had her for 6 or 7 years now. Her sister died this winter she was in worse shape out of the 2 when I got them.

I would probably spay a normal healthy Ig too just because I don't want to risk her becoming egg bound. It was so horrible to watch my one Ig die from that that I wouldn't want to risk it again.
 
Most if not all of my rats were spayed/neutered. Some vets charged outrageous amounts, but if you can find a good cost for it, I say go for it! One vet quoted me like $250 for a neuter! Another was $60. Guess which one I took mine to :)
 
ratsncorns said:
Most if not all of my rats were spayed/neutered. Some vets charged outrageous amounts, but if you can find a good cost for it, I say go for it! One vet quoted me like $250 for a neuter! Another was $60. Guess which one I took mine to :)
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Wow if I found one for $60 I'd do it, all our vets charge way too much and many are not experienced with rodent spay and neuters.
 
Hi Tiffany- Rabbit Expert! Is neutering male rabbits fairly routine? Would you recommend it for a male pet rabbit?

5 hours ago · Tiffany Yes and I do recommend it. The males do really well and when you pick them up after surgery they act like nothing happened. It solves a lot of behavioral and possible health issues.


(Possibly a local rabbit rescue may know of low-cost spay/neuter resources for rabbits).
 
Iguanagirl8662 said:
I would probably spay a normal healthy Ig too just because I don't want to risk her becoming egg bound. It was so horrible to watch my one Ig die from that that I wouldn't want to risk it again.
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Is it common for iguanas to make eggs and be unable to pass them?

Nanci said:
Hi Tiffany- Rabbit Expert! Is neutering male rabbits fairly routine? Would you recommend it for a male pet rabbit?

5 hours ago · Tiffany Yes and I do recommend it. The males do really well and when you pick them up after surgery they act like nothing happened. It solves a lot of behavioral and possible health issues.


(Possibly a local rabbit rescue may know of low-cost spay/neuter resources for rabbits).
Click to expand...

Thanks Nanci. We found a local vet that does it fairly inexpensively, so we will be looking into it in a month or two.
 
Yup, both of my boy bunnies did awesome with their neuter..and what a difference in behavior. It's DEFINATELY recommended just like with cats and dogs now.

I used to me a member of a general animal forum called Pets on the net, it's gone under now but there was a girl on there that even gave her hamster a hysterectomy (that's a little extreme IMO) but alot of people were having their chinchillas done...expecially females with pyometra or with males that couldn't get along.

I think fixing small mammals is becoming an everyday surgery now.
 
How old is your rabbit now? Glad you hear you're getting him neutered (I think it's male?), get ready to have a much better pet! LOL :)

When my male matured he started normal behaviours, like marking, grumbling and being nipping. He was never aggressive, but definitely had a strong odor and solely interested in finding a mate. After neutering, he easily turned back into a delight. He was happy, healthy and a much, much better pet! He spent his days outside his cage, just like a cat.

From now on, I will not own or foster any rabbit that is not neutered or spayed. It is WELL worth the cost. :) :)
 
Calift said:
How old is your rabbit now? Glad you hear you're getting him neutered (I think it's male?), get ready to have a much better pet! LOL :) :)
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According to Tara's best estimate (and I trust her because she raised rabbits as a child) he is between 8 and 10 weeks. The vet said wait until he is 4 to 5 months old. I am hoping that is accurate.
 
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