NEUTER OF THE RABBIT In the case of the rabbit, the NEUTER usually resolves the problem of urine spraying or roaming outside to fight with other cats or find mates. Some cat owners have complained that the uncastrated male cat will leap out of the 2nd floor apartment to go out. Neutered rabbits and hamsters live peacefully together although most Singapore owners simply separate two adults when they fight, depriving them of companionship. Female cats do spray urine too, but not many of them do so. ![]() The picture (left) shows a young rabbit six hours after NEUTER. The rabbit was castrated as he started spraying urine from his basket. He was a healthy good sized rabbit much loved by his lady owner but he had to spray urine. He was a good anaesthetic patient. He woke up within five minutes after the gas anaesthesia had been stopped at the conclusion of surgery. The testicle had been removed from each scrotum (red spots between the hind legs) separately, rather than from above the scrotum and behind the penis as in the dog. The wounds are left to heal by themselves. Usually an Elizabeth collar around the neck prevents the rabbit from biting and contaminating the wounds. RABBIT NEUTER involves gas/injectable anaesthesia. Some owners want the rabbit to be home on the same day. One advantage of neutering your rabbit is that they don't fight and they can live together in a sufficiently large cage and enjoy companionship. ![]() Pet lovers deem it cruel to let rabbits or hamsters live in solitary confinement when they fight. Neutering may be the answer to peaceful co-existence. Very few Singapore rabbit or hamster owners get their rabbits neutered although the procedure will eliminate fighting between adults, bullying by one dominant over the other, breeding of unwanted creatures and urine spraying. Even though they grow up together, male adults do fight and need to be separated. Rabbit abscesses are hard to treat as they have thick walls, unlike dogs. Hamsters do get large abscesses too.
2009 CASE The pictures below show a male rabbit neutered at Toa Payoh Vets in 2009. The rabbit was given Zoletil 0.1 IM. He dashed about in his crate. He was held gently. After 5 minutes, Domitor 0.1 ml, 27 G needle, IV given via the ear vein. He was anaesthesized. It took around 5 minutes to shave his surgery area. At neutering, he moved as the injectable anaesthesia was not effective due to delays in surgery. I gave isoflurane via gas mask at 5%. My assistant checked the eye blinking refelx. In any case, the gas was given for less than 60 seconds and the rabbit was neutered without any problem.
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